You know what they say: teamwork makes the dream work! And for Pitt student startup team Potluck (consisting of Joe Slomowitz '23, Oliver Yao '22, and Avi Moses '24), our TeamFinder tool helped them build the dream team! In their featured Big Idea Blog article, learn why Joe & Oliver needed to recruit an additional team member for their idea, how TeamFinder became beneficial in this process, and what important milestones the team has been able to achieve with the addition of Avi. The team also shares some pointers on how to make the most out of your team-building experience.
Amid the pandemic in February 2021, Joe Slomowitz and Oliver Yao completed their online run in the Big Idea Center’s Big Idea Blitz competition, after placing second for their social-dining startup idea.
Emboldened by the need to address the visible social unrest in the world and inspired by the hospitality exchange platform of Couchsurfing, the two envisioned their startup idea (later called Potluck) to be a platform that focuses on utilizing the power of food to bring people of different backgrounds and perspectives together!
Joe and Oliver were ready to bring their idea to the next level by entering it into the renowned Randall Family Big Idea Competition. But, through their previous experiences with Pitt’s Big Idea Center competitions and the demanding scale of their social-dining idea, the two recognized they were going to need some additional help to bring their idea to fruition.
From their previous experiences with Pitt’s Big Idea Center, Joe and Oliver were aware of other teams in the past who had used the center’s helpful tool called TeamFinder to search for and onboard additional team members.
The two turned to TeamFinder for help.
Posting the TeamFinder request
Though Joe and Oliver recognized their idea likely required adding an individual to the team with a programming background, they believed finding someone with the same level of entrepreneurial spirit and curiosity for the world as they had was much more important.
After a quick meeting on Zoom, the two decided to take to TeamFinder and posted the following request to find a team member:
Responding to the TeamFinder request
Avi Moses, a freshman at Pitt who recently began his second semester of online college, opened his Instagram feed to find a screenshot of Joe and Oliver’s TeamFinder request posted by the Big Idea Center. Avi had been aware of the Big Idea Center and was looking for an opportunity to further his entrepreneurial experience in college. Jumping at the opportunity, Avi applied for the open spot by sending a message to the email address included in the post.
Within a few hours after posting the TeamFinder request, Joe received the email from Avi, and the three scheduled a Zoom meeting to begin the interview process. Joe, Oliver, and Avi were all blown away by how quickly and effectively TeamFinder had connected them together!
During the Zoom interview, Joe and Oliver asked the candidate about his interests and skills. But, most importantly, Joe and Oliver focused on giving Avi the opportunity to showcase his personality and to ask questions about Potluck. Avi expressed excellent communication skills, a strong work ethic, great enthusiasm, and demonstrated the entrepreneurial spirit and curiosity for the world that the two were looking for in a team member.
After a follow-up discussion over Zoom, Joe and Oliver welcomed Avi to the team!
Working Together
After onboarding their new team member, Joe and Oliver quickly brought Avi up to speed on their progress with their startup idea. The team began its work preparing for the Randall Family Big Idea competition and the team roles and dynamics were beginning to fall into place.
Avi’s new perspective, reliability, passion, creativity, and kindness made him a stellar addition to the team! In addition, having a third member allowed the team to enact a tie-breaking mechanism which helped with decision-making. 
During Randall, the team of three made its way through each round of the competition expressing its vision for their Potluck platform. Their collective and passionate vision enabled the team to win the competition’s Best Video Award (a $2,000 prize) for their “Taste Life With Potluck” video.
Since Randall, the team was invited to take part in the Big Idea Center’s Blast Furnace accelerator program as well as their Forge incubator program where they further developed and continue to develop Potluck. In late August of 2021, Joe and Oliver met Avi in person for the first time, nearly seven months after they began working together online!
Though the three are business partners, their friendship has grown outside of their work on Potluck. Joe, Oliver, and Avi have enjoyed several dinners together and have celebrated birthdays with one another. The three are brought together not only by their entrepreneurial spirits and curiosity for the world but by their care for others as well.
TeamFinder did not just find Joe and Oliver a teammate, but a friend as well.
Conclusion: Words of advice
Joe, Oliver, and Avi have learned a lot from their experiences and recommend the following when recruiting team members or joining a team:
Advice for adding team members:
1. Be careful about the size of your initial team. Studies on the Ringelmann Effect have shown that individual performance decreases as more team members are added to a team. There is no magic number of team members, and we are not trying to discourage anyone from adding team members, but just be smart about it!
2. Search for high intelligence, high energy, and high integrity. Naval Ravikant recommends looking for these three characteristics when seeking out additional team members. People have all kinds of intelligence about different things but look for the people who are particularly smart about the thing that your team needs to do well in. High energy relates to finding team members with the physical, mental, and emotional capacity to be self-motivated and work hard. Most importantly, find team members with high integrity or the ability to do the right thing, even when nobody's looking.
3. Be honest with your candidates. For the benefit of your team, you need the candidates to know what exactly they are getting into and to see how they interact with the true versions of the people on your team.
Advice for joining a team:
1. Identify your time commitment and goals. Before and during the process of joining a team, be aware of your level of time commitment and your motivations for joining a team. Knowing these can improve your ability to make thoughtful decisions and the ability to protect your own interests.
2. Ensure the team creates a welcoming environment. Before joining a team, ensure that the team treats you with respect and creates a welcoming environment that empowers you to demonstrate your strengths.
3. Be honest and communicate. Both before and after joining a team, it is extremely important for you to be honest about your experiences and communicate any discomforts you encounter while interacting with the team. Failing to do so will prevent you from being the most effective worker that you can be and the team from reaching the level of trust and comfort it needs to reach its potential.
The process of adding team members or joining a team can be a stressful one. However, if you can continue to be respectful, honest, responsive, and prepared during the whole process, you can reduce the stress of it all. Don’t be afraid to make decisions that are ultimately best for you and your team. Don’t be afraid to show what you can bring to the table.
On the flip side, adding team members or joining a new team is also a memorable process. Embrace the moment so you can be excited for the journey ahead. Because it is shaped by the ones who you choose to take it with!
About TeamFinder
Looking to add a new member to your team or join an existing team? Our TeamFinder tool is a great resource to connect with other students and utilize your unique skills (coding, marketing, etc.) to boost an existing team’s idea or round out your team with a member that has the qualifications you’re looking for! All TeamFinder requests will be added to the Big Idea Center's weekly e-newsletter as well as their social media outlets for maximum coverage.
To create your own TeamFinder request, go to our TeamFinder tool.
About Potluck
Potluck is a platform that brings people of different backgrounds and perspectives together over food! Inspired by the likes of Couchsurfing, Potluck strives to be the ultimate place for you to explore your cultural curiosity and taste what life has to offer. Be a Host. Be a Guest. And Taste Life With Potluck!
To learn more about Potluck, watch our “What is Potluck?” video.
To get started with Potluck, visit our website.
Have a question for us or want to reach out? Email us at joinpotluck@gmail.com.
