Things to avoid when making a move from being an employee in a large organization or an MNC to owning a small business as a startup.
I was working in an MNC before jumping into my entrepreneurial journey. When moving from an MNC to startup, specific tasks, you will try to do it the same way in startups. Ideally, it should be done a lot differently in a startup than in an MNC, or else it may become too difficult for the startup to grow.
So here is a list of 5 things that I think every entrepreneur should do differently in a startup than when working in an MNC.
1. Software expenses
MNC’s will have specific software for their day to day activities. Your startup, more often than not, has to find a cheap or free alternative.
I remember we were using Lotus Sametime for chat among employees. The most significant advantage of using it is, all new employees automatically get added, and so you can chat with everybody in the organization without requiring to add each one. Looks cool but if your organization is small, it hardly takes any time to be adding new members. On top of that, if you are using Gmail for business, you can get the same functionality of everyone being added to others very cheaply.
Similarly, I remember we were using ClearCase and ClearQuest combo for version controlling and bug tracking respectively, but there are so many open source alternatives including SVN and Bugzilla, for achieving the same kind of solution.
Same applies to choose the operating system. If you are using a PC or laptop, you may need to buy an operating system as well as anti-virus and firewalls. See if you can opt for Linux as a solution for developers and possibly a MAC for designers.
Reducing the cost in a startup can always help and so make sure you look at all the options available before deciding to spend on buying the software.
Read What Small Business Owners and Startup Owners Job Title Be?
2. Meetings and more meetings
In an MNC, you will have a lot of meetings to attend to decide on small change but in a startup, everyone is possibly working in front of you, and so you don’t need to schedule a meeting to discuss. Just reaching to the person and asking what you need can be as good as a meeting in an MNC.
Even if you need to have a meeting, try to keep it short because meetings are a real time-consuming.
3. Worry about Attrition rates
We used to worry a lot about people leaving us, but over time, we realize you can’t satisfy some employee who is more likely to prefer working in a big company or an MNC and you can’t do much about it. You need to keep moving, and new and more skillful people will join, and many will leave as well.
Focus on building the core team in your startup and worry less about how many people leave just because they don’t want to be working in a startup.
4. Hierarchical employee structure
You don’t need a project manager or a team leader to manage a small team. They can directly report to you and let them be one team even when they have disjoint work responsibilities. Once the team outgrows your handling ability, you can always look for managers and leaders among your core team.
Read How Small Startups & Small Business Owners Can Expand?
5. Waste too much money on furniture
Having a comfortable sitting arrangement is good enough for your employees to get started working for you. You don’t need a cubicle and cabins for each team members when getting started.
Final thoughts
The startup environment is entirely different from corporate, and you are free to make your own rules. Make sure your rules are in the interest of your team and don’t overthink about the status quo.
Further Reading …
