Things you should avoid when changing from being an employee of an MNC to owning a startup.
I was working in an MNC before jumping into my entrepreneurial journey and there are certain things that are being done certain way in an MNC or a big organization and it is very likely that you will try to do it the same way in startup as you were in an MNC but ideally you should be doing things lot differently in a startup than in an MNC or else it may become too difficult for the startup to grow.
So here are list of 5 things that I think every entrepreneur should do differently in a startup to working in an MNC.
1. Software expenses
MNC’s will have certain software for their day to day activities and your startup more often than not can find a cheap or free alternative.
I remember we were using Lotus sametime for chat among employees and the biggest advantage of using it was, all new employees were automatically added to it and so you can chat with everybody in the organization. Looks really 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 contact 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.
It can also be applied to choosing 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 making a decision to spend on buying a software.
2. Meetings and more meetings
In an MNC, you will have 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 real time consuming.
3. Worry about Attrition rates
We used to worry a lot about people leaving us but over a period of time we realized that you cannot satisfy some employee who are more likely to prefer working in a big company or an MNC and you cannot do much about it. You need to keep moving and new and more skillful people may join you and so some may 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.
5. Waste too much money on furniture
Having a comfortable sitting arrangement is good enough for your employees to get started working for you and you don’t need a cubicle and cabins for each team members when you are just getting started.
Final thoughts
Startup environment is completely 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 think too much about the status quo.
Further Reading …
