How to Build a Successful Startup Team in the Philippines

As of today, the Philippines is home to more than 200,000 startup businesses. Key foreign-owned businesses or start-up players funded by foreign investors like PayMaya, ZipMatch, MetroDeal, PawnHero, and Rappler are a clear proof that startup ventures are growing in the country.

A PwC survey among budding entrepreneurs reveals that starting a business in the Philippines took off to a whole new level between 2016 and 2017. According to 54% of the survey respondents, it was around this timeline that they launched their startups.

With the Senate approval of the “Innovative Startup Law,” which looks to grant tax exemptions and other forms of assistance – including a P10 billion fund – to start-up companies in the Philippines, more and more entrepreneurs may be encouraged to launch their own business projects.

If you’re planning to go into the startup business, you’ll want to focus on the most important things first—from administration to hiring and organization.

 

Part 1: Planning and Establishing Your Business

Create a business plan

A business plan serves as a comprehensive guide that lays down your business objectives, the framework of operations, marketing strategies, financial projections, and other information pertaining to major aspects of the business. You’ll also want to generate ideas about your business name before moving on to the next step.

Register your business

The business registration part comes after you’ve decided on your business name. If you’re running a single proprietorship type of startup, you’ll need to register a unique, unduplicated business name with the Department of Trade and Industry.

If your startup is in the form of a partnership or a corporation, the Securities and Exchange Commission has the jurisdiction over your business registration. A DTI or SEC registration makes your business subject to Philippine business laws.

Find an office space

If you’re going to operate a home-based business, you could use a small area of your house and turn it into an office space. If you’re building a startup that will involve a team working together, you’ll need a dedicated working area where your employees could work efficiently and smoothly.

Having an office space will also provide you with a business address when you need to send and receive business communications for your startup.

Set your goal, vision, and mission

With startups, you need to be clear with your goal so that you could focus on that specific objective. Your goal also needs to be measurable since you’ll want to know whether you’re accomplishing it using a reasonable amount of time and resources.

Make sure that you communicate your startup’s vision and mission statement to all stakeholders, as it will lay the groundwork for how everyone should approach their role and task.

Hire the right employees

For your startup to have a good foundation, you need founding team members who understand your plans for the organization. By having this kind of awareness, they can properly channel their skills, knowledge, and ideas to lead your business in the right direction.

You could look to job sites, recruitment services, or personal referrals to find the right talent for your startup. Through them, you could have access to a wide network of professionals from various industries.

Regardless of the channel of candidate sourcing you choose, you can be sure that the Philippines has one of the most competent labor markets in the world not only in terms of skills, but also in terms of character and attitude.

 

Part 2: Developing the Team Culture

Workplace culture refers to the positive qualities, values, and behaviors that you want to instill in everyone and that can foster a harmonious, productive relationship and environment.

Here are some tips for creating a team culture for your startup:

– Your team culture should reflect the brand of ideals that your company stands for, so focus on things that are unique or special to your organization. Enforce this theme in your company policies and events so that it becomes second nature to your employees.

– Decide on the type of approach you will use in developing your company culture. With a laissez-faire approach, you’re giving your team a freehand to discover the best work methods that would suit them individually and as a group. Provide an initial set of guidelines and encourage team members to refine it based on their own ideas or experience.

– Make sure that everybody has a clear, common understanding of what constitutes a particular value. For example, if you want to promote professional excellence, you need to specify the company’s standards when it comes to qualifying high-quality team performance to help eliminate confusion and misdirected efforts among members.

 

Part 3: Managing Your Team

You’re probably privy to the idea that there are employees who leave because of their boss. Across companies, employees work less efficiently when they have a manager who tends to micromanage, play favorites, or be unaccountable, to mention a few. Unfortunately, the effects of working with a bad manager can undermine a company’s growth.

It goes without saying that you need managers with these qualities.

• A high sense of integrity and professionalism. Managers need to set a good example at all times to those below the rank.
• Effective mentors. They help team members in setting goals and identifying ways on how to achieve them without being too controlling and being too vague either.
• Decision makers and doers. Managers with a deep knowledge of how the organization works can choose a course of action and accept responsibility for the end results.

 

Part 4: Improving Team Processes

The best teams demonstrate the ability to keep the company running smoothly—thanks to an efficient system in the following areas:

Communication

Team members need to be on the same page whether they’re working on a project or resolving an issue. This can only be possible when everyone communicates ideas, updates, and all relevant information in a clear and consistent manner.

Collaboration

There’s more to collaboration than forming a team, giving them individual assignments to work on, and waiting for them to deliver a final output.

It’s also your responsibility to provide your employees resources that will bring about team effort and cooperation. These include an ample working space where individuals can exchange and evaluate ideas, a platform that’s suitable for sending communication and sharing files, and the like.

Feedback

Your ability to generate feedback can be helpful in improving the policies and processes you implement in your company. Make use of survey forms, polls, or suggestion boxes to encourage your employees to share their input.

In the same manner, you need to provide feedback about employee performance through one-on-one appraisals that will point out their strengths and weaknesses.

 

The Philippine market for startups is progressing well, which means there’s a great opportunity for your future business. Make a good first step launching your dream company by following the basic principles we shared here.

If you need expert assistance in building a competent team for your startup, talk to EnterPH today!

References:

https://www.nytimes.com/guides/business/manage-a-successful-team

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/295716

https://tycoon.ph/how-to-start-a-small-business-in-the-philippines/2/