Some moments are decisive for a startup, such as scaling your tech team after a funding round. There’s a great need to bring new and fresh talented IT professionals to the company, including freelancers, to make innovation and ideas flow.
In the “Silicon Valley Style Scaling,” author Roland Siebelink argues that the reason behind the fact that 54% of scaling companies never make it to the subsequent funding round is because they failed to reach their growth goals.
So how to go on a different and better path with your tech company?
What to consider when scaling your tech team
Startup Genome’s study has shown that premature downsizing is a significant reason for failing to grow after a fundraising round. 74% of high-growth internet startups face this reality.
In other words, the difference between growth and contraction becomes more apparent when the company is no longer a startup but not a large company. For example, many tech companies, especially those in high-growth mode, are cutting back on some processes.
Scaling your tech team X cutting back on processes
Many internal processes are not designed for climbing as typical scales migrate quickly at a startup. Starting from the beginning: product and engineering teams must adapt as a company expands and its product evolves to accommodate the increased delivery scale and changing product suites efficiently. While individual engineers’ technical abilities are critical to scaling success, the organizational structure they work in is vital.
So, how can you know when to change your IT company? And how can you make such a change without exacerbating any current inefficiency issues or giving your engineers shivers?
Determine which roles need to be filled
It’s best to figure out where more help or leadership is required for your team. This will allow you to devise a strategy for filling the void.
Be open to external possibilities.
Companies like Google, Amazon, IBM, Microsoft, and other technology giants evolve daily in terms of products, solutions, and architecture. Honestly, you don’t need to write every line of code. It will be more expensive and less efficient if you go this way. An excellent CTO can and should rely on outside vendors and be a superstar in managing it all.
If the processes are defined, it will be easier to hire partners, onboard new employees, and put more experienced freelancers in the right place at the right time.
Keep track of your team’s progress.
Awareness of your team’s growth will help you make smarter decisions when scaling your team. To begin, you’ll hire personnel to develop them into leaders. You’ll also account for it in your budgeting.
Get started as soon as possible (on training and development)
According to Alvaro, the optimum time to train your team is yesterday; the second-best time is today. Building a team might require months of preparation. As a result, it’s ideal to start planning as soon as you see the market or product consumption growth.
Learning from the bests how to scale tech teams
“Before joining Hotjar, I managed a team of about 160 people as their VP of Engineering and Product. In my experience, the key to the success of a team and a company as a whole is one: building momentum. In many cases, when a team seems to lack urgency, the root cause is not laziness or apathy—it’s an absence of momentum.” -Mohannad Ali, and I’m Hotjar’s new VP of Engineering.
The Spotify Model
The Spotify model highlights the importance of culture and network and is a people-driven, autonomous approach to scaling agile. Concentrating on autonomy, communication, accountability, and quality, has helped Spotify and other firms enhance creativity and productivity.
As Spotify coach Henrik Kniberg pointed out, the Spotify model isn’t a framework because it embodies Spotify’s approach to expanding from both a technical and cultural one. It’s one way to organize several teams in a product development company, emphasizing the importance of culture and networks.
The Spotify approach emphasizes the importance of organization around work rather than routines and ceremonies. This allows a company more freedom in terms of how Squads operate. Rather than forcing Squads to modify their operations (“you must do scrum”), it focuses on connecting them and working toward individual team goals.
Are you ready to scale? Asks Google
For the tech giant, many businesses fail because they get so focused on expansion that they lose sight of the fundamentals necessary for long-term success. Determining your target audience and value proposition, for example, might go a long way toward assisting you in developing a proven proposal. Before focusing on expansion, you must demonstrate that your product or service will truly sell. To keep things structured, you’ll need the correct organizational framework (especially regarding managing finances and tech). Even your company’s goal statement and ethos should be set in stone! As you scale, you shouldn’t be looking for answers to these issues. Putting the necessary foundation ahead of time will allow you to focus on the task.
