How to design your organisation using SkilledUp Life.

Most tech startups try to do everything with two or three tech founders, or hire too early and burn cash. A clear organisation design shows which functions you need now, who owns each one, and where skilled volunteers from SkilledUp Life can add capacity, exclusively for tech companies.

Step 1: map the nine functions

Every company, at every size, needs the same nine functional units. Early on, one person may cover several.

1. Opportunity and strategy: the market, the customer, the plan.
2. Product and engineering: what you build and how.
3. Marketing: brand, demand and positioning.
4. Sales engine: turning demand into customers.
5. Operations: delivery, systems and processes.
6. Customer success: onboarding, support and retention.
7. Finance: bookkeeping, forecasts, funding.
8. HR: people, culture and resourcing.
9. Legal: company, contracts, IP and compliance.

Step 2: decide what the core team owns

Your tech founders and any paid staff own decisions, customers and accountability. For each function, name one owner, even if it is the same person for several.

Step 3: add SkilledUp Life teams by stage

• Validation: a team of up to 15 volunteers for market research, customer interviews and competitor analysis.
• Build: a product team of up to 25 for design, development and testing.
• Growth: up to 100 across marketing, sales and customer success.

Each team has a lead from your core team who sets goals, reviews progress and gives feedback every week.

Step 4: set it up properly

• Volunteer agreements covering confidentiality and assignment of any IP to your company.
• Clear roles, goals and a weekly rhythm, run remotely through shared tools.
• Access only to the systems and data each role needs.

The volunteering rules

• Volunteers cannot be paid in any form: no stipends, gift vouchers or expenses.
• All volunteering is remote, with no office or customer visits.
• No promises of paid roles during recruitment or volunteering.

Common mistakes

• Recruiting a large team before you know what you want them to do.
• No owner in the core team for a volunteer team.
• Treating volunteers as unpaid staff instead of people giving their time to learn and contribute.