The first employees you hire for your startup often dictate how successful your business is going to be. In this article, let’s find out more about the first people that your startup needs.
For startups, finding the right people is crucial, especially before the actual launch. There is usually not a lot of money to spare, and hiring few but high-quality employees is the best way to catalyze your business’ growth and success.
Fortunately, there are companies like Miick that help other companies fine-tune their hiring process. But if you want to do things on your own at first, here are the first five employees that you need to look for, and the qualities that they should possess:
CEO and COO
Startup owners typically assume the role of Chief Executive Officer, at least for the first few years. After a particular time, you can hire a new CEO that will take over your responsibilities, namely decision-making, directing, and generally taking control of the entire company.
On the other hand, the Chief Operations Officer is the one tasked to handle daily operations, keeping things running as smoothly as possible. Due to the weight that this responsibility entails, your COO should be a person you can trust, someone who is in line with your visions for the business, as well as someone who can handle multiple responsibilities at once with finesse.
Project Manager
A project manager is someone who takes control of the company’s timelines and ensures that everything is going as planned. They are the ones who work closely with the different teams, making sure that everyone is in line with your projects’ vision, goals, and execution.
That said, there are certain qualities that you must look for in a project manager. Firstly, they should be a great leader, able to handle multiple teams at once without micromanaging. Secondly, they must be excellent communicators (and sometimes, mediators). Moreover, they should be able to multi-task well to keep each project running smoothly.
CMO
The role of a Chief Marketing Officer is to focus on your startup’s target markets and establish positive relationships with your audiences. In the first few months—or even years—of operation, a startup’s CMO usually handles multiple marketing responsibilities at once, such as managing social media accounts, coming up with marketing campaigns, and creating collaterals. Thus, the ideal CMO candidate should be a jack of all trades.
Once you are ready to start scaling, you can pass on some responsibilities to other people for a more focused marketing approach.
CFO
Some startup owners usually assume the role of Chief Financing Officer as well. But if you can hire this role, it can put you in a more advantageous position.
A CFO is responsible for managing all of the company’s finances, ranging from major tasks such as securing loans to smaller, daily tasks such as managing invoices. They are also the ones tasked to mitigate financial risks and keep the business’ funds in check, especially in a startup’s early stages.
The success of your startup heavily depends on the quality of the employees you hire, especially during your early days. These are the first five people you want on your team—all of the critical roles that can help you bring your business forward.