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There are times that call for tough love and this is one of them. As a founder of a food and beverage brand, you have chosen a hard and rocky path. You’ll hit a lot of walls, hear a lot of “no’s” and are certain to find things moving slower than you’d hoped. It’s a natural and easy trap to blame others. But to be frank, those who blame lose and those who own the outcome win.

I see this play out far too often. A part of its cause is the nature of most early-stage teams that are constructed of full-time inexperience and fractionalized expertise. This reality requires that founders hold themselves accountable for taking the needed action. Let me explain.

I will start with full-time inexperience as it is fairly simple and self-explanatory. In most cases, the full-time folks you bring on to your team will be green. You simply can’t afford the seasoned industry professional. These team members are great for helping with the heavy lifting but, they come with some serious gaps in their skill set. You need to understand the limitations of those gaps and how they might impact their efficacy.

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