Your company’s growth team

Tips for attracting and keeping top talent A fast-growing business can be an exciting place to work. The days may be long, but they’re often full of opportunity and new experiences.

But amid the daily challenges, expanding companies often underestimate the importance of making plans and decisions about employees. It can happen in many ways— failing to attract and retain the best people; neglecting staff training and support needs; micromanaging and resisting delegation.

“When a company expands, its human resources capacity has to keep up,” says Mary Karamanos, Senior Vice President, Human Resources at the Business Development Bank of Canada. “An expansion plan can easily go off the rails if the right people aren’t in the right positions, fully trained and ready to assume their new responsibilities.”

“A common mistake that growing companies make is not taking enough time to plan their HR needs,” Karamanos says. “A good place to start is to define roles and responsibilities. That will bring clarity to what needs to be accomplished and what knowledge, experience and competency is required.”

Vince Molinaro agrees. “Growth can be heavily impacted by the talent you have,” says Molinaro, a leadership expert at Knightsbridge Human Capital Solutions, a firm that specializes in helping organizations manage their human resources.

“The good news is small businesses often attract top employees because they can often offer challenging responsibilities, good learning opportunities and personal growth,” Karamanos says.

Retention — A positive, inspiring work climate is vital. Money is important, of course, but so is sincere appreciation, clear expectations and an inspiring company vision. “People really want to be part of a powerful story and a winning company,” says Molinaro.

Entrepreneur Robert Laforce found himself with a talent crunch last year at his rapidly growing business, Trafic Innovation. It designs and makes road-safety devices and traffic-calming products.

Sales had surged 20% annually in the previous four years and several key managers lacked the skills to keep up, he says. Laforce found himself overwhelmed, unable to delegate responsibilities because some managers didn’t know how to take them on. He finally brought in an outside consultant who helped him create a restructuring plan geared to his growth goals.

Laforce started by reviewing each job at the company and then decided how to reorganize the positions to allow him to grow to the next level. One important change: Instead of 12 people reporting to him, he now had a more reasonable three.

Laforce replaced some key staff and handed off many of his responsibilities to the new hires, including a first humanresources person. “I hired people who were more competent than me in each area, which made it easy to delegate,” he says. “It was important to delegate so I had time to think more about the future of the business.”

The improved planning has helped Laforce’s sales shoot ahead, with 35% growth expected this year. “It’s very important to take care of your people,” he says. “They’re your most important resource.”

Whether you’re in a high-tech or traditional sector, a few common tips can help: find mentors, move quickly and develop a winning pitch.

These tips come from the techniques used in business accelerator programs. They’re a new, increasingly popular tool for helping Canadian high-tech entrepreneurs turn promising business ideas into money-making reality. They’ve also been called entrepreneur boot camps, start-up universities and business hothouses.

But their lessons aren’t restricted to Internet start-ups. They can also point the way to how established businesses in traditional sectors can benefit from a start-up frame of mind.

Here’s how accelerator programs work: Imagine being able to brainstorm your big idea with 120 venture capital investors and business mentors from companies like Amazon and Facebook—all the while being immersed in an intensive 12-week program designed to help you shape your fledgling concepts into a viable business plan.

And it’s capped off with a chance to get start-up funds and pitch prospective customers.

“Accelerator programs are one of the most hands-on, direct ways to support growth for entrepreneurs,” says Senia Rapisarda, Vice President, Strategic Initiatives and Investments at the Business Development Bank of Canada.

“Entrepreneurs get exposed to some of the best practices from around the world and to global thinking from day one.”

Ian Jeffrey is general manager of FounderFuel, one of three Canadian accelerator programs whose graduates are eligible for financing from the $15 million that BDC Venture Capital has earmarked for implementation of its accelerator strategy.

“We create unprecedented opportunities for these entrepreneurs to meet tons of really influential people and build relationships that will serve them forever,” Jeffrey says.

Here are some of the lessons from these programs for both start-ups and existing companies with a growth idea. Find mentors — Harness your networks to find mentors. They can be invaluable sounding boards. Also consider creating an advisory board for your business. At accelerator programs, mentors — successful business people who want to give back—are critical for the success of entrepreneurs.

Lyal Avery was a graduate in FounderFuel’s first cohort last year. He is co-owner of Playerize, a company that helps game studios market online and mobile games. “The networking opportunities and education can’t be understated,” he says of his time at FounderFuel. “Accelerator programs help companies pull the trigger and grow.”

Your search for a mentor could start at your local chamber of commerce, an industry group or on LinkedIn, the social media site for professional networking. It has discussion forums covering most industries. Several hundred teams of entrepreneurs applied to get into the first two sessions of one of Canada’s leading accelerator programs, FounderFuel. Only nine got a spot in the first cohort, while 11 got into the second session, which ended in May. Successful teams came from across Canada and spent three months at FounderFuel’s office, working 14 hours a day, seven days a week, to develop their start-up idea and pitching skills. “The program is extremely, extremely arduous,” FounderFuel’s Ian Jeffrey says. “Everybody involved develops a really tight bond.” FounderFuel gives each participating team $20,000 to $25,000 to cover costs during the session. In exchange, FounderFuel gets 6% equity in each business. Businesses deemed to be “venture-ready” are eligible for a $150,000 convertible note from BDC Venture Capital. The notes are short-term loans that convert into shares when the start-up finds other investors. Each session builds toward “demo day,” when teams get eight minutes each to pitch to hundreds of potential investors and clients. To date, FounderFuel grads alone have raised almost $6 million in investment.