How Outsourcing Key Functions Can Give Your Startup A Competitive Edge

You have a great business idea that you’re ready to turn into a real business. However, you don’t have the technical skills to build the first version of your product, you don’t have the design skills to create a brand, nor do you have the marketing skills to bring it to consumers.

Moreover, you only have your personal saving to get your idea off the ground with no other outside funding from friends or family. Bringing on an experienced CTO or CMO to give you key talent is out of the question.

With all these constraints, how do you start to build your business? 

Fortunately, today, you can partner with a number of organizations that have specializations across business areas. Outsourcing, especially at an early stage, can be critical to getting the right expertise you need. It can also save you important time and money, all of which can make or break your startup. Here are key functions where outsourcing can give you competitive edge.

1. Technology

When you have a great idea, but you don’t have the technical skills to build it, where do you start? Most entrepreneurs will tap their network to see if they have a friend or acquaintance who might want to join to build out the first version of your product. 

At an early stage though, it’s challenging to convince a talented person to leave their job for something unproven. Even if you find someone to help on the side, without a dedicated effort, it may slow you down or quality may be compromised. 

Instead, you can pursue no code options to build an initial version of your product, or you can work with outsourced technical agencies. Companies like TopTal can staff experienced engineers for you to build a prototype.

While working with an outsource technical partner may seem expensive, it can save you considerable time, and is likely more cost effective than building out your own engineering team. Once you have a product, you can prove if it has product market fit, get funding, and then recruit a team to pick up where your development shop left off. 

2. Finance and Accounting

Unless your startup is blessed with a product that flies off the shelf from day one, most of your finance and accounting needs will revolve around payroll, taxes, and keeping a watchful eye on your company’s bank account. But every moment that you spend on those tasks is a moment you’re not spending driving your startup forward.

That’s why accounting and finance is an area that’s good for outsourcing as early as possible. Startup-centric firms like myStartUpCFO and AirCFO can provide your business with as much or as little support as you need, from bookkeeping to accounting to forecast and planning.

If you can get in the process of delegating to an outsourced CFO from the get go, you can focus on what really moves the needle for your business. 

Read more: https://www.forbes.com/