Twilio Startups: The Startup Stack

Twilio Startups: The Startup Stack

As a team of startup mentors, The Twilio Startups team is often approached with questions regarding the best tools for founders to use as they set up and scale their business. As a result, the team sat down to map out the infrastructure a startup should consider, and where Twilio can help. In this week’s post, we will do a deep dive into your operations infrastructure.

Operations

Firstly, to get your business up and running smoothly, we think there are 4 key operational pieces that need to be in place:

Office

Somewhere for you to work on your business. In the early days, this may be a coffee shop or co-working space, but regardless of the stage you’re at, try to find a space that is inspiring, and gives you the opportunity to meet other founders.

Insurance

As soon as you have your own office space & equipment, you’re going to want to have an insurance policy in place. There are some great short-term solutions out there that don't require you to commit to a lomg-term contract. 

Lawyer

You want to make sure you have a legal advisor to relay any questions you have regarding incorporating your business, hiring a team and fundraising. There are plenty of lawyers out there that specialize in advising startups, and their rates reflect that. Don’t be discouraged by the perceived cost of a lawyer and find someone you trust to help you navigate the legal landscape. 

Accountant

Until your business grows to a significant scale, you likely won’t have an accountant in house (unless that happens to be your background!). Make sure you work with an accounting firm, or choose accounting software that will make this very important part of your business run smoothly. 

For each of the above, there are businesses offering startups special discounts for getting started. Make sure to search for these, as this will help you keep your initial running costs low, allowing you to dedicate your financial resources to growing the business. 

Ready to join Twilio Startups?

We hope you enjoyed this article on how to get started with the Startup Stack. Tune in next week, for a deep dive into the Network layer of the stack.

This post has been created by the Twilio Startups Team.

You can apply to the Twilio Startups program here. 

Would you like to read more startup content? Click here for the next article.