I have been working at startups for the past 6+ years, and in each role, I was the first person in the IT department and helped build it from the ground up. Four of the start-ups I worked at were approaching or in their growth stage. And startup when this means chaos if there isn't a baseline of IT Infrastructure, policies, procedures, and systems already put in place.
Here are 11 common IT mistakes of startups :
👀 Allowing employees to use and save work data on personal devices, then suddenly retracting upon seeking ISO 27001 or SOC 2 to meet customer demands quickly
💻 Allowing founding engineers to use their work laptop for personal use, AND agreeing to let them keep the laptop for personal use as part of their comp package or contract
🏃♀️ Knowledge of employees stealing laptops or work devices and not enforcing any consequences
🐋 Allowing a mixed environment of Linux, Windows, and Mac... then not being able to afford software to manage the mixed environment upon seeking compliance
🗝 Waiting to implement MFA until funding and growth
🤷🏾♀️No baseline system for onboarding and offboarding
📝 Listing admins and passwords of SaaS applications and database credentials in public places or
🛠Outsourcing various IT MSPs and Vendors, not keeping track of who is managing what, not keeping contracts, nor any form of access control
🧾 No inventory or simple system for tracking assets, laptops, receipts, warranties, etc
🎟 Being resistant to and not investing in a ticketing system... waiting until the company is over 80-100 employees and support individuals are overwhelmed
🗂 Not initiating a knowledgebase or keeping any form of documentation
