The tech space is a reliable source of mind-bending innovations. From nanosatellites to surgical robotics, we’ve seen plenty of promise in the last few years alone.

Taking any great idea from the lab to the international limelight is sure to invite growing pains, especially when you’re working with novel tech at the edge of discovery.

Hoping to scale your tech titan in the coming years? Our staffing consultants have put together a few tips to point you in the right direction.

Talent

Talent troubles are among the top concerns for those in the scale-up stage. A well-known challenge for the broader industry, a lack of access to niche skill sets (DevOps architects, Multicloud Engineers, etc.) has thwarted progress for many.

Unfortunately, the supply of skilled candidates is struggling to meet the pace of technological innovation. Alternative recruitment methodologies are a must, as is investing in upskilling opportunities for existing employees.

Here at Trust in SODA, we’ve used a community-led approach to recruitment to place top candidates in niche roles, even in a fiercely competitive landscape. Find out more here: Community.

It’s also important to focus on transferable skills over industry-specific experience (which will probably be nigh-impossible to find if you’re working with novel tech). Coachability is key in a talent-short era.

Culture

It’s not uncommon for companies to inadvertently sacrifice their culture amid a scaleup stage – avoid this at all costs! Building an inclusive, growth-enabled, innovation-rich culture is the ideal way to unite your team around a shared vision.

Retaining your culture when scaling at speed doesn’t need to be tough. If you can take on feedback, hire cultural contributors, and develop targeted policies and initiatives, you’ve got some solid foundations to lean on. First things first though, what are your values? Defining your mission and value system is a good place to start.

Operational Resilience

Prioritising modularity can help you maximise your ability to scale flexibly. In human language, that means separating your business into smaller, independent parts rather than scaling the entire operation at once.

This can help you create a more resilient infrastructure that’s able to adapt to dynamic market challenges more effectively. This might involve adopting microservices architecture, containerisation, shifting to component-based hardware manufacturing, or separating into modular functions. Nvidia has some great examples of modularised design worth exploring here.

Automate!

Is automation your ticket to a stress-free future? Hopefully! Save your valuable resources (including your time) by making your tech work harder. Before you introduce the latest tech tools, you must know what you need them to do – we’re currently seeing a gargantuan gap between the desire for tech adoption and practical use cases (thanks, AI).

Automation looks different for every business, so it’s worth identifying areas of your business where it has the chance to make the most positive impact.

Specialist Support

We’ve spent a decade helping hundreds of clients scale their operations through our community-led recruitment services, and we’ve loved every second of it. If you’re hoping to scale your business with top talent and you’d like support from diversity-focused recruiters, the Trust in SODA squad is here to help. Reach out to the team today to find out more: https://www.trustinsoda.com/get-in-touch