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Project Management & Your Startup
entrepreneur project management

Project Management & Your Startup

By Jim Harkless
entrepreneur project management
Image credited to Stuart Miles

It’s an exciting time for small business and internet startups. As the e-commerce landscape continues to shift, new opportunities are being created every day for those with a clear vision to succeed and establish a lasting business model.

Of course opportunities and risks go hand in hand. When the buying power lies primarily in the hands of the purchaser, whole industries face the danger of becoming obsolete because of the whims and fancies of empowered buyers. You don’t have to look beyond the trusty land telephone to realize the nugget of truth in this prophecy.

Whether your startup fails or flourishes lies in how well you are able to continually adapt to a tumultuous marketplace and gauge the preferences of your prospects.

Of course, it’s not as simple as just waking up one morning and deciding to become an adaptable company. It takes time and organized hard work to establish the foundation of a company. However having the basics in place – a viable product and an initial promotion campaign- is not enough. Project management plays a key role in ensuring the continued success of any start-up.

If an endeavour is not managed, it is an endeavour that has NOT been set up for success. Haphazardness and half hearted attempts ruin a boatload of good intentions and innovative ideas.

Keeping this in mind, start-ups need to invest in a proper project management tool, one that is affordable yet capable of leveraging the small suite of tools which are actually used by team members in an effective manner.

 

 A START-UP FRIENDLY PROJECT MANAGEMENT SOLUTION

A project management software that is capable of boosting success without busting one’s bank account is the first characteristic of a startup friendly solution. Archaic desktop or on premise options like Microsoft Project tend to weigh heavily on the minds of up and coming entrepreneurs. Such options are a big investment and frequently require extensive training of the staff in order to “pay for themselves” in the form of company wide utilization. Not an ideal case scenario for a startup that may be counting on its seed capital to go a long way.

A start-up friendly solution other than being simple and intuitive should also have collaboration as a strong point. More and more entrepreneurs are turning to contingent work forces and remote collaboration in order to make their money stretch. A legacy system may be exceptionally competent but it is not accessible by remote team mates. In the cloud or SaaS platforms like Workzone jump in and solve the problem. It is as simple as inviting a colleague from half way around the world to participate in the activities within a particular workspace.

Last but not the least a project management solution that is web based is also amenable to integrations. Microsoft Project is largely a “closed” product. Entrepreneurs frequently require plug and play functionality to seamlessly connect to CRMs and ERPs. This is where a cloud solution can prove to be invaluable.

The time for startups is NOW! Being an Inc 500 company is almost as prestigious as being a Fortune 500 organization. Start-ups are synonymous with freedom to innovate and the will to go against the norms. Project management doesn’t need to be an encumbrance. Thanks to the new tools in the market entrepreneurs can be creative yet organized without missing a step.

Have a startup? Looking to dive into project management seriously? Consult our Project Management Glossary for more insights and request us for a free demo.