The startup world is hectic with numerous decisions to make weekly that could impact the business immensely. One of these decisions that a founder has to make is what parts of the business will be outsourced and what will be kept in-house.
Hiring certain departments can be done years later once the business is more established. Outsourcing can be a great way to reduce stress on current staff as well as can save money as hiring certain positions can be extremely expensive to do domestically.
HR
One thing that can kill cash flow as well as a startup’s reputation is that of a former employee suing for wrongful termination. Younger staff members could become enraged when let go whether for financial reasons or performance reasons. The right processes and documentation have to be filled out when a person is written up.
Proof of lack of performance should also be available so the employee can sign a write up acknowledging that it was brought to their attention. Hiring a human resources firm to handle many of these issues can be a huge stress reliever. These firms also can help with hiring especially if they have worked in your niche. Being able to reduce blame for firing as well as increase the quality of talent in the office is a huge positive for any business.
Digital Marketing
Digital marketing could not be more important for all businesses in today’s world as it is the way brands get noticed in today’s digital age. Small things like social media marketing being done by a professional contractor or digital marketing firm can expand the reach of a company immensely.
SEO is another term that is becoming more common in today’s business landscape. Search engine optimization or SEO factors in a variety of things like links back to your site from related sites as well as things like keywords in content on the site.
Hiring a marketing team can be expensive but hiring a marketing firm can actually save money due to the fact that they work with a myriad of clients that could be related to you company.
Accounting
Accounting is not as difficult as it had been in the past as it is easy to sort expenses, payments, and projections in a variety of platforms. For those larger startups getting a professional accounting department might be further down the road.
For the time being using an accounting firm allows a company to save money as hiring multiple accountants can be quite a drain on the cash flow. Corporate accountants can save a business thousands of dollars come tax time so this could not be more important for a business trying to consistently turn a profit.
QuickBooks is the most well-known way to track finances and can be linked to payment platforms like PayPal which allows it to track whether online invoices have been paid.
Sales
This is one area where a startup should not outsource for any reason. Hiring people to handle sales that do not have a good idea of the products or services being bought can lead to them misleading customers. Pushy salespeople also are not what a startup wants their brand to be associated with.
Building personal relationships with a client from the sales process throughout the business lifecycle is important. These relationships can lead to long term contracts being signed which are the staples for long term profitability and success.
Do not outsource things that will involve dealing directly with prospects or current clients as this is where you want your in-house staff to shine.
As you can see outsourcing is the answer for many startups as it offers a fix to a problem that otherwise could require copious amounts of money.