I had an interesting conversation today with one of the individuals I am working with on a project. It is the first time we are working together, and our team deviated from one of the set criterions on a contract. During our conversation he brought up the issue of developing trust and how it cannot be developed when line items are not adhered to. I understood where he was coming from, and given this was our first project together, it was an understandable concern. I thought about his comment, and more holistically about trust a lot more in context to start-ups after our conversation.

Trust is definitely an intangible factor, one which takes years to develop, and no time at all to destroy. It is actually a very fragile component in most relationships, and one which is,  and should be given a great deal of importance. As a start-up, your first customer is trusting you to deliver on the promise you have committed to.  I have been in this position many a time, and have admittedly failed to deliver exactly what I committed to on several occasions. Given the nature and unpredictability of start-ups I think many of the customers I have worked with have understood this, and were good enough to give me further chances to redeem myself.  Hence the above statement was an interesting observation, and goes to show that trust is not built solely on line items and contracts alone. This is a much greater intangible component, it is based on our communication, our character and overall how we conduct ourselves. If I come across someone who says one thing, communicates another and delivers something completely different, there is obviously no consistency in the story. This in turn causes a breakdown in trust.

However when there is consistency in behavior, we get a much greater feel for where the person is coming from, and where they are going. Trust has to be earned over time, it is not something that can be developed overnight. We need to work towards it on a daily basis.