A ROADMAP TO BUILD A TEAM FOR YOUR STARTUP

Can you build a startup on your own? We are sure you can, but how efficient will it be? Time matters, and the faster you understand it, the better your product will grow.

If you’re non-technical, you can spend your time pulling all-nighters to learn tech information on how to build it right. But at the same time, you can build a team to support your product development while you’re finding new opportunities and investments.

Finding partners

At the beginning of the journey, everything you have is an idea. You may have some tech skills, but most startupers have no technical or financial background before this stage. That’s when you start thinking about finding people who can take responsibility for the tech part of product development and help you build the right team and can run the budget easily.

Finding a partner is not an easy process. And the first thing you have to do is to look around. Your close friends, ex-co-workers can be the right fit. And if you’re a lucky man and have them, the biggest advantage is trust.

But what if I’m short in such connections? The only way is to start searching. You cannot “hire” a partner or co-founder, but you can find a person with similar interests and views. This person needs to have the same level of passion, commitment to contribute to the development of your idea.

There is a list of platforms such as AngelList and ProductHunt where you can place your startup, write a short intro about your business, and publish a position for CTO, CMO, COO, etc. First, try to transcend the vision of your future product. As soon as your candidate shares the same goal and strives to build something new together, you’ve got a strong partner.

Hiring a team

No matter how strong your idea is, you are definitely in need of someone who can help your business flourish. It’s impossible to build a startup only with your partners, that’s why you have to find dedicated individuals to manage numerous ideas you’re planning to bring in live. And this process can be split into 4 steps:

• Identify the positions to be filled

The core part of your company is your partners, and now you have them. This is the right time to complete your team. Jobs in development, marketing, management are just a handful of positions you have to fill. In the beginning, it may be handy to find a person who can combine some roles, for example, management and sales, or SMM.

If you are planning to build an application, focus on finding experienced developers and managers to make your project run smoothly. Have in mind the budget you’re ready to spend hiring new employees.

• Write the best job descriptions

Once you have the positions required in mind, it’s time to write the descriptions. The more precise your description, the better the hiring process will be. Try to avoid long and milk-and-water texts as long as they are mostly uninformative and people refuse to read them. The best way is to write a short intro about who you are, specify requirements and duties, and highlight benefits. Make the hiring process clear and easy because in most cases even the best position but with time-consuming applications don’t attract talents. CV and cover letter or the assignment to estimate skills are more than enough.

• Hiring process

Now when you’ve found your potential employees, it’s time for the hiring process to start. An important step to be made is conducting background checks. To understand them and their motivation better, ask them for references. Calling previous employers to let you find more professional information about the person before face-to-face interviews. If you’re satisfied with the information obtained, move on, and schedule an interview whether offline or online using Zoom or Skype.

Before the interview, write down the list of additional questions to be asked and plan the interview process itself. That helps you be confident. As long as you’re looking for people to join the team, it’s significant to bring attention to soft skills such as interpersonal communication, leadership, etc. To make sure whether the person is the right fit concerning hard skills, give him or her tests.

• Post-hiring

Passed? Congratulations, you’ve found a strong shoulder to support you. But it doesn’t mean that everything is set and done. Starting with onboarding, the first months are important to estimate his or her performance. Make sure you have ideas concerning promotions and career opportunities to make your employees self-develop.

Outsourcing vs. In-house

Startups in their nature are small and short in money. If you can’t afford to hire an in-house team, you with 99% sure think about the outsourced team. But what are the pros and cons? Let’s figure them out.

Outsource

Advantages

• Cost-efficiency

Considering recruitments expenditures, training processes, and interviews, it’s more affordable to find an offshore team to get your things done with less budget.

• Scalability

Whether you need a full-stack developer, UI / UX designer, or data analyst — an outsourced company can easily find necessary staff in short term.

• Fewer commitments

You hire an outsourced company for specific needs and pay only for the work done.

Disadvantages

• Lack of control

As an Owner, it’s difficult to stay on top of all processes that are going on. Due to poor communication or cultural differences, you can lose control over the development that leads to cooperation failure.

• Dispensed focus

Outsourced companies usually work with several projects at the same time.

In-house

Advantages

• Complete control

You never lose the traction of the project because of the constant reporting process and having the ability to check the things as they are.

• Clear focus

Your team deeply understands the project and spends all the time and energy working with you.

• Cultural similarities

As you live in the same country and have similar cultural habits, it’s easier to understand the ‘roots’ and have a clear vision of what to do and how to do it right.

• Communication

The language barrier diminishes that minimize the risk of not being understood.

Disadvantages

• High cost

It’s significantly expensive to hire local employees than use outsourcing services due to training costs, overhead expenses, the higher hourly rate of salary, employee benefits, etc.

• Experience needed

Being non-technical or without having prior experience in development, it’s harder to hire employees yourself as you need to specify all the requirements, conduct interviews, and provide training. The outsourced company already has these processes done and development runs smoothly.

Pulling all together

The only professionally selected team can ensure your project is developed in the best possible way. Your obligation is to find the people with the same vision as yours.

The development itself may take place either by hiring an in-house team or using outsourcing services. It’s upon you to choose what fits you best, having in mind such features as time, budget, and communication issues.