Startups Move Fast and IT Can’t Be an Afterthought by Todd Moss
There’s a unique energy that comes with being part of a startup. The pace is relentless, the excitement is tangible, and the sense of building something from nothing keeps you moving when others would slow down. I’ve always admired founders and early employees for that resilience — the ability to spin an idea into a company, to improvise solutions, to keep going even when the odds are long.
But I’ve also seen the blind spots that come with that pace. When you’re juggling fundraising, hiring, customer acquisition, and product development, certain things inevitably fall to the bottom of the list. IT often lands there. It’s not ignored because it doesn’t matter; it’s ignored because it feels like it can wait.
The truth is, technology is a little like plumbing or electricity. When it’s working, it’s invisible. You don’t think about the pipes under your house or the wiring in your walls until something bursts or shorts out. Startups often run on the assumption that if no one is complaining, things must be fine. And for a while, that’s true. Until it isn’t.
The Quiet Risks of Ignoring IT
Let me paint a picture. You’ve hired your twelfth employee. It’s their first day, and they’re excited to dive in. But there’s no laptop waiting, no account set up, and no clear process for getting access to the tools your team relies on. Someone digs up an old machine, wipes it as best they can, and spends most of the day improvising. That’s a full day of wasted productivity for a new hire you worked hard to recruit.
Now imagine it at scale — thirty people, then a hundred. Without systems in place, what started as a hiccup becomes a drag on momentum. The onboarding experience feels chaotic. People are unsure where files live. Passwords are shared casually in chat channels. Someone’s personal laptop becomes the unofficial company file server. All of these things might feel manageable when you’re ten people. By the time you’re fifty, they turn into daily frustrations.
And then there’s security. Small startups sometimes believe they’re too insignificant to be targets, but that’s simply not true. Automated attacks don’t discriminate. A phishing email doesn’t care if you’re two employees or two thousand. When an organization has limited controls, it’s often easier to breach. The real danger isn’t just the immediate fallout; it’s the distraction it causes. Imagine being on the verge of closing a funding round when your investor asks about your security practices and you don’t have an answer.
There’s also compliance. More and more, even small organizations are required to show that they can handle sensitive data responsibly. Nonprofits pursuing grants are asked about security posture. Startups selling into healthcare or finance are expected to meet specific standards. You can’t simply say, “We’ll get to it later.” Later usually arrives in the form of an urgent deadline, and retrofitting controls under pressure is always more painful than building them thoughtfully from the start.
But perhaps the most underestimated risk is morale. Employees want to feel confident that their work is supported. When systems break, when files vanish, when logins fail, it chips away at trust. Technology is supposed to enable people, not frustrate them. And in startups, where talent retention is already a challenge, that matters.
If I step back, most of the costs I’ve seen from neglecting IT fall into three buckets:
Productivity losses that compound across teams and weeks.
Security exposures that invite the wrong kind of attention at the worst possible time.
Cultural friction that makes people feel unsupported and less confident in the company’s future.
None of these look urgent day to day. But together, they quietly erode the momentum that makes startups special.
Foundations You Don’t Notice Until You Do
When IT is done well, you don’t notice it. The laptop shows up on your first day, preloaded with the right tools. Your login works. Files are where they should be. Security measures like multi-factor authentication fade into the background because they’re seamless. You don’t have to think about whether your work is backed up, because it always is.
I like to compare it to a building’s scaffolding. When you walk into a skyscraper, you’re not looking at the steel beams that hold it up — you’re noticing the view from the windows, the way the light fills the room, the design of the space. But none of that would exist without the hidden structure supporting it. IT is that hidden structure. Without it, growth looks shiny on the surface but unstable underneath.
This doesn’t mean startups need enterprise-level infrastructure on day one. What it does mean is that every company, even at the earliest stage, benefits from thoughtful choices that scale. It’s not about overbuilding; it’s about setting direction. The way you handle logins today shapes how secure you’ll be in two years. The way you manage devices now determines whether you can onboard quickly later. The systems you use for collaboration decide how easy or frustrating it will be to work across locations and time zones.
