You evaluate individual performance before entrusting a new hire with a big task. Science suggests you should apply the same principle to teams.

Teams, as we've all experienced, aren't simply the sum of their parts. Through good mojo, friendly competition or complimentary talents, some groups wildly outperform what their individual members could accomplish working alone. But sadly, the converse is also true. Some teams produce less than the same people could crank out alone in a cubicle.

What separates the one sort from the other?

The ability of a team to gel together seems magical sometimes, something akin to the inexplicable chemistry that you either do or do not have with a date, but science, it turns out, actually has useful lessons to offer on how you can better ensure the teams at your company have chemistry.

A post by Dr. Christian Jarrett, a psychologist and author of the Rough Guide to Psychology, on 99u recently laid out five evidence-based techniques for getting more out of your teams, including one idea that applies a fundamental principle of car shopping to team selection. In short, writes Jarrett, take it for a test drive:

Individual assessment is such a fundamental part of working life, yet we often take it for granted. If you want the best person for a job, you put the candidates through their paces to see who comes out on top. The basic assumption is that if they do well in the test context, they'll also excel on future projects. It turns out the same principle applies to groups – U.S. researchers showed in 2010 that a team that does well in one situation will tend to do well on other challenges too.

He concludes that, "it's a mistake to think that putting together a bunch of skilled individuals will automatically create a gifted team." Social sensitivity matters as much as smarts, according to the same research (which, as a side note, means teams of mixed gender generally outperform all males groups because of women's tendency to be more socially sensitive). So before you hand over a huge pile of work to a newly formed team, consider giving them something smaller to gauge how well they'll perform together.

Interested in the other four research-validated ideas to improve your teams' performance? Check out Jarrett's uniformly interesting post. Or, if you're looking for other expert tips to encourage teamwork, architects and designers suggest that office design really matters, while Phil Geldart, author of In Your Hands, the Behaviors of a World Class Leader, has outlined seven fundamental building blocks of successful teams.

What's your top tip to optimize teamwork?

I’ll be honest with you. You shouldn’t test the profitability of your startup ideas based on the feedback from a few friends.

I’ve heard from some of my friends who come up with an idea, ask me about it and then take my answer as a feedback that is tagged as a result in market research. The point is, although the idea appears to be good, feedback from friends like me doesn’t really indicate the potential of the idea to float. I’m not their potential user and that means I’m hardly the passionate user they are targeting. I’m just a random guy asked to test the “goodness” of an idea.

It’s said that if you build something passionately to “scratch your own itch“, you’re most likely going to build something amazing. And this is totally true with a high chance of becoming very successful. Like Basecamp from 37Signals.

But let’s say you are just trying to scratch someone else’s itch. How do you figure out if your idea will float?

Will My Idea Fly?

Market research is for big guys and it’s a boring routine that has failed many times. It’s not a part of startup.

The key to figure out whether people will buy your idea (executed and packaged as a beautiful, useful product) is to test it out in the open even before you build the whole thing.

And by testing it out, I am not saying:

• “ask” people verbally
• ask your friends or their friends
• ask your family

I’m saying:

• find people who are relevant to your target market outside your friends’ circle: for instance, if you’re building an app for invoices, find people who are already using invoice apps or those who are still using traditional invoice software
• show them your interface and guide them through it: design the interface to a highly-usable level (no bare bones) and show them to these people to get their honest feedback
• then, depending on their feedback, build your product.

This is work at the ground-level because you’re going to spend time seeking such people, getting acquainted with them and then asking them to spare some time for you.

It takes a bit of time. You will have to network somewhat extensively to acquaint with such people. You will have to meet in-person with a bunch of folks and spend sometime with them showing your interface designs.

The benefits? I’ll list them out:

1. Passionate users make the best testers
   Imagine this: you’re building an invoice app. I – your buddy – have very little experience in invoicing and the most I do is send invoices through PayPal. Then, there’s someone who isn’t your friend but who spends half his working time invoicing. Who is the better user and, as a result, a better “pre-beta” tester? The other guy is a “passionate” user. I’m just your friend who knows nothing – and so gives not a damn – about invoice apps.
2. You’ll understand the real “itch” as against the guesstimated one
   Most of us just assume and guesstimate that X is a problem for a majority of the users. And we build based on that guesstimate. That’s not how you build successful startups. When you sit with a real user and show him the interface of your app (and guide him through the features), he’ll tell you what you missed. He’ll tell you what’s the most pressing need.
3. You get to tweak your app better
   Going this route also means you don’t have to abandon your idea. You tweak your idea based on the feedback and finally, like a professional diamond cutter, you refine your idea to a level where it becomes insanely useful.

