DOGS Entrepreneurial Personality Diagnostic Tool

The Foundation of Success: Team Building

They say the first button is the most important. At Underdogs, we believe that first button in entrepreneurship is Team Building. To ensure both immediate and sustained success, we developed the DOGS Entrepreneurial Personality Diagnostic Tool—a method to align your team from the very beginning.

Building and maintaining a team is extremely difficult. Airbnb’s founders realized this early on, taking six months just to hire their first two employees. Many teams break apart despite their hard work. In a startup, the loss of even one multi-talented member can be a critical blow. However, team building is as vital as it is difficult. It determines a startup's success and plays a decisive role in attracting investment.

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Understanding Beyond the Resume

One solution is diagnosing the tendencies of team members. This process ultimately embraces 'individuals' as 'team members,' creating an environment where synergy flourishes. Diagnosis must go beyond the experiences and careers listed on resumes to determine how each person performs specific tasks.

TIP: [Tendency X Job Diagnosis Example]Instead of simply defining someone as a 'Planner,' describe their specific talents:

• Member A: A planner with an exceptional ability to kickstart new projects.
• Member B: An idea generator who inspires and motivates colleagues.
• Member C: A detail-oriented expert who quickly spots issues in the production process.

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Why We Created DOGS

Between 2015 and 2023, Underdogs coached countless teams—from those just starting to those losing their spark. We found that teams often crack not because of a lack of skill, but due to differences in work styles, communication, and core values. The belief that "finding a skilled person will solve everything" is a misconception. Teams need time to understand each other’s goals, BM perspectives, and work speeds.

Underdogs defines an ideal organizational culture as one where "individual happiness is respected while members build a sustainable team through agreed-upon values." DOGS was developed as a tool to identify these strengths and facilitate harmony through combined DISC theory and our unique 8-year dataset.

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Three Solutions for Every Stage

1. Solo & Pre-entrepreneurs: Conducts personality diagnosis and provides personalized reports. It helps find complementary partners who share similar values rather than just matching skills.
2. Early-stage Teams (2–6 members): Focuses on 'Dialogue Facilitation Workshops' using DOGS Conversation Cards to define R&Rs and foster mutual understanding.
3. Scale-up Startups (6+ members): Focuses on establishing a 'North Star' for organizational culture. Through five specialized workshops (Mission, Vision, Culture, etc.), we help growing teams align their direction.

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