# Our 6 Must Reads For Creating and Accelerating Trust on Teams

Trust is intangible, but foundational to nearly every part of company-building. We've assembled our top posts from leaders who have gotten particularly tactical with fostering trust on their teams.

Over the years, we’ve dug into some complex topics, from [technical infrastructure](https://review.firstround.com/the-three-infrastructure-mistakes-your-company-must-not-make/) to [growth equations](https://review.firstround.com/indispensable-growth-frameworks-from-my-years-at-facebook-twitter-and-wealthfront/). We’ve even covered [complexity itself](https://review.firstround.com/wait-but-whys-tim-urban-on-parsing-and-transmitting-complex-ideas/). But there’s one concept that’s familiar yet remains a challenge to parse and make tactical: trust.

It’s intangible, but foundational to nearly every part of company-building. Teams must have conviction in their leaders — and vice versa. [Customers need to trust products](https://review.firstround.com/Urbansitter-Lynn-Perkins/). Founders seek out advisors and investors who they’re confident will help them build for the long haul.

From the Review’s vantage point, trust surfaces in nearly every interview we do. Inevitably, whether the subject is talking about management practices, go-to-market strategy, customer service, or sales cycles, we hear some version of the refrain: “It all comes down to trust.”

All too often, that’s where people tend to stop. This article spotlights those who kept on, dug deeper to put teeth on the topic of trust, and shared _how_ it can be built, not just assert that it must exist. This roundup offers frameworks, equations and habits that leaders have tested and actually used to create and cultivate trust on their teams.

Read on for specific ways to quickly build confidence and conviction in others, especially as they evolve from stranger to candidate, and from new hire to colleague. We hope you find these tactics immediately actionable — and trust you’ll give them a try.

> The ability to quickly establish and then nurture trust over years is a vital yet often overlooked ingredient for success.

**1. Leave a good _last_ impression.**  
Partner **[Chris Fralic](https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisfralic?ref=review.firstround.com)** is responsible for **[First Round Capital](/content/?ref=review.firstround.com)**’s investments in Warby Parker, Roblox, HotelTonight and Adaptly among others. When asked what’s made his career possible, he’ll tell you outright it’s the relationships — cultivated and built deliberately over many years.

At the heart of this ability to connect, is his ability to engender trust even with those who he might have limited context or history. That’s a crucial skill because, at some point, every person is an unknown entity before becoming a trusted colleague on a team.

He asserts that how you _exit_ conversations with new people ultimately lays the groundwork for trusting relationships to be built, not just a transactional exchange to occur. His tactic? **End every meeting or conversation with the feeling and optimism you’d like to have at the start of your next conversation with the person**.

For example, Fralic is always impressed by founders who — when turned down — send some variation of, “Thanks for looking even if it’s not a fit. If you have other ideas for us or if anything changes, please let me know,” or, “Chris, when we met, you had a question/issue about X. I just wanted to show you what we’ve done about it — no need to respond.”

> There's time beyond this fundraise and even this company. Relationships take years to build. Start now.

**2. Give your most recent performance review to your final round candidates.**  
**[Thumbtack](https://www.thumbtack.com/?ref=review.firstround.com)** CEO and Co-founder **[Marco Zappacosta](https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcozappacosta/?ref=review.firstround.com)** shares a compelling gesture of vulnerability and trust with any potential hire at his organization. One of his best practices is an exchange that occurs at the end of his executive interview process.

To put candidates more at ease — and make the evaluation bi-directional — Zappacosta offers his latest 360° review. “One of the last things I do is I share my most recent 360. I give the person a copy so they can see where I hit the mark and what I’m working on. It’s a gesture of my willingness to be completely open.” After answering any questions, Zappacosta asks them about their current team's impressions.

> Even the most talented people have gaps. That’s why I share my 360 with executive candidates — and ask them to reciprocate.

**3. Don’t miss the Day One opportunity.**  
Before getting into tech, **[Carly Guthrie](https://www.linkedin.com/pub/carly-guthrie/1/348/73?ref=review.firstround.com)** managed HR for the [Thomas Keller Restaurant Group](http://www.thomaskeller.com/?ref=review.firstround.com), owner of elite California restaurant [The French Laundry](http://www.thomaskeller.com/tfl?ref=review.firstround.com).

“From a sheer tactical standpoint, you’re never going to have the same opportunity to impact people that you do on their first day,” says Guthrie. Here are a few onboarding rules for managers:  
- **Rule #1**: Never have someone start their first day at 9 a.m.— have them come at 11.
- **Rule #2**: Don’t outsource a welcome.
- **Rule #3**: Keep the first day light.
- **Rule #4**: Clue them in on the vernacular.

> Day One is your chance to be who you said you were in the recruiting process.

**4. Write and distribute your user guide.**  
As a first-time founder and CEO of health technology startup **[PatientPing](http://www.patientping.com/?ref=review.firstround.com)**, **[Jay Desai](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jdesai01/?ref=review.firstround.com)** penned a **user guide** that delineates how he operates.

**The goal of a user guide is to set blindingly clear expectations on how to collaborate without extra second guessing.** This sets the tone that you're going to be vulnerable as a manager, empowering employees to feel comfortable doing the same.

Here’s a list of quick hits on how user guides have helped PatientPing and Desai:  
- **Show, not sell, transparency to candidates.**  
- **Give new hires a full onboarding.**  
- **Redistribute cognitive overhead beyond the basics.**  
- **Actually put your weaknesses on the table.**

> People always harp on the importance of building trust and communicating — but they rarely say how. Write your user guide. Ask your team to reciprocate.

**5. Reference this equation to determine who and how much to trust.**  
**[Anne Raimondi](https://www.linkedin.com/in/anneraimondi/?ref=review.firstround.com)** offers an equation for diagnosing and repairing trust that comes from a book called _[The Trust Equation](https://www.amazon.com/Trust-Equation-Steven-Drozdeck/dp/0974517526?ref=review.firstround.com)_. The equation consists of:

- **Credibility**: How credible you believe someone is on a subject.
- **Reliability**: How reliable they’ve proven themselves to be over time.
- **Authenticity**: How authentic you think they are as a person.  
- **Self Interest**: How much they appear to be acting in their own self interest.

> Read on here to learn how each of these variables might break at startups and what Raimondi suggests to do about it.

**6. Work toward a shared consciousness.**  
**[General Stanley McChrystal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_A._McChrystal?ref=review.firstround.com)** emphasizes the importance of developing shared consciousness throughout an organization, which allows leaders to empower people to make decisions faster on their own.

> The wisest decisions are made by those closest to the problem — regardless of their seniority.”

His solution to build trust and a common purpose is to combine strategy and execution through inclusive communication, ensuring everyone is acting with the same information and can be trusted.