Why “Interface” / Why Not Prototype?

I deliberately avoided saying prototype because building a prototype is a waste of time until you get the feedback. And you can get a decently relevant feedback just through the interface of your app. If you’ve read GettingReal, you know how the emphasis is on designing the HTML pages first: that’s pretty much enough for the first feedback.

Once you design your interface, you just walk the users through it. Don’t “sell” or boast about a feature. Just go through the functionality as if it’s a real app and let the features sink in.

And then build your magnum opus.

There are exception to the rule of “don’t ask/get feedback from friends/friends of friends.” It kicks in when friends/friends of friends are passionate and regular users too or when the idea relates to games, music, videos or other generic and popular market.

Image by Flickr User: Ian McConchie

For some entrepreneurs, prioritizing yourself can be one of the biggest challenges. Here's how to learn to say no and set boundaries.

Helping others, sharing, being kind: These are the sorts of values that have been instilled in most of us since kindergarten. And they're great values that make us better spouses, parents, neighbors, and citizens.

But sometimes, when you're an entrepreneur, being nice to others means shortchanging yourself and your business.

As Renée Warren, co-founder of Onboardly, reflected when asked what she wished she'd known starting out as an entrepreneur, the value of your time is one of the hardest things for some founders to learn. And safeguarding this resource requires saying no and being (constructively) selfish.

"It took me years to finally start saying no to things that would take me away from what really needed my attention," she says. "Time is the most valuable thing you have. Make sure you invest it wisely."

No one suggests being rude or truly self-centered, but according to time coach Elizabeth Grace Saunders, always trying to please others gets not only Warren but also a lot of busy professionals into trouble.

"In some jobs, immediate responsiveness comes with the territory (just think of fire fighters)," Saunders wrote on Lifehacker. "In others, a quick reply is preferable, such as with customer service reps or publicists. But in many other work situations, this cycle of responsiveness leads to neglect of the most important activities. Either they don't happen at all, or you end up filling your nights and weekends doing your 'real' work. I've worked with clients on six different continents who come to me feeling like victims of their circumstances."

So what can be done about this lack of boundaries? The short answer, which everyone already knows, is to say no more often. But if that were as easy as it sounds, so many of us wouldn't be struggling to manage our time.

Handily, Peter Bregman, writing on the HBR Blog Network, offers a mental toolkit of nine practices to help oversolicitous entrepreneurs get better at saying no and avoid both exhaustion and calendar chaos. Among them:

Be as resolute as they are pushy. Some people don't give up easily. That's their prerogative. But... give yourself permission to be just as pushy as they are. They'll respect you for it. You can make light of it if you want ("I know you don't give up easily--but neither do I. I'm getting better at saying no").

Establish a preemptive no. We all have certain people in our lives who tend to make repeated, sometimes burdensome requests of us. In those cases, it's better to say no before the request even comes in. Let that person know that you're hyperfocused on a couple of things in your life and trying to reduce your obligations in all other areas. If it's your boss who tends to make the requests, agree up front with her about where you should be spending your time. Then, when the requests come in, you can refer to your earlier conversation.

Be prepared to miss out. Some of us have a hard time saying no because we hate to miss an opportunity. And saying no always leads to a missed opportunity. But it's not just a missed opportunity; it's a tradeoff. Remind yourself that when you're saying no to the request, you are simultaneously saying yes to something you value more than the request. Both are opportunities. You're just choosing one over the other.

The remaining six suggestions are just as helpful, so check them out at HBR Blog Network. Saunders also has useful tips. She breaks down those who struggle with saying no into three categories--those with unrealistically high expectations for themselves, extremely service-focused people, and folks who are a bit delegation challenged--and offers advice for each.

Do you struggle with saying no? How do you cope with the problem?

Unfortunately, the world is full of liars who could sabotage your start-up. Here are five things you can do to protect yourself.

The start-up’s board asks you to take over the 50-person venture, as its investors write a $20 million check to help it get to the next level. After conducting due diligence on the start-up’s finances, customers, partners and management team you decide to take the job.

After several meeting with the founder, he agrees to stay with the company as chief technology officer (CTO). You decide that a critical next step for the venture is to win a government contract that would customize the product - leading to thousands of orders.

