Tech leaders need to focus on strengths and outsource everything else

Technology entrepreneurs tend to wear a number of hats, especially when starting a new business or managing high growth. They're expected to be the visionary, designer, developer, marketer, salesperson and accountant bundled into one. Is this the most effective and efficient use of their time?

In his book The 4-Hour Workweek, Timothy Ferriss strongly encourages entrepreneurs to focus on their strengths and to outsource everything else – from professional to personal tasks. Not only will they have more time to focus on their key competencies, they'll also avoid making mistakes in a field where they have little or no experience.

BDO's National Financial Services Leader Sam Khoury echoes this sentiment and says when deciding which functions to outsource, technology entrepreneurs and businesses should look at some of their most time consuming, non-client facing activities as a starting point. During this phase, Khoury says it's important to take a methodical approach to ensure the right decisions are made. Outsourcing the right functions can free up valuable time that will allow entrepreneurs to return their focus to building the business and growing their market share. If the wrong decisions are made, however, it can put an organization at a disadvantage, as they don't want to outsource or lose any proprietary information.

One viable function to consider outsourcing is bookkeeping and accounting services. Not only is it an administrative burden, when it's performed by inexperienced individuals, it can create a number of undesirable consequences including late filings, late invoicing, missed expenses, and worse, prevent the business from establishing a “scorecard.” Mike Stranz, BDO's National Outsourcing Leader, warns that without the insights offered by a scorecard, cash burn becomes a dangerous estimate, and actual ROI on activities is not really measurable, forcing management to make decisions in the dark.