A bootstrapped company is one without any investors, bank loans, or outside assistance. To succeed as a bootstrapper (an entrepreneur starting a bootstrapped company), all it takes is personal savings, a good idea, and a little bit of luck.
Bootstrapping a business instead of borrowing funds starts your business with a positive cash flow. Revenue earned from sales is reinvested into the company to finance development efforts, daily operations, administrative tasks, salaries, and more.
While bootstrapping has its benefits, it also presents its own unique challenges. Hiring in a bootstrapped business can be a long and difficult process to find the perfect person. Here are a few tips to help you along the way.
How to Hire While Bootstrapping
It’s important to make the right hire when you’re bootstrapping a business. The wrong hire can spell disaster for your company and end up costing you thousands of dollars.
Even if it takes a long time to find the right candidate, it’s better than acting too quickly. When you’re bootstrapping, you need to make the most of every dollar. Hiring the wrong candidate will cost your startup money it doesn’t have.
Working at a bootstrapped business is difficult. The hours are long, and the work is challenging. If your candidate isn’t passionate from the start, there’s a good chance he or she will burn out quickly, and your hiring efforts will be back to square one. Here are a few ways to help out your bootstrapped business when it comes to hiring.
Have the Perfect Employee in Mind
During your recruitment efforts, think about the person you want working for you. While reviewing resumes, keep in mind that there is more to an employee than just their education and background. Since working for a startup is a different experience than working for a larger, more established business, it’s important to look for someone that stands out more than your average candidate.
Their interests, attitude, goals, and values will give you a better idea of whether they’ll fit into your company culture. More important than the skills they have is the attitude they bring to the table. Training is easy compared to the effort it would take trying to acclimate an employee to a work environment he or she is not a good fit for.
Use Social Media to Your Advantage
One of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to recruit when you have very little capital is via social media. When you produce high-quality and eye-catching content, you will attract great talent.
When using social media, track the impact of the tactics you use to attract talent if you have a post that does particularly well, use it as a template for future content.
Be Involved in the Recruiting Process
When speaking with candidates, make your business’ values clear. Having a definitive brand for both your company and yourselves as employers will increase the chances of great talent wanting to work for your company.
It’s a misconception that bootstrapped companies and small start-ups can’t compete with larger companies when recruiting. Instead of being an impossibility, it’s a matter of learning how to hire great talent. Being a bootstrapped company doesn’t detract from great talent wanting to work with you— it’s just a matter of knowing what works to attract the right people.