Since he understands the product better than anyone else in the company and he has expressed an interest in helping the company grow to the next level, you ask the CTO to take the lead on writing a proposal for the contract and making sure it gets delivered to the procurement officer in six weeks.

Every week thereafter, you meet with the CTO and he tells you that everything is proceeding smoothly. Six weeks later, the CTO announces that he is leaving the company to start his own competing firm. You call the procurement officer for that government contract and discover that he never got the proposal that the CTO assured you he had delivered before the deadline.

Suddenly, what had looked like the greatest business opportunity of your career is falling apart before your eyes.

Unfortunately, the world is full of liars who could sabotage your start-up. Here are five things you can do to protect yourself.

1. Screen, screen, screen.

When you’re hiring new employees, go the extra mile to make sure they’re honest. You should do the obvious things - see if they have a criminal record, look at their credit reports, find out why they left their previous job, verify the details on their resumes, talk to their current and former landlords - if any, check at least five references and don’t accept pat answers, and check their social media presence.

But you also have to find ways to see whether they are honest through the interview process. For example, do they show up on time for the interview? Do they tell each of the people who interview them the same story about their career? Do they look you in the eye when they answer difficult questions?

Through all this checking, you have a good chance of weeding out the liars before they start collecting a pay check from your company.

2. Give people an opportunity to earn your trust.

But in most cases, you don’t have a chance to hire every employee. If you’re like the CEO we met above, you are inheriting a predecessor’s hiring decisions. And while you want those people to feel that you trust them, you must protect yourself from the possibility that there might be a few liars on your staff.

One way to give people an opportunity to earn your trust is to design and execute some experiments. For example, you can ask your direct reports to give you some ideas about which of their people ought to get a promotion and which are not performing up to snuff.

Once you get those lists and the reasons for the ranking of those people, you can meet informally with them. Talk to those people about the things they’ve been doing, their aspirations, and their assessment of their boss.

If their answers to you jibe with what your direct reports told you about them, then your direct reports have passed an initial test of trustworthiness. If there are big gaps, for example, between what your VP of Engineering said about her staff and what you learn from your meeting with that staff, you may wish to investigate the possibility that you can’t trust your VP of Engineering.

3. Make integrity a core value.

You ought to create a strong culture in your start-up. That starts with clear and deeply-felt values - backed up by memorable stories about how people put that value into practice and powerful incentives that reward people who act according to those values.

And one of those values should be integrity. There are many ways to measure integrity - but one memorable one comes from venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz (AH). Its co-founders decided to start a venture firm that would better serve entrepreneurs - instead of making them wait 45 minutes to see a partner, AH wanted its venture capitalists to treat entrepreneurs with respect.

So AH decided to fine its employees $10 for every minute they were late for any meeting. The idea was that making a promise to meet at a specific time and keeping that promise was a critical value. And by fining people who do not keep that promise, AH reinforced the importance of that cultural value.

Your start-up ought to make integrity a core value. And don’t just fine people who violate the value; use it as a way to figure out whom to hire, whom to promote, and whom to manage out of the company.

4. Trust but verify.

Even if you’ve done all these things and you think you can trust everyone, you can’t be sure. And often there are polite ways to verify the actions of people who generally think that you trust them.

For example, that unfortunate CEO we met earlier could have asked the CTO to send him copies of the emails he said he sent to the procurement officer. Moreover, it would have been fine for that CEO to have called the procurement officer - perhaps three times:

• Setting the stage. When he initially assigned the CTO to work with the procurement officer, the CEO could have called the procurement officer to tell him why he had asked the CTO to work with him.
• Progress check. Three weeks into the process, the CEO could have called the procurement officer to find out if he had any questions or concerns about how the start-up was handling things; and
• Due date conversation. Six weeks later, the CEO could have called the procurement officer to see whether he was satisfied with the start-up’s application.

Needless to say, had the CEO done this, he would have learned about the CTO’s treachery in time to take remedial action.

5. Dismiss liars with extreme prejudice.

Once you can prove that you have a liar in your midst, you should terminate that person immediately and do not offer to provide a reference.

While there are limits about what you can tell the rest of the organization, you should find acceptable ways to make it clear to everyone else in the company that you demand complete integrity in your communications soon after you dismiss the liar.

In a start-up, one person you can’t trust can send your venture up in flames. These five tactics can help protect you from that.

