Hiring: What Positions and Roles You Must Hire as a Startup

Building a thriving business extends beyond a great product or service; it hinges on crafting a robust team. Much like a winning sports team, the right members working in harmony can propel a business towards excellence. Conversely, a mismatched team can lead to failure. Establishing a core team, comprising both internal and external members, is crucial. Initially, as a startup founder, you are the entire internal team. However, for your business to scale and prosper, quick delegation and strategic hiring are essential.

Your internal team may include administrative or marketing roles while your external team consists of integral advisors such as a CPA and a banker. 

Internal Team Members

Your internal team are those you have on payroll or salary and that you pay on a regular basis. You may not have the financial resources to build out your internal team in the beginning, but a good exercise to help you identify who you should hire and when to hire them is to create an organizational chart of the company you want in 1, 5, and 10 years. Clearly identify each job title on the organizational chart and draft a job description for each position. When the time comes to hire employees, you can refer to the organizational chart and it will help you decide which internal team member to hire first. Here are some common internal team members, but the list is certainly not exhaustive

Assistant (virtual or in-person)

Your first internal hire will probably be an assistant who can either be in-person or virtual depending on your business. As your business grows, you should spend less time on tasks that can be easily delegated to someone else who can perform the job at a lower cost. Some examples of tasks you can delegate are: management of your calendar; social media management; answering phone or email inquiries; sending out marketing emails; and many others. Delegating these responsibilities allows you to focus on higher-value tasks for business growth.

Salesperson

You may need a strong sales person to distribute your product. Maybe you are a startup clothing brand; you will need a salesperson to get your clothes into the right retailers. Or maybe you are a software company; you will need a person to reach out to other businesses to buy your software. Salespeople are usually paid a low base salary, but the bulk of their compensation is derived from sales commissions to incentivize them to grow the company. Without sales, your company will not survive.    

Marketing 

Marketing is different from sales. Sales occurs because of marketing efforts. Marketing creates leads, leads become prospects, and prospects turn into sales. A strong internal team member is a marketing manager or director of marketing. In the beginning, this function can be outsourced to freelancers, but as you grow, it should be a key internal position who fully understands your business and is 100 percent dedicated to your company’s success.  

Without marketing, your business will not have customers. Without customers, you will not have income and your business will fail. Hence, marketing is the lifeblood to a business. Apple is one of the most recognizable brands in the world, yet it spends billions of dollars each year on marketing.

Associate

An associate is a person you want to groom to take over your responsibilities. The right associate will free up your time to grow your business and focus on higher dollar value clients or customers. The best time to hire an associate is when you feel that you’re almost at capacity and cannot take on any more clients.  

Industry Specific

Your industry may have its own specific positions related to your field. For example, a law office may need a paralegal to do basic legal tasks. Or a dental office may need a dental hygienist. Internal hires specific to your industry may be the first person you hire depending on your business. 

C-Suite

Members of the C-Suite are the highest ranking executives within a company. They are called C-Suite because the beginning of their titles start with Chief. Some examples include Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Technology Officer, or anyone elevated to a level of Chief within your company. C-Suite executives are more appropriate for larger more established companies. 

Outsourced Team Members

Some positions don’t require hiring a full-time person or you may need a specific skill set for a one-time project. For example, you may need someone to help create your website or set up a specific software. Sites such as UpWork, Fiverr, Freelancer, Marketerhire, and others make it extremely easy to find such talent.

External Team Members

CPA

The first thing you should do before you start your business is to establish a relationship with a qualified CPA as soon as possible. A CPA can help you choose the correct entity structure, help you create your first budget, give you solid tax and financial advice, get your books in order, introduce you to a banker, business attorney, or other professionals. Most importantly, your CPA will ensure your taxes are filed accurately and timely as well as help you take advantage of all the tax deductions available to you. 

Business Banker

Another core member of your team should be a business banker. Business banking is very different from retail banking. Most individuals don’t have a personal relationship with their bank, but business owners have a very close relationship with their business banker. Find a good business banker who understands your industry and will grow with you; provide services that you need such as merchant banking, business line of credit, credit card, bank account, etc. Ideally, you should seek a relationship with a local community bank who won’t treat you like a number. 

Insurance broker

Depending on what kind of business you start, you will most likely need various types of insurance. A good insurance agent can help you find the right policies and make sure you’re adequately covered. Some common insurance policies include general liability, workers compensation, errors and omissions, and any industry specific insurance. View our comprehensive guide to business insurance. 

Business Attorney

If you do not have any partners and operate a simple business structure, you probably don’t need a business attorney. A business attorney would come in handy when you need to create partnerships agreements, operating agreements, or if you need to create contracts for your customers. Basically, the more complex your business structure, the greater the need for a business attorney.