15/03/2026
๐๐ป ๐ด๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฏ๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐๐ฒ๐, ๐๐บ๐ฎ๐น๐น ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ด๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ ๐พ๐๐ถ๐ฒ๐๐น๐ ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐น๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ด๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ฎ๐น ๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐๐.
๐ ๐๐ต๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฒ๐
๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐
๐ฝ๐น๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป๐ ๐๐ต๐ ๐๐ถ๐บ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ฒ๐ ๐น๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐บ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ.
Last week I wrote about a common startup mistake โ removing process checks to reduce operational cost.
A real incident from my early career illustrates why this can become expensive later.
Many early-stage startups design operations based on ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐๐-๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐บ๐ฝ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐.'
I once observed this during a ๐ด๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ป๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฎ ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐๐ฎ ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฟ๐ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ท๐ฒ๐ฐ๐.
On paper the job looked simple โ converting printed data sheets into an Excel database.
The workload estimate suggested that ๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐๐ฎ ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฟ๐ ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐น๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ท๐ผ๐ฏ ๐๐ถ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐พ๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ถ๐บ๐ฒ๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ.
The financial bid was initially structured around that assumption.
But one concern emerged during internal discussions.
Any large data entry assignment ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ ๐ฎ ๐ค๐๐ฎ๐น๐ถ๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ธ (๐ค๐) ๐น๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ.
No operator can reliably identify their own errors while entering thousands of rows of data. Human error is inevitable in repetitive tasks.
The process was therefore redesigned as:
๐ข๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ผ๐ฟ โ ๐ค๐ ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ฒ๐ โ ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ฎ๐น ๐ฆ๐๐ฏ๐บ๐ถ๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป
This meant the bid had to consider ๐๐๐ผ ๐ฟ๐ผ๐น๐ฒ๐ ๐ถ๐ป๐๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ, increasing the cost slightly.
Eventually the contract went to another bidder who quoted lower.
Later we heard what happened.
The winning vendor executed the project with a ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด๐น๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ผ๐ฟ, exactly as the original cost assumption suggested.
Their first submission reportedly returned with a ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ป๐ถ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐ป๐๐บ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฟ๐.
Correcting those mistakes required additional rounds of rework โ consuming far more time and effort than initially estimated.
What appeared cheaper initially became ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ ๐บ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐
๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ:
โข Operational processes should be designed for ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐น๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ถ๐น๐ถ๐๐, not just lowest cost.
โข Cutting process checks may win a bid โ but it often creates bigger losses later.
โข Sometimes ๐น๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐ป๐ด ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐น ๐ถ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ป๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ถ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ฎ๐.
