I’ve Only Lost One Employee in Two Years: Here’s the Secret

Over the past two years, I’ve been a founder, which means I’ve had to build a team. Prior to this, I’d managed people sparingly, but I hadn’t built a team per se. Two years in, I’ve noticed that the majority of my team is still around. In fact, I’ve only had one staff member leave because she was going back to school. I couldn’t do anything to keep her.

Having worked at great companies with exceptional cultures, I’m fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with great managers who have shaped my approach to management. I’ve also experienced terrible managers who have taught me the type of manager I definitely do not want to be.

Since I became a manager, I’ve learned that being a manager is not the same as being a leader. This article will not discuss leadership directly, but I’ve realised that being a great leader and manager is the perfect combination for building an excellent team.

As my small startup grows, I’ve been intentional about figuring out what would make my team buy into the mission and stay around for as long as possible. I’ve narrowed it down to these four things:

Skin in the game
I believe everyone needs to have skin in the game. Since we set up our entity in March 2023, anyone who’s employed by that entity owns a piece of it. Our salary is competitive, but I believe that every employee needs to benefit if the company succeeds. As a result, everyone has equity in our company. Yes - everyone!

Work on projects you care about
As a small company, I’m aware that things change quickly and roles can evolve overnight. As a result, I’ve consistently checked in with my team to ensure that they are working on things they care about. I believe there's a level of passion required to do great work, and people will naturally give their best to projects and tasks they care about. This doesn’t mean that tasks they don’t care about get left behind, but I’d rather have everyone at the company focus on the work they love and can do effortlessly.

Work at your own pace, wherever you are
When I joined Stripe in 2019, remote work was already widely adopted, so when COVID-19 arrived, everyone picked up their laptops and went home. We didn’t have to adjust our work habits because we were already accustomed to remote work. I carried this behaviour to my company because I believe that you can hire excellent talent from anywhere in the world. We also don’t have set working hours [0], but we do have meetings that everyone needs to attend from time to time. Other than that, I need everyone to meet their deliverables, and that’s it.

Make mistakes
New team members are often surprised when I don’t get upset when they make mistakes. One employee was quite shocked at my reaction. I believe that in order to learn, you need to go through trials and errors. We actively encourage everyone to try and test new ideas. This is embedded in our company’s values. We call it “Reward Explorers”. What we are not for is when you keep making the same mistakes over and over again. It means you're not learning, and we need to have a conversation.

Are you a founder? A manager? What’s your approach to management? What can I improve?

Want to work on my team? I’m currently hiring for full-stack engineers (frontend and backend). Join my team to help build the future of investments in Africa. Send me a link to your GitHub portfolio to [email protected].

Thanks for reading.

[0] Employment contracts typically specify working hours from 9 AM to 5 PM, as all employment contracts require this information.

My name is Joe Kinvi, and I’m building Borderless, the infrastructure that enables the Africa Diaspora to invest at home easily. We are starting with building tools for investment collectives. We are live, and you can join our waitlist here.