Godard Abel, founder and executive chairman of G2 Crowd, a fast-growing tech startup in Chicago, has been building businesses for more than a decade. His first startup, BigMachines, was sold to Oracle for more than $400 million in 2013. His next startup, Steelbrick, has raised more than $50 million in less than four years. And, his current venture, G2 Crowd is on the fast track to becoming a household name with LinkedIn investing in the company earlier this year, bringing total funding up to $45 million in less than three years. But, none of this would have been possible without the underground network of talent that follow him from one venture to the next. He refers to this core group as his startup squad. He’s trained this team on how to grow businesses from the ground-up quickly and efficiently. It includes engineers, designers, sales and marketing reps and customer service specialists. Godard shares his insight on how to build this team with special focus on how to maintain their loyalty through mergers, acquisitions, and IPOs.
