The Time Quagmire Start-up Founders and Entrepreneurs Get Stuck In

Few founders and entrepreneurs are given a heads-up about all the time-consuming tasks that are necessary, but not directly related to, the goals and milestones required to attract investment, or needed once the first funding round is closed.  As a CEO of a small start-up and COO of small, funded, and quickly growing early-stage ventures, I realized there are so many “behind the scenes” activities that make a company successful.   These are the types of activities such as setting up insurance, paying the bills, registering the company, obtaining appropriate permits, setting up a CRM system (even if just an Excel spreadsheet), managing inventory, building a digital presence and the constant cultivation needed to obtain and engage a potential customer base.   Finding office or laboratory space is also quite a time suck. 

When your company is at the small start-up stage, your focus needs to be on pitching to investors and finalizing product development to get your tech customer-ready.   I found myself spending 75% of my time on these other activities as well as the Chief Technology Officer- Founder, when as the CEO and CTO, we really needed to be out fundraising and de-risking our product.  I had taken for granted all these tasks that just “happened” in more established companies.  I found myself being an accountant, bookkeeper, trade-show planner, web developer, IP patent writer and social media poster.   We moved out of the academic lab, and needed to find space, obtain insurance – both employee health and corporate, file for laboratory permits and perform the necessary safety training. 

Even when you have your first funds which could be friends & family, seed round or A round, you will need to start “growing up” as a company.  Investors will require not only communication but also that appropriate processes and procedures be in place to protect their stake.   Just because the company has some cash, it does not mean that you have the funds to hire a slew of new employees, or the bandwidth to handle these additional tasks as the same small team.  In my past, I’ve spent a lot of time calling/emailing for quotes, online searching for requirements of a new company and trying to get our name out there through social media, researching IP and Corporate attorneys, email marketing and tradeshow presence.  Setting up systems, CRM, reviewing resumes of potential employees and human resource tasks took even more time.

I learned that most everyone has an opinion of what a nascent company should be doing.   But there are times that a company needs to do what is necessary and focus on milestones and other key activities to obtain the next round of funding or to launch a product in the marketplace.   I was given advice on how much insurance we needed or not needed, what permits for our office and lab were necessary or nice to have, and how to set up short-term leave for employees when it was necessary.   I was overwhelmed.   I needed to obtain more funding.  I needed to find strategic partners and evangelize the company in a business development role.  These were administrative and support tasks that just used to happen when I was working for more established companies.

All of this is why my partner and I founded Operation-All.   We have done what small companies and startups need to do.  Now we know what is needed and what is a “nice to have” on a small budget.  We know how to set up systems to help employees (who may work from home) to be a part of the team in constant communication and we know how to build a potential client base through digital marketing.  But the fact is, we love small company life.   Finding firms and agencies to help out with each and every of these tasks, is extremely costly.  At Operation-All, our goal is to be your one point of contact and our vendors agree to a fair price for small companies and startups.  Once your start up is successful, it will become a client of theirs, so it’s win-win for everyone.  Now let’s get more than 10% of start-up companies past the two year mark, together!

Please get in touch with us if we can help, initial consultations are always free of charge.