Startups are a beautiful thing. We all dream of this scenario: Discovering a brilliant idea at your local bar, writing it on the back of a napkin and working at it day and night in your garage. Afterward, you grow. So much in fact that your product is gaining attention from investors or competitors. At that point you make the easy decision to either sell to competitors for millions of dollars or you take investors money to grow exponentially and be the one buying out others.
If only it was that easy. Sadly the startup life is far from easy. We all dream of starting the next Whatsapp or Instagram and being acquired by Facebook. However, for most startups, the journey to success can be a nightmare.
More Money More Problems
Enough with dark and scary thoughts. Launching a startup is a wonderful experience regardless of the outcome. However, in order to beat the odds, you need to be ready to manage the growth of your company. One of the key components of growth management is your team. Here’s how you can efficiently manage growth and build a great running company culture.
As startups grow, their challenges multiply. There is an increase in customers? Bring in a support team. A list of new feature requests has appeared? Increase the number of developers in-house to keep our customers happy! Have you thought about how you’re going to manage all these new employees while you focus on bringing your company to the next level? This is often one area that startups assume will take care of itself, however, it can be a costly mistake.
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A common problem in startups is the lack of resources dedicated to managing employees. These small and medium-sized companies often don’t have departments or positions dedicated to HR, therefore owners or managers are often adding multiple tasks to their overloaded list of duties. Don’t make the mistake of using basic spreadsheets or paper documents to track all these administrative duties. These tools lead to confusion, mistakes, clutter, long hours, higher costs, inpatient employees and an overall negative work environment.
Ready, Set, Growth.
How can startups avoid this common mistake? Start planning your growth before it’s too late. Find the tools to help you manage the extra team members before they join. More importantly, choose a solution that will grow with your company. Sure, spreadsheets might do the trick when you have a few employees, however, they get time-consuming and confusing as you grow. What startups need is an on demand solution in the cloud. An automated SaaS solution will help companies focus on their day to day operations thanks to having an automated and online process to manage their employees or any other time-consuming duties taking the leaders away from their work. Evidently, every company has different needs, therefore choosing the right system is very important!
Your employees are the backbone of your startup. Keeping your employees happy and focused will allow you to smoothen the path to success. A strong and focused team will drive a startup over any obstacle it faces and brings you closer to the million dollar deal.
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Startup Stats:
- At PurelyHR we’ve observed that startups begin having issues managing their staff when they reach as little as 5 full-time employees.
- These same companies look for a Time-Off solution first.
- 50% of all new business fail within five years.
- Scaling too fast, too soon is the number one reason most new companies fail.
- Two founders, rather than one, significantly increases your odds of success. You will raise 30% more investment, grow your customers 3 times as fast, and will be less likely to scale too fast.