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The starting is all the time tough, especially when building a team for an early-stage startup. Founders often lack the resources to draw and retain top talent, but having a strong team is crucial to the success of a product.
From a candidate’s perspective, joining an early-stage startup can seem like this: unknown company; may very well be a huge success, but is also a disaster. The tasks are definitely interesting, but the uncertainty is high, the pay is modest, and there are no guarantees.
From a founder’s perspective, the situation is no higher: there is no large budget, no established HR brand, no market position, and it is difficult to compete with the biggest players in the industry.
How do you connect these two realities? Here are some suggestions I’ve developed and tested based on my very own experiences. So let’s dive deeper.
1. HR is not just about pay – start with company culture
Building a strong culture is fundamental and needs to be a priority from day one. You’ve probably heard the iconic saying, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Before you may create and implement a business strategy, it’s essential to know who you are, where you are, where you aspire to be, and what the big vision is behind your organization. Understand your core values and the values you ought to share with the world.
Founders must answer all of those questions before they begin recruiting and hiring. This forms the startup’s mission, vision, and strategy. From these insights, you may develop an EVP.
2. Identify competencies and behavioral indicators
Next, think about the variety of people you would like on your team or who will grow with you. This involves understanding competencies and behavioral indicators.
For example, in a startup, employees must develop flexibility and adaptability because we work in a rapidly changing environment. We also highly value openness to recent ideas, healthy ambition, willingness to take risks for innovation, and the ability to stay calm and decisive in the face of uncertainty and pressure.
If someone doesn’t have these traits, it’ll be a challenge for everyone involved, which can result in poor execution. That worker probably won’t stay with the company very long.
3. Formulate your EVP and communicate it clearly
Startup-ready people are likely to be passionate risk-takers. They value freedom, room to be creative, a sense of belonging to something vital, and opportunities for profession growth. Make sure you offer these. If the compensation is below market, consider offering additional advantages, comparable to stock options.
On the other hand, understand that startups are not for everyone. A candidate could also be a sensible specialist, but they are going to not be joyful if their attitude does not fit the startup culture. No matter how many advantages you offer, comparable to corporate psychologists, fitness trainers, family insurance or hobby clubs, if a person values stability and status, they are going to not join a startup.
As a startup founder, it’s vital to speak about the growth of the product and its potential for the future, communicate a culture of pleasure and growth, and emphasize the advantages and value it brings to the world. These incentives are effective in attracting like-minded people. This needs to be a part of your EVP — Employee Value Proposition. Choosing a job isn’t all the time about salary. You must know exactly who you’re looking for and understand the needs and expectations of potential candidates to draw the right talent.
4. Start building HR processes
Creating HR processes for an early-stage startup requires a balance of structure and flexibility. Basic tasks, comparable to hiring and defining roles, are established immediately, while other processes evolve over time as the startup grows.
Key HR areas include:
- Recruitment
- Training and development
- (*5*) management
- Salary and bonuses
- Corporate culture and internal communication
- (*5*) evaluation
- Offboarding etc.
Yes, you’ll have to face all of this and it’ll be a difficult journey.
5. Consider outsourcing your HR back office
For early-stage startups, the most important challenge is determining where, how, and when to look for the right talent. The workload is high and experience is often limited, especially when there are only 24 hours in a day. In addition, the founder must maintain a strategic focus on the product. If you are attempting to handle all the pieces yourself, the probabilities of approaching a successful and scalable business model will drastically decrease.
Consider outsourcing your HR Back Office processes. A team of specialists can manage all points, including recruiting, hiring, building culture, HR branding, and creating retention and development programs.
By outsourcing HR tasks, you may speed up hiring and reduce the costs associated with attracting and retaining talent. Most importantly, it gives you the freedom to delve into product development and achieve goals faster.
Building a team is a bottleneck for early-stage startups. This is primarily on account of limited resources, high uncertainty, and difficulty attracting and retaining talent. An early-stage startup is not a classic business, so HR processes for such projects have their very own unique complexities.
Today’s best corporations were once founded and built by enthusiasts who believed in a big idea and took risks. Your job is to search out those dreamers, innovators, and visionaries for your project—those that are willing to share the risk with you and work together toward a big goal. The key to building a dream team is to be clear about your mission, goals, and values. With that clarity, it’ll be much easier to search out individuals who share your mindset, worldview, and culture.