Cofounder of Launch Academy. Dan has been building web apps & tech teams since 2004 and has a passion for mentoring aspiring developers.

May 23, 2016, Forbes -- As an entrepreneur with a growing business, you’re probably clamoring to maintain control as things change — I know I was with my own young company. Unfortunately, in my quest for control, I was actually doing my business and team a disservice. One of our core values at my company Launch Academy is to elevate everyone around you. Yet even as a co-founder I was stuck in the weeds and getting in the way of the talented people we hired to get the job done.

As I struggled with this problem, I was given a few pointers from a golf coach on my backswing (I used to tense up, grip the club too tightly, and slice the ball off course). He instructed me to loosen my grip and not tense up in that critical moment — leading to a better and more consistent shot. It’s counterintuitive, but this advice has given me both a better golf swing and a more effective way of working with my team.

So here are the five rules I’ve set for myself as I set out to really put this into practice in my business.

Don’t Try To Fix Everything At Once

As a founder or executive of a growing company, you’re likely overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of problems you see — I certainly was. Personally, I pointed out problems left and right, distracting my team from focusing on what really mattered. I was trying to fix everything at once, instead of fixing one issue at a time.

Focus On The Urgent And Important

When I get overwhelmed, I use the Eisenhower Box to ask myself: What is both urgent and important? I focus on that one thing and rally the team around it. This provides clarity and eliminates the cost of confusing priorities and context switching.

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Ignore the resume, focus on problem-solving skills and offer remote options as well as performance-based incentives. A team member who feels valued will do whatever it takes to get the job done.

9-21-2016, Entrepreneur.com -- Growing a startup in today's competitive industries isn't easy -- especially for a bootstrapped solo founder building and managing a small team.

Your team is not disposable. In fact, its makeup is one of the most important things to get right. If you assemble a motivated team full of the right people doing the right things, you drastically increase your chance of success.

I know because it worked for me. In less than three years, I grew my startup more than 2,300 percent using these management hacks.

1. Don’t look at resumes.

Whether I’m hiring an employee, advisor or freelancer, I strictly follow my no-resume rule. I find resumes to be bloated and exaggerated. I don’t want to read how great applicants say they are. I want to interact with them and decide for myself if it’s true.

Instead of asking for a resume, I ask applicants to tell me about themselves. I ask follow-up questions and stress I’m not asking for a list of their accomplishments. I want to know about them. Yes, personally.

Then, like an FBI behavioral analyst, I make a judgment based on less-traditional facts. It’s not as hard as you might think. One very easy test: Ask an applicant to complete a task designed to showcase the important problem-solving skills needed for the position at hand.

I've been a Rubik's Cube freak my entire life. My fastest time isn't record-breaking, but 30 seconds isn't too shabby, either. I love handing an applicant a Rubik’s Cube and telling him or her to “do whatever it takes to solve it.” My directions are just vague enough to encourage interpretation. I hope candidates hunt down a solution online or do something other than just sit there and struggle with it. The moment they take out a smartphone to search for a resource, I'm won over.

Related: 4 Ways to Make Sure You Aren't Hiring the Wrong People for Your Startup

2. Always share the pie.

Paying people what they're worth is the baseline. Combined with consistent incentives to do more, sharing the pie has dramatically improved my company's bottom line.

Regular incentives go a long way. If all team members are getting some percentage of the upside, they'll be driven to keep working toward increased revenue. Extra performance pay is a solid start, but realize that yearly bonuses don't have the same impact as a more timely reward.

Sharing equity is another strong move. You don’t have to give away the farm -- just a few points here and there gets the job done. Avoid offering equity-only compensation to employees who are used to getting a fixed salary. Even if you can convince them to try the new model, you put them in an uncomfortable position if they need to return to a regular paycheck. They might opt to leave the company rather than initiate an awkward conversation. 

Most startups love to blame team members for failures big and small. It's easier on a founder's ego than the reality: The leader always is accountable. If you picked the wrong team members to do the wrong job or chose the wrong people to manage them, then it's still your fault. 

Assuming you made reasonably good hires to start, poor employee performance typically lies with an ineffective leader, lackluster motivation tools or both. 

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