Sarah Lerche

When it comes time for startup valuation, you may wonder just how you can work out the value of your startup. The methods are important because you may not have a huge revenue stream which makes valuation a bit harder. In this article, we look at five tips to help you determine the value of your startup. After all, you want to earn this highest valuation from your investors, instead of being undervalued.   #1: Talk to your accountant, lawyer, and investors Yes, you are most often worth what...

When it comes to staffing your startup, the price is high. In fact, your hiring decisions are vital to the success and upward trajectory of your startup. In this article, we look at five reasons why bad hires are so costly to startups. From the actual cost, to your time, your reputation, lost opportunities, and the culture impact, you can't afford to mis-hire. #1: The cost The straight up costs with putting your job on job boards, culling through applications, interviewing candidates, calling re...

Sure, there's an "official" Employee Appreciation Day , but why wait? Showing your staff appreciation every day goes a long way towards improving employee morale and creating a top notch company culture. This not only improves employee retention, but when word gets around about what a great company you are to work for, your hiring chances explode. There are many ways you can make your employees feel valued every day. In this article, we look at seven ways startups can show appreciation for their...

To defend our country, military service members have some unique qualities that translate well into the general job market when their service is complete. Active duty military are most often the hardest workers in the room. They are also usually motivated and exceptionally ethical. As a startup, these are just the kind of employees you want to recruit . Let's dive into this and look at why hiring veterans is a great idea for startups. They are natural leaders The military trains their people wel...

As a small business, you know that the process of finding the right team members is costly and time consuming. Job postings, recruiting, interviewing, hiring and onboarding add up quickly. In addition, you know that keeping your employees around is vital to the survival of your startup because going through the hiring process over and over zaps your budget and your energy. One way to boost both your business and employee morale is with learning opportunities. In this article, we look at the bene...

Did you know that more than 30% of new hires quit a job within the first six months? This is a pretty staggering number considering that you run a startup. The hiring budget is tight, and you've spent a lot of time hiring the best available talent. The last thing you want is to lose them. So, how do you increase your chances of keeping the top talent you hired? The answer is onboarding. What is onboarding? For many business owners it means giving new employees a tour of the facilities, showing t...

According to the Harvard Business Review , nearly 90% of American workers would take a lower paying job if they had the option for a flexible work schedule. Those numbers are sure to be similar across the globe. Why? In today's digital age, employees understand that for many jobs, they are able to work remotely. It provides a certain freedom not traditionally found in the workplace. What's more, when they work remotely, they are happier, and their productivity soars. Flexible work schedules are ...

Whether you are about to launch your startup, or you already have, you've probably had many ideas about what your office would look like and feel like. After all, it's quite common to think of the startup office as the cool place with the ultra-hip and chic vibe, and you might want that feel for your own space. So, how do you create the perfect office where people have the freedom to move around, the flexibility to work where they are most productive, with design elements that are attractive to ...

According to data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics , three million people have voluntarily left their jobs every month since June 2017. If you're an employer, that is worrisome news. As a startup, you're going to spend some money and a whole lot of time hiring new staff and onboarding them. You want employees who stick around. To help you with employee retention, we look at five tips to help you reduce employee turnover. #1: Analyze turnover rates If you've been in business long enough, yo...

Of all the marketing methods for your startup, email is one of the most powerful. What's more 59% of marketers say it is the number one ROI-generating marketing method. Many companies, in fact, are increasing their spend on email marketing because it simply works. Because email marketing is a great tool for you, let's look at how startups can use newsletters to accelerate growth.   Build your list One of the hardest parts of email marketing in the beginning is growing your list. You can do ...

When looking for new employees, you want to set your company up for success. This may mean several things for your business when crafting your job posting ads. It turns out that according to Career Builder nearly 75% of job seekers begin their search online. What does this mean for your hiring potential? It means you want a clean, respectable online reputation. What's being said about your business online is vital not only to your revenue stream but to your well-being as an appropriately staffed...

As a new company in the early stages, you may not have an excess budget for recruiting and hiring employees. Yet, like any other company, you want the best talent. So, how do you compete for the most competent new hires without a big budget? Let's look at how startups can maximize their recruiting budgets so they can compete with established, larger companies. Focus on the web It's a given that before anyone submits a resume to work for your startup, they've done a bit of internet research . The...

As a startup, you face different challenges than more established companies face. Many of these challenges have to do with staffing and human resources. Let's look at some unique HR issues faced by startups. Lack of management buy-in Sometimes startup management teams don't care enough about HR policies and ignore them. They go so far as to think HR is only about hiring when it's about so much more. Make sure your leadership team buys in to your policies. Your human resources team will set your ...

You probably know your employees dread performance reviews, but did you know that most managers are uncomfortable with them, too? If you fall into this category as well, it's good to know you aren't alone. Performance reviews are difficult to do, but they are the basis of a happy, well-trained staff. That is, if they are done right. In this article, let's look at performance review options for startups. Ditch the annual review ​ Who really wants this hanging over their head all year long? Plus, ...

You've thrown everything you have into your startup. You've been the one in charge from the start, making things happen, and gradually leading your startup to growth. In the beginning, you probably had your hand in a little bit of everything – you were product developer, human resources manager, marketer, fundraiser, and several other jobs in-between. At some point during this time and now, you might be thinking about transitioning your role into something more specific. In this article, we look...

