We’re all emotional creatures, and even though business is business, it’s impossible not to bring emotions into the work we do. The key is to recognize when emotions are overriding your rational thinking about a business issue.
If you (or your boss, peer, investor, co-founder, or negotiating counter-part) is “hung up” on something, that’s a big clue that there’s probably some emotions at play.
Some examples of emotional issues I’ve seen in startups:
- New employee B shouldn’t have more stock than employee A, who started much earlier (or more stock than a co-founder)
- The first venture investor doesn’t want to pay more per share than the initial angel investors.
- An entrepreneur doesn’t want to give up “control”, even when involving new investors and managers will greatly increase the chances of success.
- An investor doesn’t want founders or managers to cash out (even partially) before they do.
Identifying an issue as an “emotional issue” can go a long way to resolving it.