The first few months after starting a business can be hectic, scary, and exciting all at once. Life in a startup has a lot to do with trial and error as each industry is very different to break into. The first couple of months are some of the most important when it comes to establishing a brand and feeling out the market. This can be a make or break time for many companies that do not have the backing of investors. The following are details that are often overlooked during the first few months of business.
Superfluous Spending
This is something that happens all too often with a startup that just got a huge cash injection from an investor, they spend it all with the expectation of future funding. This can come crashing down once the cash flow has run out if business isn’t going as planned. While free lunches on a daily basis seems like a staple for startups, hiring one or two more people with that money can make the company more profitable. This does not mean you need to skimp on needs like technology but rather cut out the spending that isn’t needed at the beginning. Obviously if business is going very well, then it is time to bring back free lunches, as keeping employees in the office for lunch helps to increase employee loyalty to your startup and is something your employees will appreciate.
Contract Management
One of the things that many startups sometimes fail to execute properly is contract management. Most startups are looking to sign their first few contracts before thinking about this, but contract management is an incredibly important thing to have in place. Being able to pull up a contract in the blink of an eye can help remind a client manager about what was agreed upon. There will be clients that try to get away with quite a bit because they know a startup might be struggling and may not be paying strict attention to the terms of the contract. It is important for a firm to stick with what was agreed upon in order to foster a constructive relationship. Contractworks is a perfect example of software that can help with all types of contract-related tasks.
Hiring Processes
The startup world is full of giving close friends jobs and hiring people that the hiring manager has a gut feeling about. One simple interview isn’t enough to see if a person is a good fit for a company. Take a look at more established companies and their hiring processes. One great tip is to give the potential hire some sort of task to complete before their second round interview. This should have something directly to do with their job as many people tend to inflate their resume with fancy words at their position when they cannot even handle the simplest of tasks.
As you can see there are things to consider other than where to put the ping pong at any startup. Take care of these details instead of constantly trying to sell as your processes need to be properly in place in order for you to succeed and execute on your vision.
