The role of employees is critical, for although an entrepreneur can plan businesses and add vision, without a good team to back his/her strategies, may achieve nothing in the end.

Investing in small businesses entails high risks. Most investors are aware of it, but ignorant of risk minimizing factors. In his book, Venture Capital Investing: The Complete Handbook for Investing in Small Private Business for Outstanding Profits,” Gladstone opines that the success or failure of a company is dependant on employee management.

The key to success has been explained in several theoretical studies. Academic principles come up with new business cultural concepts. According to Gladstone however, how a company fairs in the market is ultimately dependant on how its business is organized. This can be determined by studying the organizational structure of a company before making investments.

Structural maps state the job responsibilities of various departments of an organization.

To support his views, Gladstone uses the example of a start-up entrepreneur who declined drawing business structures in an attempt to encourage his employees perform as a team. Gladstone confesses that he found it a promising idea at first, but eventually witnessed its downfall too. The reason, as Gladstone analyzed and states in his book, was the omission of little, yet critical jobs, owing to structural inefficiency. According to Gladstone, a corporation lacking a hierarchical structure is susceptible to major developmental problems, if not absolute failure.

Criticism against organizational hierarchy, as Gladstone notes, is many. But Gladstone feels that such vehement opposition is mainly due to the nature, not purpose, of company hierarchical charts. A single entrepreneur heading several lesser employees is outdated and ineffective. Instead, a structure with evenly spread out responsibilities controlled by an efficient mid-management in funding, is more productive.