With the advancement of technology, and the scramble to develop the next big piece of software, the tech industry has enjoyed an explosion of investment, support and notoriety. From Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and the other early pioneers, to Mark Zuckerberg, Chad Hurley, and the modern day digital rockstars, companies from Silicon Valley to the shores of Shanghai are looking to the geeks and nerds around the globe to create the next innovation that will change the way we interact with the world.
For your own tech startup, this is probably your ultimate goal – to create the next great piece of software or hardware that will shake everything to its core, and provide a resource that will improve the lives of as many people as possible. Such a goal will only be possible with a tremendous amount of hard work, devotion, and sacrifice.
But many tech startups will never even get there. Fatigue, a lack of innovation, the concept ahead of the available technology – there’s a myriad of reasons why tech startups fail. One particular aspect that all tech startups will inevitably face as they grow, that can quickly overwhelm any business, is meeting customer demand, while trying to focus on their core business.
Maintaining that balance is very difficult, and has led to the end of more than a few startups before they could really shine. To help combat this trend, you have to consider outsourcing certain aspects of your business, and the following are the three areas I would recommend you consider the most:
1. Human Resourcing
Every business needs some form of human resources. All businesses have to handle payroll, healthcare management, timekeeping, and employment records in one form or another.
However, human resources is a time consuming, tedious series of processes that detract from the core of most businesses. For young and growing startups, it can quickly overwhelm your capacity to focus on your core business. You could hire your own internal HR department, but that costs time, investments for pay and education, and space that you may not have.
Since most of the majority of HR functions are predominantly in the digital domain, there’s no reason you have to maintain your own. Outsourcing your HR functions to a professional firm will save you time, money, and the headache of ensuring that you’re in compliance with all federal and state guidelines and laws.
2. Your IT and Virtual Assistance Functions
This might seem contradictory for a business rooted firmly in the tech domain, but if you want to continue focusing on your core functions, without dealing with the hassle of the unavoidable need to maintain your servers and troubleshooting for your customers, you should strongly consider outsourcing your IT and virtual assistance functions.
For IT to be effective, even the most basic functions require advanced training and certification. This is great for employees because they can demand a higher premium, even if they’re just starting out, and their services will always be in demand. But for a young tech startup, it’s a lot of money in payroll, health insurance and taxes, to essentially ‘keep the lights on.’
In that same train of thought, virtual assistance requires advanced training in both software and hardware, as well as customer relations, in order to benefit your businesses. The same issues with cost and compliance with employment laws also come into play as well, for a service that, while essential, may not see a great deal of use.
There are plenty of firms that specialize in performing IT services, as well as virtual assistance functions, and using their services will allow you and your employees to focus on your core business, while saving money that you can use to grow.
3. Accounting
Businesses, no matter what they specialize in, deal with a lot of numbers. Payroll, taxes, expenses, quarterly earnings, cost projects, business proposals, and other facets are all necessary for businesses to succeed. But not everyone is great with math, and even if you are, it takes a substantial amount of time to compile and verify all the numerical factors that go into a business.
To avoid the hassle, headache, and potential consequences of fat-fingering the numbers on your finances, you definitely need to consider outsourcing your accounting functions.
In addition to saving you time and money, one of the most difficult aspects of accounting is ensuring you stay in compliance with the various policies and laws that dictate how you report your income and expenses. It varies widely based on what state you operate in, and the tax codes for businesses can literally fill volumes. You got in businesses to create a service that would help make people’s lives just a little bit easier, not spend your days memorizing the tax code.
Although you’ll always want to keep a personal eye on your finances, in order to save money, and potentially keep you out of prison, is to hire a firm who can manage your finances, and has extensive experience in dealing with accounting laws.
