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I'm a health startup CTO and I'm afraid

Alex Mercer
1 reply
Recently, my team and I received investments for our health product, and this news both pleased and upset me at the same time. Why upset? Honestly, because investors have set deadlines for scaling the product, and I realize that in the coming months I will forget what a weekend is. I need to recruit a developers team from scratch, hire a UX specialist, and probably a good PM, so as not to stretch my attention in different areas of development. And I understand that searching and hiring each employee is way too long as I have to check their qualifications, ask their past employers about their results, check if their results are actual, etc. In addition, the investments are not as big to hire top developers and pay for all their social benefits. I do not trust outsourcing, as they are just performers, and they will not heatedly discuss some ideas. I really am worried, because any of my wrong decisions can lead to a state where part of the development will have to be redone. And sure enough, pivots are not uncommon, but it would be better if I had people by my side whose knowledge and skills I am confident in. As you can see, I basically have two choices, and both of them lead to burnout: To hire everyone from different parts of the world, painfully and for a long time, and simultaneously forgetting about my life. Outsource everything, but in the long run get a finished product, which I can't be sure about, as the outsourcing team won't have the right motivation. 2.1 In the case of a pivot, ask every time to finish something or redo everything. 2.2 Also, I am not entirely sure about the expertise level in the health field, because in outsourcing I feel even less support than in the in-house format. 2.3 A similar way, outstaffing, also does not solve such a problem. In the first case, at least I will feel active interaction with the team, but I will exhaust myself, and in the second, I will not seem to be involved in anything, which is the other side of the coin. But in both cases, there is a risk that I will not cope, and will simply be fired. What to do in this case and which way to go if you need to make a product very quickly (full development, including UI/UX design), but at the same time with high quality, with developers actively discussing the project in contrast to outsourcing?

Replies

Dave Wave
Hey Alex, It's 24 days already and I hope by now, you are a bit relieved. I have experienced similar situations to yours in the past so I feel obligated to pitch in: You are handling too many responsibilities for one person Instead of burning out, personally pick out/hire your 'Board Of Trustees' Your Board of Trustees should be made up of at most, 5 people who share your work values. They should be active and sharp thinking experts who you are comfortable discussing ideas with. Try delegating specific roles to them and they in turn, will oversee and manage the smaller and intricate details. Since your Board of Trustees share your work values, they are likely to hire employees with similar values. This simplifies the process of trying to hire everyone from scratch without burning out. With this process, you also don't need to outsource. ABOUT YOUR SKEPTICISM ON OUTSOURCING: IF YOU HAVE HIRED AT THIS POINT, YOU KNOW WHAT WORKS BEST FOR YOU. YOU DON'T NEED TO READ FURTHER. IF YOU. HAVEN'T, READ ON. The thing is you mentioned a limited budget so I don't think hiring is the most efficient way to go. The below advice was given to me by a fortune 500 CEO/friend when I had a similar fear: "Hiring many employees as a startup business increases your overhead costs. Your profits should be focused on expanding your startup, not paying bills... ...Outsource Low-risk, High-proof jobs." These are jobs that when handled poorly, will not greatly affect your startup. So they are LOW-RISK. On the other hand, they are HIGH-PROOF because you can't lie about your results. If the person in charge of such job is a high performer, the job's analytics will depict that... you can't claim to be working and you've got nothing to prove it. So Alex, outsource Low-risk, high-proof jobs. Examples include SEO, UI/UX Design, etc. Gosh, this reply is way too long 😅. I got carried away😂 All the best💪
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