The 19^th edition of  Nepal Entrepreneurs’ Hub’s (NEHUB) spark talk and meetup program was conducted on 9^th April, 2018 at Innovation Hub, FNCCI building.  The program proved to be a fruitful experience sharing session among the CEO’s, founders and co-founders of Nepali startup companies. The agenda for this session was “People Issues in Startups”. Members from a total of 11 startups (the list of participants is provided at the end of this article) participated in the session which was moderated by Mr. Abhishek Dhakal. Multitude of issues related with an employee’s life cycle in startups were discussed.

1. Nepalese startups facing skill crunch while scaling up is one of the burning issues. Initially, the required skills are brought into company by founding members, but as the organization grows, it becomes a challenge to fulfill the skill gaps. Different startups adopt different strategies to employ the best people-whether it is from colleges, close friends and families or vendors and partner organizations. Among the different strategies discussed, hiring people with the right set of attitudes and behaviors (soft skills) is extremely important as hard skills could be developed in the workplace. However, hiring people with the right set of knowledge, skills and attitude is still a challenge in startups, given the fact that the Nepalese labor market lacks the right kind of support networks especially related with technical resources.
2. Hiring is not enough if a right fit between the company and the people working in it isn’t created. When the startup is new, the initial batch of employees working are highly engaged and they share the passion for work with the founding members. However, when the company grows and new batch of employees are introduced, a distinct gap between the old and new people in organization is observed. This results to a cultural shift in the company. New employees generally opt for stable jobs like that of bank and government, even though the startups pay them handsomely. Bringing in the right fit opens a different world of challenge for startups.
3. As people working in startups generally look for more stable jobs like that of banks and government, retention is one of the major issues. Finding a candidate who is fit in the startup culture is a challenge. One of the strategies would be to hire from a close network of friends and family, where the candidate already has some idea of the company culture. Another would be hiring from vendors, where the candidate has already worked with the company representing the vendor. However, while recruiting through a close network, comfort costs efficiency. Involving in effective communication and interaction with employees and building a proper connection can also prove to be a useful strategy.
4. The session also included discussion upon managing performance issues in startups. Various approaches regarding mitigating poor performance of employees were deliberated upon. One of them was participative approach where employees are involved in the planning, and designing the project, so that they can have greater involvement. Another approach was micromanagement, wherein the employee’s work is constantly monitored by the top management resulting in less deviation. Additionally, the employees can be segregated between those carrying out core tasks and those working with minimum level of skills. By doing so, startups can focus on the core tasks while managing the miscellaneous activities.
5. Remuneration of employees was also a greatly discussed issue during the session. Fresh college graduates, especially toppers, generally have high pay expectations without adequate experience to justify the pay. Salary is a subjective matter and the right amount differs from person to person. By developing a salary structure in the organization, a proper pay system can be established. Additional dynamic pay heads can also be complimented so as to match the expectation according to the work. Also, it was discussed that having a provision period is generally useful so that new recruits can be evaluated before deciding upon the final salary.
6. During the discussion it emerged that startups aren’t in general awareness of the labor act. With the upgrade in the labor act of Nepal, companies need to work accordingly- this can also be fruitful in addressing various challenges. Some of the additions that the new labor act has made are: a) defining types of employment, b) defining interns, trainees and apprentice, c) broadening the definition of workplace, employees, and employers, d) laying out the basic rights of the employees etc. The session only had a brief discussion regarding this issue and it seemed essential that one separate discussion session relating to the labor act and startups be held. One of the important factors that needs to be considered is that the labor act defines the national labor environment, and formulating the policies that aligns with the labor act will help startups handle many issues of people in the workplace.
7. Finally, it was concluded that there is an immense need to have a compressive database related with the startups in Nepal. This will also be essential in developing required market support system, which will be crucial in fostering the startup culture in Nepal.

Following were the CEOs/Cofounders during the meetup:

1. Sabin Bhandari, Founder, Butta
2. Dadhi Ram Poudel, Co-Founder, Work Around
3. Hemant Shrestha, Co-Founder, Wise Yak
4. Ravi Bajracharya, Co-Founder and CEO, Wise Yak
5. Suraj Prasad Sah, Movesewa
6. Rebati Ram (Rafael) Poudel, Founder, Saathi ko ghar
7. Himal Gautam, Business Development Manager, Rooster Logic
8. Anish Pradhan, Director of Finance and HR, Project A
9. Suman Shakya, Cofounder, Smart Paani
10. Amrit Tuladhar, CEO, muncha.com
11. Ashish Thakur, CEO, Global Khabar