Your business plan needs to set the course for how you invest in your team. Job postings often target specific roles and skills, but you also need quick learners who can grow at the same fast pace as your company. Training.Īs a startup, you’re doing things that have never been done before. Crab says she was swayed by the company’s culture of continuous learning - not the perks or salary - proving that employee development hones the sharpest competitive edge companies can buy. Organizations that made strong investments in talent development outperformed the S&P 500 by 15 percent over two years, according to a study performed by Laurie Bassi, CEO of Bassi Investments, for KnowledgeAdvisors (which has since been acquired by CEB).Ĭompanies that commit to their teams succeed because they attract hard-to-recruit talent like Brianna Crab, a data engineer at Capital One.

Talent development can even strengthen a company’s investment portfolio. The ability to attract, engage, and grow talented employees makes the difference between the startups that thrive and those that die. While you absolutely need to keep an eye on earnings and burn rate, human capital is ultimately the fuel that makes the machine run. But throughout all this, you can’t overlook the single most important financial consideration: your team. Your employees, after all, become part of what you sell. Then come the marketing, sales, and accounting considerations. Developing your product is just the beginning. You have a million things to consider when investing your startup’s money.

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