A Startup Founder's Thoughts on Process

This specific blog post will be part of a series of posts around everything processes. Follow Streemly’s company page on LinkedIn to stay in the know and check out other (future) blog posts about the founder journey and our thoughts on everything from startups to tech stacks and everything in between.

We’ve all heard that process kills innovation.

I agree. Sorta.

You know what I think really kills innovation? Poorly thought out, slow processes that use multiple systems and tools and purposefully introduce roadblocks. I also think organizations driven by processes and not by their beliefs and values are set up to squash their own creativity and innovation. Processes should be put in place to accelerate your business so you can get back to building.

The big question is, when do you need processes? That depends on a few factors including your stage, revenue & headcount. I’ve worked at early stage startups as well as a company with over 700+ employees and totally believe that if you implement unneeded processes or any process too early it typically backfires and slows down the business. Let me also start by saying that startups and SMBs really don’t feel this pain point on the level of their larger friends. I’m looking at you Mid-Market & Enterprise. To my startup & SMB pals, feel free to keep reading, however keep in mind that this post is geared more towards Mid-Market & Enterprise.

Fact: You either have processes in place or you don’t. I don’t want to tear apart your processes but I do want you to really think about them as you go through this list.

We’ve talked to enough of you to know that often when you do have processes in place they tend to be:

• Hacked together
• Require multiple tools
• Don’t “stick” with employees/users
• Slow down the business workflow
• Or current software used doesn’t capture all the components that need to be approved (ie: It can only approve on dollar amounts but not other details like contract length)

Now on the other hand, if certain activities don’t have processes in place you get:

• Increased human error
• “Short cuts”
• No visibility into your business 
• No accountability (who is responsible for what, when and why?)
• No audit trail or process documentation
• Incorrect performance of tasks and difficult to track employee performance across those tasks
• Friction amongst stakeholders and wasted time, money and resources

As you read through this list and thought about your current processes (or lack thereof) what were some of your broken processes or general thoughts that came to mind? Let’s chat in the comments.  

People + poor (or no) processes leads to wasted time and resources, higher expenses and a slower, disorganized business.

Additionally, when it comes to sales, you’re looking at delayed and potentially lost revenue.

Sales is amongst the fastest moving departments in any given organization with so much constantly at stake. Often, decisions have multiple stakeholders in different departments involved, all caring about different information. A lot of time and money is wasted with miscommunication and a lack of accountability. There is also virtually no insight into internal and external transactions - oh and no paper trail.

Take deal desk for example. As we know, there are certain rules in sales when it comes to structuring deals. Different discount amounts require different levels of approvals and heaven forbid you derive from a standard X year contract. Who cares? For starters, deal desk, sales ops, finance, legal and sales leadership. Multiple stakeholders all wanting different information.

What about recruiting? Hiring is expensive and time-consuming. I started my career as a sales recruiter so I know from first hand experience. What is your process to open up a job in the first place? Who decides what positions and when to actually hire? Your sales leaders know how many reps and support staff they need to hit the aggressive sales number from the board... which means your sales org decides right? Well, Finance owns the budget so maybe they should make that decision? But hold your horses cause HR/Recruiting run the people function of the business which means they are naturally involved. Additionally, your executive team needs insight into people functions because often your biggest expense as a company are people related costs. Multiple stakeholders all wanting different information.

Now what about processes to manage employees? Who does what through what channel when someone quits, gets a promotion or changes teams? There are probably 50+ other people examples I could give that involve HR, finance, execs, etc but I’m guessing you’re starting to get the picture. Multiple stakeholders all wanting different information.

The story is the same at the end of the day for every function in any given organization. Getting a proposal, project, budget, hire and just about everything else approved in a medium to large company is a struggle. Decisions often have multiple stakeholders in different departments involved, all caring about different information, with no great way to get everyone on the same page quickly. [Shameless plug → We have the solution. Click here to learn more.]

Everyday more and more businesses are realizing the importance and advantages of documenting, implementing and managing their processes. This is just an introduction post. Next post we’ll dive deeper into specific processes and fixes you can implement at your company or on your team. Follow Streemly’s company page on LinkedIn to stay in the loop or visit Streemly.co/blog.

If you’d like to learn more about Streemly’s upcoming beta, please contact [email protected].