How nailing time management is the key to any successful startup

Time is money.

And nowhere does this adage ring more true than in the fast-paced world of startups.

In this article, we talk to two entrepreneurs—on two continents—about starting a business as a side hustle, moving to full-time entrepreneurship, and the tools they use to manage their time and maximise their business success.

Here’s what we cover:

Why time management matters for startups

The late Peter Drucker, a renowned management consultant, once said: “Time is the scarcest resource and, unless it is managed, nothing else can be managed.”

As an aspiring small business owner, it’s important to realise how pivotal effective time management is to the success of your future business.

Although time isn’t a commodity, it still pays to treat it like a precious resource.

Managing your time efficiently can not only result in you improving your productivity and preventing burnout, but it can also enable you to focus on more important business activities.

Starting your business as a side hustle

For Joe Weir, a side hustle was a natural extension of a work relationship.

“My co-founder and I were successful brand consultants,” says Joe, co-founder of That Thing, a London-based brand studio.

“We were just two colleagues teaming up on odd jobs. Our ‘side hustle’ involved taking on projects together in the evenings and at weekends.”

By contrast, John Popel’s side hustle was birthed out of a gap he spotted in the market.

John is co-founder and CEO of Grubmates, a startup delivering food, groceries and medicine on the west coast of Mauritius, all within an hour.

“My wife, Olga, and I launched Grubmates as a pet project,” he says.

“We needed a reliable, 24-hour delivery service, but it didn’t exist on the island. So, we built one ourselves.”

Joe and John agree that, when it comes to calculating how much time you should spend on your side hustle, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach.

Instead, the entrepreneurs suggest a more bespoke angle, which takes into account:

1. Your business goals

Your plan may be to go into full-time business as soon as possible, in which case you may want to dedicate more time to your side hustle.

But if going all-in with your business is your long-term goal, you can probably afford to devote less time to it.

2. Your side hustle

If your side hustle is service-based, such as graphic design, you might need to work set hours on a regular basis.

Contrast this with a product-based side hustle, which typically allows you to have a more flexible work schedule.

3. Your personal commitments

You may have to balance the demands of working with the likes of:

• Childcare commitments
• Looking after elderly parents.

Either way, the sweet spot is where you commit just enough time to your side hustle to make steady progress on your business without compromising your full-time employment or work-life balance.

Moving into full-time entrepreneurship

Joe decided to take the leap into full-time entrepreneurship when a chance opportunity yielded unexpected success.

“We had an opportunity to pitch for a full rebrand of a fintech company, but we were up against established brand agencies,” says Joe.

“But we won the pitch and our side hustle suddenly became much more central to our lives.”

Similarly, John’s decision to convert his side hustle was prompted by early signs that his business was viable.

“Once our side hustle had product-market fit and we got some decent traction, we quit our jobs.

“We’ve been developing Grubmates as a supply chain logistics startup ever since,” he says.

Although there are no hard-and-fast rules governing when you should turn your side hustle into a full-time business, here are a couple of pointers:

1. Sustainable revenue

If the income from your side hustle consistently exceeds your full-time pay packet, you may have a viable business on your hands.

2. Growth capacity

Do you have capital to recruit additional staff, broaden your range of products or services, or increase the scale of your operations?

If so, it may be advisable to commit to your business on a full-time basis.

Managing your time in business

Joe believes delegation is integral to his time management strategy.

“I used to think the time costs of delegation outweighed the benefits, but that isn’t true,” he says.

“The time you invest delegating something properly doesn’t just solve an immediate time pressure. It also builds your capacity for more efficient delegation down the line.”

Meanwhile, John highlights how important delegation and outsourcing were, particularly when he turned his side hustle into a full-time business.

“For a startup, finding the right match between founders and early team members can be a matter of life and death,” he says.

“Nevertheless, delegation is critical because startups focus on scaling, which can only be done with a team.”

There’s a familiar trap many first-time founders fall into: believing they have to do everything for their startup to succeed.

But the reverse is true.

Effective delegation saves time and frees you up to engage in more strategic thinking or higher value activities.

It also empowers your team to make decisions, which boosts their morale and, ultimately, their productivity levels.

John and Joe have adopted time management strategies devised by an ex-US President and a university student.

John favours the Eisenhower Matrix, a time management tool developed by former US President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

“It works just as well for startup founders as it does presidents,” he says.

The Eisenhower Matrix involves organising your tasks by urgency and importance, classifying them into four quadrants:

• Quadrant 1: Urgent and important tasks (do them first)
• Quadrant 2: Not urgent, but important tasks (schedule them)
• Quadrant 3: Urgent, but not important tasks (delegate them)
• Quadrant 4: Not urgent and not important tasks (don’t do them).

Joe, too, relies on a time management tool: the Pomodoro timer.

It’s based on the Pomodoro technique, which was developed by university student Francesco Cirillo in the 1980s.

“Time management doesn’t come easy to me,” says Joe.

“It’s always tempting to try to ‘app’ your way out of a weakness, but that doesn’t necessarily work.”

But he swears blind by the Pomodoro timer, which breaks down your work into 25-minute increments with five-minute breaks.

To maximise the app’s effectiveness, Joe takes things a step further.

“I don’t believe apps work without hard work and self-reflection,” he says.

“I hired a coach, so I could form consistent habits using time management techniques.”

If you’re interested in exploring time-tracking tools like Joe, popular apps include:

• Clockify
• Toggl Track
• Forest
• Todoist
• RescueTime.

And by capitalising on the integration of AI in financial management software tools, you can save your startup even more time.

These AI-powered solutions can streamline your financial processes such as bookkeeping, expense tracking and financial forecasting, freeing you up to concentrate more on strategic growth and innovation and less on routine financial management.

By using the right tech tools at every step, you’ll be able to optimise your time to spend more of it on what matters.

Final thoughts

Effective time management is a hallmark of a successful startup, ensuring you achieve more in less time—and with less stress.

By prioritising tasks according to urgency and importance, delegating authority where possible and using productivity tools, you can manage your time efficiently.

Getting a handle on time management is a marathon, not a sprint, but it’s a marathon worth running. After all, when you save time, you also save money, improve productivity and prevent burnout.