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What Work Should You Outsource?Small businesses don't need a big team to make a big impact. Here's how to be strategic about what work gets outsourced.

ByAdam Bornstein

This story appears in theSeptember 2019issue of狗万官方.Subscribe »

Federico Gastaldi

Q: I don't have the money to hire a big team. What skills do I need to keep in-house, and what can I just hire contractors for? --Rachel Y., Miami

Good startups start with good people. That's what Paul Graham, one of the founders of the famed Silicon Valley accelerator Y Combinator, often says. And research backs him up. The Startup Genome project found that compared with companies that have a full team, solopreneurs take 3.6 times longer to outgrow theirstartupphase. And according to CB Insights research, "not having the right team" is one of the top three reasons startupsfail. (The other two are "no market need" and "running out of cash.")

But who cares about that, right? If you don't have the money to hire a full team, then no amount of snappy quotes or studies can change your fortunes. That's why a world of outsourced options are available -- everyone from highly skilledfreelancersto agencies promising to serve as your outsourced CMO or CTO.

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