By Jabari Zion
Congratulations – you’ve taken the plunge to work on your own startup! While that is an amazing achievement in its own right, it can still feel terrifying to know that so much is riding on how you set up your startup and the systems you put in place to build it from the ground up. That being said, there are many different technological tools you can use to create quality processes for your startup. These tools can also help you better organize and management processes, better communicate with your employee and staff, and better process the payments of potential customers and clients. With that in mind, here are the tools that you need to focus on implementing in order to give your startup an increased chance of success.
Tools for Organization
One of the biggest mistakes that new startups make is not thinking about their organizational structure as well as how they are going to organize key documents. There are many different tools that startups can use to get organized, but they do need to keep in mind that they are going to have many documents, contract and business plans that need to be accounted for. They are also going to want to have a space to organize this all and receive funding, create deals with other businesses, and more. Not knowing where all of these different documents are located can make it really difficult to get off the ground. By using a virtual deal room, a startup company can ensure that they are ready to hit the ground running to acquire funding and close business deals and partnerships. By making this information secure and accessible,
Tools for Managing Projects
Even small teams need to have projects that are actively managed. No company can get away with not having some sort of project management in place, even if it is just a series of Google Sheets saved in a Google Drive folder. While this is not an ideal way to manage a project by any means, it is important that you have some sort of system in place. As your startup grows, things will inherently become more complex and there will be more moving parts that will become increasingly more difficult to keep track of. As such, all startups should sit down with their employees and come up with a project management system that works for them, even if it is just basic to begin with.
Tools for Communication
All organizations need ways to communicate with employees. Email is usually not adequate – and a remote startup needs a way to instantly get in contact with its employees and contractor. For smaller tasks, all startups should employee a communication tool such as Slack or Microsoft Teams. Using an instant messaging application will help to keep touch and assign things on an as-needed basis, and also check up with employees and contractors to see how their work is going and if you can assist in any way. However, both email and instant messaging platforms can co-exist and should be used in tandem to communicate efficiency and efficiently.
Tools for Payroll Processing
Choosing how your startup processes payments and pays its employees is essential to its success. PayPal is a good way to start out, but it is not a payroll software and can’t really function as a way to pay full-time employees or regular contractors. As such, you can use a payment processing tool to better automate payments and make sure that employees and contractors get paid the correct amount for the hours they put in. If you do not pay your staff on time, then they may choose to work elsewhere and take their work with them – which can spell doom for your fledging startup. Overall, you do not want payments to be an issue – and you want to be able to focus on growth without having to worry about this issue.
While running a startup can be challenging, putting in various tool in place such as a virtual deal room, a project management tool, an instant messaging application such as Slack or Microsoft Teams, and a payroll system can go a long way in ensuring that your startup is up and running in no time.
