Minimum Viable Startup Operations
Get Dinner on the Table, Not a Michelin Star
Hi, Jen and Jean here from Startup Soup. We particularly love our newsletter name because we also share a love of food.
We think of the operations part of a startup like getting dinner on the table. Sure, some days, you might try a new and involved recipe, but most days, you just need to get something good enough on the table FAST, so that you can devote more time to other family and life priorities.
This is where the concept of minimum viable operations comes in. It’s about finding the right balance: creating systems and practices that are just enough to support the team.
When it comes to startup operations, we’ve seen two common traps that teams fall into.
Minimum, but not viable - twinkies for dinner
Overdoing it - beef wellington on a weeknight
Let’s break down what those look like—and why finding the middle ground is critical.
Too Minimal
“We don’t have time to think about process/people/ops.”
Some startups devote very limited time to their operations, opting to prioritize (understandably) other areas of the business like product or sales. What this means is that operations are often done in a “too little too late” fashion, which can lead to chaos and dysfunction. Here’s what this might look like:
No documented company goals: “We all know where we’re going already. Let’s not waste time discussing it further.” → Without written goals, teams can easily get confused on the why of their work, which can lead to very different outcomes.
Limited or no management structure: A flat org can mean accountability gets lost, and no one is really sure what everyone else is responsible for—meaning some things get lost and don’t happen, while other problems end up being everyone’s responsibility and slowing down progress elsewhere in the business.
No structure or rhythm to team meetings → The team ends up in too many meetings, often the same group of people meeting repeatedly on different topics. Or, conversely, they’re in very few meetings but don’t really know what’s happening, causing siloes.
No consistent processes for compensation → Each person’s comp is figured out independently, leading to inconsistencies and unfairness, which demotivates the team over time.
No onboarding/offboarding checklists: “It’s a trial by fire here. You’ll figure it out.” → Onboardings that don’t focus on helping new teammates get up to speed quickly means you’re wasting valuable money paying someone who can’t be effective yet. Worst case, you might find out a long-time employee never received a laptop or still doesn’t know how to use the software correctly.
Worst case scenarios are rare—more often, when startups always deprioritize operations, there’s just a sense of low level chaos where every task feels a bit urgent. In startups like these, it can seem like everyone is busy, so busy! People are working all the time, always on timely stuff that seems to come up last-minute. It might even feel good for a while to dive into the chaos and hustle of startup life—you always have a problem to solve.
But imagine a boat where everyone is rowing as hard as they can in different directions, and you’ve got a pretty good visual for a startup that neglects operations altogether. Decisions take longer, misalignment grows, and small fires become major distractions.
Overdoing It
On the flip side, some teams over-engineer their operations, wasting valuable time and energy. This situation comes from good intentions where leaders want to get operations right and believe they need to dedicate time and intention to do that. However, they don’t have a sense for how to prioritize or where to invest less. This might look like:
Spending six months designing the company logo before launching the product → The logo matters, but not more than getting out and learning about what’s working and what’s not.
Completely reimagining engineering leveling for a five person team → Unless it’s meant to be a differentiating factor for your company, developing a bespoke system for a small team is more distraction than benefit.
Adopting a new way to run a company before there’s even a product (*cough* Holacracy) → It takes time and energy to develop and understand a new way of working, which takes time away from the team’s ability to execute.
Building three layers of hierarchy in a 10-person org. → Giving people management support is great, but everyone having several bosses could lead to misdirection and confusion.
Hiring a product ops person for a 10 person product dev team → Product ops is fantastic—but early, it should be the role of the product manager or even an eng manager to keep the team on track.
Spending four weeks drafting OKRs that are “perfect” for the entire year → OKRs in startups often shift quickly, so it’s best to get a draft out, and move forward.
This kind of over-investment can be just as damaging as underinvesting. In the moment, sometimes working on process can feel extremely thoughtful — of course we should talk about how we work. Slow down to move fast!
But instead of moving fast and iterating, the team gets bogged down in perfecting how they all work together, losing sight of the real goal: building the product and growing the business.
The Case for Minimum Viable Operations
So what are we left with? We don’t want to not invest at all, but we also don’t want to waste time. That’s where a good enough approach comes in. Minimum viable operations are the Goldilocks zone of running a startup: not too little, not too much. When you get it right, you create a foundation that:
Reduces chaos and fires: You’re not constantly scrambling to deal with urgent issues, project confusion, missing laptops, undefined roles, and more.
Aligns the team: Basic goals and structure help everyone row in the same direction, which reduces the amount of time leaders have to spend getting everyone on track.
Prevents turnover and mis-hires: A basic structure helps employees understand their roles and expectations, plus a simple onboarding helps you get the most out of the team.
For example, a single clear company objective—like “grow market share by reaching $1M in ARR within 12 months”—can guide every team’s priorities and decisions, cutting down on wasted effort. Plus, it helps teammates understand what they shouldn’t be doing.
A pared down leveling system can be good enough to grow the team for the next 6 months (and it can be fleshed out for the next stage of growth, if your company survives that long).
Minimum viable operations can also mean investing more deeply in some areas and less (or not at all) in others. Some teams may need more detailed OKRs due to the complexity of their business, while others may just need “build the MVP” for the first six months.
Figuring out what areas can just be “good enough” can be tricky. These questions are helpful to think through what needs extra work versus what is fine for now.
Why do we need to work on this now? What would happen if we pushed it out for three months?
What are three levels of output we could do here — a simple solution, a best-in-class, and something in between. What are the tradeoffs of each?
Is this a decision that’s safe to try and we can easily change later?
Thinking through these questions for 15-30 minutes together can help identify the right path forward without wasting time on fleshing out a complete solution and without forgetting to do anything at all. If you’re still not sure which path to pursue, try identifying common ground — i.e., a simple solution that is also the first step in a deeper implementation. For example, a draft of three “must-haves” as a hiring rubric might be all you need for now, and it’s something you can build on to create a more detailed hiring rubric later.
The Minimum Viable Mindset
Why does this matter? Startups thrive when their leaders know where to focus their energy. Minimum viable operations are about building the systems to get dinner on the table every night, not crafting a five-star tasting menu.
When you operate with this mindset, you create just enough structure to run your team while staying nimble. You avoid the traps of doing too little or overdoing it, and most importantly, you support the business moving forward and making progress.
We’d love to hear from you!
What’s an area in operations where you wish your team would invest a little bit more? Where do you think your team might be overdoing it? Reply to this email or share in the comments.
Here are also some of our future post ideas. Let us know what you want to read about!
Last but not least, a soup recipe! 🍲
Here’s a simple soup recipe both of us have reached for when we just need to have a good-enough dinner FAST! It’s a very versatile recipe. Add whatever you have on hand!
ABC Soup
This soup is named for the vitamins in the vegetables. This is what I share with friends, but here is an actually legit recipe from a website for a stovetop ABC soup.
Ingredients:
~1 lb chicken (drumsticks, thighs, whatever you have) - you can put them in frozen!
Chopped root vegetables - carrots, potatoes
Something to add sweetness - a chopped apple, some corn, a chopped tomato, or any subset of the above
Throw everything into an instant pot. Add some salt (and white pepper and some ginger if you have it). Add 3-6 cups of water (depending on how flavorful you want the soup). Pressure cook on high for 30 minutes.
Soup! Enjoy, and we hope to hear from you soon!
Very cool idea! I would love to read more about the minimal version of team structures. How do you think about it, what has worked for you and where you have failed.