Larger corporations are often urged to adopt a “startup mentality,” says Caroline Carter, co-founder of public relations agency CSuite Content.
“There’s benefit in being agile, and bureaucracy seems like such a horrible thing,” Carter said.
But if businesses larger than a few hundred people can learn lessons in flexibility from smaller companies, it’s also true that small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) can learn some things from big companies, she said.
“There’s something to be said about having systems in place,” she said, adding that perhaps start-ups can also learn to think more like corporations.
One of the more important lessons that big companies can teach SMBs, she said, centres on the approach to scaling a business. It was a lesson Carter learned through experiencing the growing pains of adding new services to her company.
“When you’re a startup you wear 500 hats, are also the bookkeeper and your own personal assistant,” she said. “There comes a critical point where you need to hire people.”
While Carter recommends that infrastructure and systems be added early on in the “DNA” of SMBs that want to scale, it wasn’t a lack of those elements that made it difficult for the co-founder to expand the business early in the company’s first year. It was herself.
“You know you can do it yourself and this is your baby,” Carter said. “Bringing someone else on board is like giving them the keys. That’s really scary."
But when she did, it was less difficult than she imagined. She was surprised to find the right kind of talent make its way through the door. Carter realized that while the foundations of her company were sound and allowed her to expand the company’s clientele, it was the company’s values that would allow her to attract the right kind of new employees.
“Make sure the tangible is in order: your taxes, your database, your systems,” said Carter. “But also invest in the intangible: your mission and values, your flow and who you are.”
On starting a company | “Go with the mentality of ‘incorporating now.’ If you believe you’re going to do something, do it. If you make the assumption that it will be a success, then it will be.”
Has a work or life challenge taught you a key career lesson? Contact Romila Barryman at [email protected].