A well-built IT foundation shows up in small, almost invisible moments:
A new hire is productive on day one instead of waiting days for access.
A remote worker can securely connect without hassle from anywhere.
A backup quietly restores a lost file before anyone even has time to panic.
These aren’t glamorous milestones. They’re quiet, steady signals that your company is organized, resilient, and ready to grow.
Take the concept of Zero Trust. At first glance, it sounds complicated. But really, it’s about a simple idea: don’t assume someone is safe just because they’re inside the perimeter. In the old world, if you were inside the office and plugged into the network, you were trusted. Today, the office might be a kitchen table, a coffee shop, or an airport lounge. Zero Trust says: let’s verify every time, in a way that doesn’t get in your way. It’s like checking a ticket at the door — fast, consistent, and reassuring.
When organizations embrace these practices early, scaling feels smoother. A new hire has the right laptop on day one. A remote worker can access what they need without a hitch. An investor asks about security, and you can show them a simple, clear framework. Instead of scrambling, you’re calmly confident.
Why This Matters for the Long Game
Startups often see IT as an expense. And yes, there’s a cost. But I think of it differently: as an investment in momentum.
Momentum is fragile in young companies. Every hour wasted fixing a laptop, every delay from missing files, every distraction from a phishing scare — it slows the flywheel you’re trying so hard to spin. Strong IT removes friction. It lets people focus on their work instead of their tools. It sends a subtle but powerful message: “This company is serious. This company is stable. This company has its act together.”
That message matters to more than just your employees. Investors pick up on it. Customers feel it when they interact with you. Even partners sense it when systems are smooth and reliable. On the other hand, when IT is sloppy, it leaks into perception. A dropped call during a pitch, an email sent from a personal account, a file lost at a critical moment — those things register. They may not be the sole reason someone hesitates, but they add weight to the doubts.
And then there’s resilience. No startup wants to think about worst-case scenarios, but they happen. A laptop stolen from a car. A server outage right before a deadline. A cyberattack that locks up your files. When you’ve invested in IT foundations, those moments are speed bumps. Without them, they’re brick walls.
I’ve been in this field long enough to know that the companies who make it through turbulence are the ones who quietly invested in the basics. They’re not scrambling to reinvent their infrastructure under stress. They’ve already laid the groundwork.
3 Moving Forward Without Losing Speed
So, how do you balance the need to move fast with the responsibility to build strong IT foundations? The key is to treat IT the same way you treat other parts of your business that require foresight. You don’t wait until you’re running payroll for fifty employees to open a bank account. You don’t wait until you’re in court to think about legal structure. IT deserves the same early attention.
The good news is, this doesn’t mean slowing down. Done right, IT accelerates you. It makes onboarding faster. It makes collaboration easier. It makes security second nature. It creates clarity instead of confusion. Think of it less as a brake pedal and more as good suspension: it smooths the ride so you can go faster without rattling apart.
If you’re reading this and realizing IT has been an afterthought in your company, don’t panic. You don’t need to overhaul everything overnight. Start small. Map where your accounts and devices are. Ask who has access to what. Look for the simplest place to reduce risk — maybe moving away from shared passwords, or centralizing files into one secure system. Each step builds momentum.
Over time, those small, thoughtful choices create a foundation that feels invisible but powerful. IT isn’t there to slow you down; it’s there to carry you forward.
Closing
Startups move fast. That’s their nature, and it’s their advantage. But speed without stability is a fragile combination. IT doesn’t have to be flashy, and it shouldn’t be complicated. It just has to be intentional.
When it’s done right, you barely notice it. You notice the product you’re building, the customers you’re serving, the team you’re growing. IT is the silent partner making sure all of that runs smoothly.
If you’ve been treating IT as an afterthought, this is your reminder that it’s one of the most important investments you can make — not because it wins headlines, but because it keeps you moving when it matters most.
If this sounds familiar, we’re happy to help.
About 24hourtek
24hourtek, Inc is a forward thinking managed service provider that offers ongoing IT support and strategic guidance to businesses. We meet with our clients at least once a month to review strategy, security posture, and provide guidance on future-proofing your IT.