Systems & Procedures for a Start up

I was recently speaking on the topic ‘Systems & Procedures’ at the CII Kerala Entrepreneurship Summit 2011 where I explained the audience how important it is to have certain systems in place. However, it is a challenge for most start-ups, like mine too, because of the ‘money’ factor.

When I started IndianBackpacker, I relied more on ‘Jugaads’ (the quintessential Indian word for getting things done) rather than following the right systems & procedures. Spending money to get the right systems in place was the last thing. I used to place most focus on making sales and getting money in.

The realization rather came in late (almost six months after starting up) when I realized that simple little things from answering a phone call to replying to a clients query (which took away most of my time) can all be laid down in simple systems that could be handled by anyone in my staff. I could finally focus on developing my business further rather than bootstrapping.

This was possible as IndianBackpacker had started making profits in our third month itself and could afford to spend some money on figuring out systems and procedures. However, there are a lot of start ups which do not reach their break even till a couple of years later.

What exactly is supposed to be a good time for a start up to put systems and procedures in place? And at what cost?