Scaling your startup in the right way and with the right people is certainly key to your success. When you begin building a startup team , it's about finding people with the right skills. But you also want to find people who will work well together and complement one another. You have the unique opportunity of creating your team from the ground up. You get to choose the skillsets, the personalities, and the right mix of people who can work as a true team, collaborating to scale your startup. To ...

Do you like working with people who are sick? Probably not. Would your employees like sharing space with someone coughing and sneezing? Of course not. Do you like it when employees call in sick when they really aren't? That's an easy one – we're sure your answer is no. If there was a ripple effect, and everyone called in sick in the same week, what would happen to your startup? Because of these scenarios, we look at why your startup needs a sick leave policy from day one.  Policies are vita...

You're ready to launch your startup, and you know you need employees. Does the task seem overwhelming? Recruiting, hiring and training employees is an intimidating task for even the most seasoned businesses. What's more, you may not have the finances you need in the beginning to provide a salary, benefits and even office space and equipment for an entire team. This is where outsourcing comes in. Outsourcing is a terrific way for startups to take care of essential functions when your budget is sm...

Mistakes happen every day in the business world, and some are more forgivable than others. Payroll isn't on the list of forgivable mistakes. Why? Payroll mistakes can be incredibly costly to your startup. Failing to comply to payroll laws gets the government involved which leads to penalties and fines. In the most extreme cases, it can even lead to jail time. What's more, when you mess up payroll, your startup's team can lose faith in you, and you may even lose staff members. To help you avoid c...

As a founder or CEO, you want to hire the most experienced, skilled, and knowledgeable team to propel your startup to success. To do this, and to do it well, you may want to make sure that your team is also diverse. Your first inclination may be to hire people just like you, but this isn't always the best idea. You want to find skilled, capable people who are different from you, so your team is well-rounded, and your employee culture is more open and accepting. In this article, we look at how st...

With unemployment hovering around 3.7%, you're going to have to work hard to find the best talent for your startup and retain them into the future. Yet, as a startup you are in a unique position in that you can set your employee culture from the ground up. This is important because building and maintaining a strong employee culture with high morale makes your employer brand more attractive to potential hires. This gives you the competitive edge when recruiting and retaining the top talent. Let's...

You may think because you are a startup in its early stages that you don't need a social media policy, but this isn't so. In fact, your startup benefits greatly from a social media policy whether you're outsourcing this marketing or doing it in-house. In this article, we look at why your startup needs a social media policy and how to write one. Why you need a policy Social media is vital to the success of your online marketing. In fact, social media can make or break your startup, especially if ...

Did you know that job seekers rank social media networks as the most useful resource for jobs when compared to job boards and ads, recruiting agencies, employee referrals, and recruiting events? This is worth noting because the recruiting process has changed for many companies over the last several years. Like many things, social media has solidified its place as somewhere your business needs to be. When you use social media to attract candidates, you are easily able to narrow your target market...

Launching a new business is often filled with equal parts of excitement and trepidation. It can even be overwhelming at times. Because there are so many details involved, especially when it comes to startup taxes, you want to be extra careful. Sales tax and your compliance with federal and state income tax laws creates extra challenges for most startup owners, and you want to avoid mistakes at all costs. Below are six common tax mistakes startups make that you need to be aware of. #1: Tax deduct...

​ For many employees, just hearing the words, "team building" and "ice breaker," are enough to send them on an extended vacation. While they understand your intentions, traditional team building activities can be a source of stress for some of your employees. Yet, team building activities are good for your staff and your company, so how do you encourage happy participation? Let's look at five team building activities for startups that are exciting, fun, and less emotionally painful for your team...

The average startup owner works well past the traditional eight-hour mark with some clocking well up to 70 hours per week. While some of that is true work, you can bet that much of that is eaten up by tasks that don't need to take as long as they do such as perusing email and attending numerous meetings. When it comes to wasted time, startup CEOs are just as guilty, if not more, than the established business CEO. What can you do about it? How can you manage your time better and streamline your w...

Are you tempted to do everything yourself? If so, you're not alone. It's a common dilemma for startup founders and CEOs. It's easy to see why entrepreneurs would want to maintain total control of their products, their marketing, their sales, their finances, and their delivery systems, but it isn't realistic. The art of letting go and delegating can be a hard task to learn, yet it is vital to the success of your startup. Why delegate One of the most important and perhaps obvious reasons you shoul...

Do startups offer vacation time? How much vacation time is normal? Does everyone get the same amount? Because this can be such a hot topic for your newly hired team, we look at what startups need to know about vacation policies. Today's workers, especially Millennials , don't like the traditional model of earning vacation where you have to wait months or even years to get two weeks of paid vacation. To cater to this growing subset as well as the generation of workers coming up behind them, you w...

Running a new startup is tough. It takes long hours, lots of sweat equity, and tremendous planning. While you may have a handle on getting your startup off the ground and bringing your products or services to market, do you know what you need to do when it comes to your finances? One of the most important things you can do is prepare good financial statements. Why? It's the only way you, your board, your staff, and your investors will know where you stand. Good reporting helps you with financial...

As a startup owner, you wear many hats, and so do your employees. One of those many hats may be that of a hiring team and interviewers. Hiring is often a task that everyone must assist with on top of everything that's on their plate. To help you have the most effective recruitment and hiring process possible, check out these four tips for startups looking to improve their interview process.   #1: Prepare for the interview Many startups overlook this important first step. It's easy to do, es...