Don’t do what most entrepreneurs do if your startup lacks experience in a certain specialty.
This is just another of the often asked questions from business owners. Even after two decades as an entrepreneur with numerous successes and disappointments, it’s a conundrum I still battle with.
How do you quickly fill in the skills shortages in your startup?
Funny thing is, that’s not how I usually get the question. That’s something I’m aware of. You’ll need a big ego if you’re going to be an entrepreneur or a startup leader and try something no one has ever done before. Your ego will prevent you from raising your hand and declaring:
“I’m terrible at this.” “What am I going to do about it?”
This is what you must do.
Is it necessary to hire a professional?
Almost always, the issue regarding filling skill gaps is camouflaged as another inquiry, such as a strategic hiring question.
In other words, when a startup doesn’t have the resources in-house to take it to the next level — whether it’s software development, sales, accountancy, or something else — they determine they need to hire an expert but don’t have the cash to do so.
Then there’s the question of how we’re going to pull it off.
Last week, a startup CEO asked me, “When is the ideal time to hire a professional designer for their app?”
Although the software is still in its early stages, it is already producing revenue and gaining clients at a rapid pace. While the CEO saw no proof that the “rudimentary” (in his words) design was deterring potential consumers, he believed it was only a matter of time before their unsightly software stifled growth.
He is correct. But, based on what I could see, it wasn’t time to hit the (expensive) panic button and hire design consultants. Not yet. His product was successful. It completed the task at hand. It provided solutions to consumer issues.
So this was my response to him:
“Why aren’t you doing your own design?”
Why Do Entrepreneurs Avoid Doing Things That Can Help Their Business Grow?
Too many promising startups have failed because tech founders would rather work alone and stagnate than cold call sales prospects, or because sales-oriented founders spent far too much money outsourcing overbuilt software development, or because introverted founders would rather work alone and stagnate than talk to strangers in search of their first hire.
Please don’t misunderstand me. Design is difficult. Anyone who claims that anyone can create an app interface has never created a successful app interface. I’m not very good at designing. But, in the decades since I launched my first hideous product (which was eventually bought), I’ve worked hard to improve my design skills.
I had no choice.
This is the conundrum. When entrepreneurs come upon a talent with which they are unfamiliar, they tend to avoid it. Instead, they should roll up their sleeves and execute their greatest hack.
Why Should Entrepreneurs Do Everything Their Business Demands?
One of the reasons it’s so difficult to be an entrepreneur is that we’re the only ones with the appropriate answers when it comes to the venture’s success, whether it’s in sales, technology, finance, or anything.
We may not be able to provide hands-on expertise in certain areas, but we must at the very least get involved and ensure that the end outcome meets our expectations. Today, there are technologies in almost every industry that will perform the majority of the manual work for you; all you have to do is supply the plan and make the decisions.
No one knows the strategy and is better qualified to make those judgments than the person in charge at every startup and in every aspect of its business.
You.
If you want to be a successful entrepreneur, being “very good” at whatever your startup does. All you have to do now is master the application of those skills to whatever your startup does.
You can quickly become the expert you demand if you roll up your sleeves and go to work.
How to become expert in startup?
How we become expert in startup?
How you become expert in startup?
How startup leaders become quick experts at all the skills ?
