Every start-up reaches a point where the admin is too much for the founders to handle properly, but not enough to justify a full-time hire. The volume is real — invoices, payroll, supplier set-up, the first few recruitment campaigns — but it doesn't add up to a full role yet.
That gap is where a lot of start-ups get stuck. Here's how to fill it without hiring too early.
Sequence it: what to sort out first
Not every back-office function matters equally at the start. A sensible order for most start-ups:
1. Finance basics. Bookkeeping, invoicing, paying suppliers on time and knowing your cash position. This is the foundation for everything else, including every conversation you'll have with investors or lenders.
2. Payroll and people admin. The moment you employ people, you need contracts, right-to-work checks, payroll and pension auto-enrolment done properly. Mistakes here are easy to make and awkward to unwind.
3. Purchasing and suppliers. Even a small business accumulates subscriptions and suppliers quickly. A simple purchase process stops spend leaking before it becomes a habit.
4. Recruitment admin. Once you're hiring regularly, scheduling interviews, chasing feedback and onboarding new starters takes real time.
5. Customer operations. Handling enquiries, orders and queries consistently — usually the function that grows fastest once you have traction.
Outsource the process, keep the decisions
The principle that makes this work: outsource the repeatable process, keep the judgement. You decide who to hire, what to spend and how to price. The work of executing those decisions — processing, chasing, reconciling, scheduling — is what gets delegated.
Build it so it scales
The mistake many start-ups make is setting up the back office in a way that only works at its current size: a spreadsheet here, a shared inbox there, knowledge held in a founder's head. When volume doubles, all of it has to be rebuilt. Starting with a documented, repeatable process — even at low volume — means stepping up is a change of package, not a rebuild.
Know when to step up
Good signals it's time to add more capacity: invoice volumes are climbing, you're about to make several hires, or you've started selling to customers who need a more formal service. Each of those is a reason to extend the back office — not necessarily to hire someone to run it.
How our start-up packages work
Our start-up packages are built for exactly this stage. Every package covers the same essentials — getting paid, paying suppliers and staff, monthly numbers, employee admin, hiring and compliance deadlines — and is sized to your business. As your customers, suppliers and headcount grow, you step up from Essential through Growth to Scale with the same team throughout. There's no long-term contract, and you have direct access to your account lead from day one.