Hear from Pleo on the top 3 things to consider when scaling your startup
The transition from start-up to scale-up is a journey full of obstacles and opportunities. Fintech unicorn Pleo gives you their top 3 tips as heard on their recent webinar all about the tools you need to scale your business.
Did you know that 90% of young businesses die within five years after starting?
There are a whole range of factors to consider when scaling your business, such as preserving company culture, acquiring the right talent and choosing the right tools for your processes.
In our most recent co-hosted webinar, we joined forces with PayFit, a cloud-based payroll software and Quantico, an in-house finance team supporting rapidly growing businesses. Sara, our VP of Sales at Pleo, also joined the webinar, for a jam-packed session full of tips and tricks.
1) Strike the right balance with tools
Tedious admin work exponentially increases as your company grows. Luckily, a wave of fintech tools have launched in the past few years that can truly transform how modern businesses manage efficiency.
In terms of HR, accounting and payroll, if you don’t have the right structure at the beginning then those administrative systems can cripple the speed your business is able to scale. The value of HR teams continues to grow as businesses realise how important it is to retain their most talented people.
Though too many tools can weigh you down. Sara was quick to cut out tools when she joined Pleo. Niche tools for smaller teams can often lead to confusion and inefficiencies. They’re also notoriously difficult to manage for finance.
“The tech stack was unbelievable when I joined. You don’t want to sit around clicking tools all day long,” Sara remarks. Try and evaluate the key added value of each tool before you add it to a growing reserve.
2) Get your company branding right
Companies need to clearly brand themselves and their values to candidates. According to LinkedIn, 72% of recruiting leaders worldwide agreed that employer branding has a significant impact on hiring. Candidates typically scour a company’s website, professional networks and social media prior to embarking on the application process.
Before even applying for a job, 75% of job seekers consider an employer’s brand.
Getting your branding right is what makes it possible to find people who are truly aligned with your company’s mission and values. And this is crucial – building up a team with people who aren’t aligned with the purpose of your company means that you run the risk of losing sight of who you are.
“Staying true to your culture and values as you scale is hard. But you have to make it a priority. In every new hire, you should never compromise,” explains Nick from PayFit.
Companies need to be able to portray what it’s really like to work (and develop) within the team. This makes attracting and retaining a lot easier. When adding remote workers to your team, you have to ask yourself: How can we brand ourselves clearly in order to preserve our culture whilst we scale internationally?
3) It’s all about getting the right talent
Building a scalable recruiting strategy takes time. Let’s be real, the war for talent is on.
We’re living in an employee-first world. It’s important to remember that, just like your customers, your employees are individuals and they should be treated with the same level of importance.
Pleo and PayFit are on a mission to ensure that everybody embodies the right values and contributes positively to their respective company cultures. Both Sara and Nick spend over 50% of their time in hiring interviews, it’s an investment they’re happy making.
“Historically, we don’t have a large talent acquisition team and in this market, it’s hard to find talent. That’s exactly why we are increasing investment in this area as a function,” says Sara.
So there you have it. Our top three takeaways from our recent webinar. Brace yourself. Brand yourself. Be true to who you are. And buckle up – it’s going to be a bumpy ride.
Are you currently trying to scale your financial operations to take your business to the next level? Talk to Pleo to start to plan for scaling your business.