Successful comedians are deft presenters. 8 comedy lessons to apply to your next business presentation.

What do standup comedy and business presentations have in common?

More than you think. Comedians are entrepreneurs. They often write their own material, book their gigs, arrange their travel and negotiate and collect their compensation from club owners. Both comedians and entrepreneurs must engage and entertain their demanding audiences. You might not be looking for laughs, but there's plenty entrepreneurs can learn from their comic brethren.

Tip #1: Go for the strong start.

Due to their limited stage time, comedians must quickly set the tone. Often the success or failure of the opening joke determines how well a whole routine is received. When appropriate, open your business presentations with an anecdote or personal story that establishes affinity with your audience. Tell the audience who you are, what your passion is and why they should share your passion.

Tip #2: Get physical.

Successful comedians are well aware that it is often not what they say, but how they say it. Studies have shown that approximately 55 percent of a speaker's communication during the first few minutes of a presentation is nonverbal. An additional 38 percent is tone of voice. A mere 7 percent of a speaker's initial communications come from the actual words. So use your voice, posture, gestures and physical appearance to establish the appropriate tenor.

Tip #3: Manage the hecklers.

An audience has a group identity, even when they do not know each other or have any formal affiliation. This effectively creates an "us versus them" paradigm between the speaker and the audience.

Experienced comedians understand this dynamic. They know that if they prematurely shut down a heckler, they risk alienating the crowd. Instead, veteran comedians endure a heckler's interruptions until it is clear that the audience is also annoyed. Then the comedian shuts down the heckler with the audience's implicit approval.

You may not have hecklers at your presentations. But you probably have a Q and A session. An audience member who asks an irrelevant or nonsensical question isn't that different than a heckler. The presenter must respond respectfully. If the questioner continues to ask off-base or overly pointed questions, the audience will eventually become agitated. That's when speaker should politely tell the questioner that they will address their additional questions after the presentation has concluded. It's all about getting the audience on your side.

Tip #4: Develop a repartee.

Comedians often ask their audience questions and make comments about people's wardrobes, dates, drinks, etc. The audience assumes that the guy drinking the "girlie drink" in the back of the room really exists--though often he doesn't.

Chiding or mocking your audience probably isn't the best idea. But soliciting their participation can help keep them engaged. In a small group, use their first names and ask probing questions to uncover hidden concerns. Comedians often ask questions to set up their punch lines. In business presentations, you can deploy the same approach to underscore your key selling points.

Tip #5: Rehearse your spontaneity.

The documentary The Comedian chronicles Jerry Seinfeld's effort to create a new comedy routine. It makes clear that even a talented comic's new material usually bombs. Comedy requires extensive trial and error to separate the bad bits from those that work. The same is true with business presentations.

The next time you attend a comedy show, watch the waitstaff. In most cases, they're straight-faced--even through the funniest bits. Why? Because they have heard the jokes over and over, in the same order and delivered in the same "spontaneous" way. Great comedy appears off-the-cuff and effortless, but it is usually the result of painstaking practice. That's what distinguishes professional comics from amateurs.

When we took Computer Motion public, we conducted a three-week road show in which the executive team gave the same presentation day after day, often multiple times per day. Our most effective presentations were those in which our well-rehearsed ad-libbing sounded spontaneous.

Tip #6: Stop for a breath.

Proper pacing is of vital importance in comedy. Comedians have to wait for each joke to sink in. At the same time, too many pauses and people get bored.

One way to ensure effective pacing is to establish segues that alert the audience when you move from one subject to another. In comedy, questions like, "Anyone here from New York?" or "Did you guys hear the news story about... ?" are used to transition between topics. Verbal landmarks give the audience a chance to catch their breath and guide them to the next subject.

Tip #7: Don't fear humor.

This is a big one. Deft use of humor is the greatest lesson entrepreneurs can learn from comedians. Business presentations do not have to be boring. Injecting humor into your talks, when done judiciously, can make them more engaging, and thus, more impactful. Engaged people are persuadable people.

Tip #8: Bring it home.

Comedians often deploy the bookend technique, in which they reference their opening joke at the conclusion of their show. This gives their performance a feeling of completion and symmetry. You can do the same: refer to your opening story in your closing remarks.

Whether or not you circle back to the beginning, your line is crucial. So call upon your inner comic and end your talk on an applause line that underscores a clear call to action.