Convertible Notes and Startup Funding
February 12, 2025
The repo market is probably the largest section of the money market. It is estimated that the daily volume of transactions in the repo market is between $2 trillion and $4 trillion. This is the market where the central bank, commercial banks as well as institutional investors play a major role. Since these are large […]
Stock market indices are ubiquitous. People come across these indices almost every day. However, many are not aware about their existence. For instance everyone knows about NYSE, NASDAQ, FTSE, NIFTY etc. However, few are aware that they are referring to stock market indices when they talk about the markets going up or down. The New […]
Whenever the topic of fixed income securities is considered, the obvious assumption many investors make is that the conversation is about bonds. It is true that bonds are the most commonly traded types of fixed-income securities. However, they are not the only type of fixed-income securities. Preferred shares are another common type of fixed income […]
In 2019, President Donald Trump created outrage when he decided to lower the tax rates of corporations. Donald Trump was of the opinion that high corporate tax rates in the United States are making domestic companies uncompetitive. As a result, companies are choosing to incorporate out of America. Donald Trump enacted a law that allowed […]
In the previous articles, we have studied various money market instruments as well as how they are traded in the market. In this article, we will have a closer look at treasury bills. It needs to be understood that treasury bills are the most widely sold instruments in the global money markets. They are the […]
When people think about how startup founders invest their time, most of them think about dealing with investors or managing the operations of the firm. Almost, no one imagines that the founder of a startup company spends a considerable amount of their time in building a team. This is because hiring is not considered to be a mission-critical activity by the vast majority. However, if you ask a seasoned investor, they will tell you that putting together the best team is probably the single most important task for any entrepreneur.
Investors tend to pay a lot of attention to who the team members are before they invest in any firm. However, there is almost no literature that speaks about how companies can achieve this goal.
In this article, we will have a closer look at the financial aspects of building a startup team.
Most of the startups that have come into existence today are high-tech startups. Hence, these companies require a lot of highly talented knowledge workers to grow and develop their business. The problem is that highly talented workers are found in competitive markets. This means that the same set of companies is approaching the same workers. Just like companies are selecting the candidates, the candidates are also selecting companies.
The problem is that startups lag behind more established companies in the labor market. On the one hand, established companies can offer more money upfront while on the other hand, they can also offer a well-defined career path. Startups do not have the luxury of offering either of these things. Hence, in a way, hiring for startups is like marketing on a budget.
The human resource team needs to get really creative in order to attract the right talent while being on a budget. The inability to attract the right talent can be a make-or-break deal for the startup company.
Big companies often use the power of media to create brand recall. However, smaller startup companies do not have the big budgets required to use traditional media channels. It is important for them to use tools like social media to engage with prospective hires.
Fortunately for startups, social media channels are absolutely free. The startup just needs to have a quirky persona in order to attract the attention of the target hires. Startup hiring managers will be surprised to see how much having a significant social media presence and brand recall can influence their candidates.
The leadership team is quite crucial because they influence the other hires as well. A lot of the other new hires may have been a part of their network or may join the company because they believe in the vision of the leadership team. It is important for the startups to be reasonably generous in order to attract the best talent in the leadership team.
When the company hires the next few employees, it can afford to be a little less picky and focus more on costs. Once the team size has already reached about a hundred, then the company may have enough infrastructure required to attract and retain good talent.
The typical startup employee is not happy spending years climbing the corporate ladder. Instead, they want to take on higher roles and responsibilities right away. Startup companies must position themselves to appeal to such employees.
The fact of the matter is that hiring for startups can be quite challenging given the constraints. However, the ability to do so creatively and successfully can literally define the future of the company.
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