If you’re an early stage founder, streamlining and optimizing your business operations may be the last thing on your mind.

But what if you could build your operations to support and even improve your business as it grows?

In a recent episode of "Uncapped Notes," our YouTube show that demystifies the world of VC and startups, host and director of business development here at Hustle Fund, spoke with the founder of operations consultancy firm STRUC, Susie Trujillo, to discuss how founders, can build their operations to support their business as it grows. We're going to break down the information from their conversation here, but feel free to watch the full episode.

"Winning at any cost" isn't always a win

Many founders mistakenly believe that they need to win by any means necessary to build their startup.

However, as Susie explains in the aforementioned episode of "Uncapped Notes," this "by any means necessary" approach to business operations may not be the best path to growth.

3 tips for founders' business ops

Susie suggests three key areas that founders should focus on when thinking about business operations:

1. Communications (how companies communicate sets best practices for collaboration to avoid a lack in clarity)
2. Measuring success (project management for tracking a target, determining how close you are to that goal and ensuring a guiding principle to keep the organization aligned on the mission; program management platforms help with this!)
3. Build a solid team (do this with intention and strategy; this is a key indicator of a company's long-term success!)

What does recruitment look like for an early-stage founder?

It is crucial to have a formalized organizational chart and reporting structure. This is going to help you as founders identify workflow faps quicker. There's no team too small or too large for a resource like this, either!

It's also important to determine what seniority needs to guide budget and compensation conversations.

Lastly, it is worthwhile to design a straightforward recruiting process for all incoming hires to mitigate bandwidth drain.

Final thoughts

At the end of the day, regardless of what product or service your company offers, the team you've built makes all of the difference between it being successful or it being a flop. When you combine the team composition, recruiting process and onboarding combined with the other two crucial items founders should focus on -- communications and a way to measure success -- together these help founders lay lay a stellar early-stage foundation of business operations.

And, by the way, these are action items Susie advises all founders to consider, no matter how small their teams might be. The sooner you can build healthy business operations habits, the easier everything else will be down the line.

Check out the full episode of "Uncapped Notes" to learn more and learn how to connect with Susie.

Anna Claire Howard is the interim operating manager for The Founder Playbook while Kera is OOO. She is also the editor of a nonprofit magazine. When she’s not writing or editing newsletters for Hustle Fund, you can find her wrestling with her three dogs, playing with her son, or chasing chickens around her backyard. Connect with her on LinkedIn here.