3 ways to take control of your startup

This article is published in collaboration with SAP Community Network. 

The beginning is always a mess

Startups are companies that are just beginning to venture into the business world. Having a good business idea is important. Finding the appropriate funds to begin is of equal importance. The usual case says that at least for the first six months you must have the capital to survive without revenues and for the next year or so you must keep a tight grip of your expenses to make it through. In the vast majority of cases, there are budget overruns and the entrepreneurs who bank-roll the venture usually spend more than originally planned.

This is partly due to the startup not having developed a strong brand name yet and partly because the control over the accounting department is lost. It’s not easy for a newcomer to know all the details of how invoices have to be issued, the intricacies of VAT and taxation systems and if the startup has to deal with multiple countries, hell is loosed as the different systems simply wreak havoc.

Command and control

To be able to focus on the marketing strategies you want to implement so that you can build your brand name and make your startup known to the general public you need first to be sure that your accounting department works. Your expenses are controlled, your invoices are issued quickly and your income pours in unobstructed.

The usual process says to hire an accountant. One that knows the ins and outs and is professional enough to always keep informed about the constantly changing taxation rules within the country of operation and the constantly changing similar rules for the other countries that you as a company want to expand your market to. This means a rather hefty salary.

Outsourcing

Even an accountant cannot always keep up with the recent developments. The solution is to outsource your accounting. This is possible through cooperation with an online invoicing tool. The advantages offered are multiple:

• Immediate updating for every change in every tax system all over the world, i.e. you do not have to worry about it
• Fast and accurate invoicing, i.e. you get to collect any and all amounts that are owed to you faster than ever
• The ability to get paid not only through the usual means but also through Paypal, Quickbooks and other such means, i.e. offer clients who do not have access to the usual electronic means and therefore cannot be included in your clientele list, to receive your products and your services and pay you without problems
• Immediate and easy to read reporting to make sure that you remain within your budget

The results

When the income comes faster you will avoid budget overruns. Your bank-rolling entrepreneurs will be glad to provide you with additional funding for marketing and brand naming if they see that you can bring revenues faster. And that is worth more than anything else in the business world.

Publication does not imply endorsement of views by the World Economic Forum.

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Author: Hicks Crawford is a writer at SAP Community Network.

Image: Employees work in the office of the HowDo, a “how-to-do-it-yourself” app, start-up at the Wostel co-working space in Berlin. REUTERS/Thomas Peter.