Starting your own company is a huge accomplishment but you might need help from investors. Finding the right investor is the most important thing as some investors want to be too involved in the day to day dealings. Once you have found an investor who you feel comfortable with it is important to spend the money in an efficient manner. Even an investor who believes whole-heartedly in the business tends to get upset when they see funds being spent on unnecessary items. The following are tips to help you manage an investment correctly so you can make your business as profitable as possible.
Hire Only When You Need Staff
One thing that many startups do is over hire in anticipation for large orders of products or of their services. A scalable business model is imperative for avoiding this as simply adding employees should never be the first option. Optimize current processes to see how profitable a single employee can be. This will give the managers a better idea of maximum production by a single member of the staff. Hire when absolutely necessary as the slow times of the year need to be cost friendly by not retaining a large number of staff.
Misspending Can Be Illegal
Those businesses that get a huge investment then blow the money on things not related to the business can be held legally liable. Embezzlement of these funds or misuse can be a breach in contract or simply be referred to as stealing. Finding a criminal defense attorney in this case is imperative as you do not want to go to jail due to misappropriating funds. Take a look at the investment contract that was signed in order to see if there are restrictions as to how the money is spent. If this spending leads to a profit it will appease investors even if you might have used the funds in a way that was not agreed upon.
Office Space Should Be For Now
Renting an office for what you think the company could turn into is a waste of cash flow. Rent an office that allows everyone to work effectively instead of renting a huge office that is far too large for your current staff. Have an office designer help you with ideas to maximize space or let the staff put their best ideas into contention. If you have the ability to allow certain employees to work from home without it impacting production then you should allow it. There are just some jobs that can be done just as well or better without the distractions of the office.
Emphasize Digital Marketing
Digital marketing cannot be stressed enough in today’s business landscape as search engines are the main way people do research on a company before doing business with them. Establishing a brand of trust will take hard work as well as a good job done by your customer service team. If you want to outsource this marketing you need to ask for samples of client work done by the contactor. If they do not want to show you results they have yielded then they probably have not done much for their past clients.
As you can see the above is the best way to utilize a large investment. Pinch pennies and keep them for a unplanned expense that the company might incur.