It was a whole lot of love that brought Joyce Akiko to Philadelphia, where she just launched her company,
Go HR for Startups. The idea is to provide outsourced human resources for entrepreneurs. Akiko, who received a Masters Degree in HR from
Villanova University, works exclusively with startups and small businesses with fewer than 15 employees.
"I was dating someone from Invite Media," says Akiko of the reason she moved to Philly in the first place, and her connection to the Philadelphia startup scene. Invite Media was sold to Google, which maintains the office as its Philadelphia headquarters. While Invite Media is no more, Akiko and former Invite employee Mark Chadwick are still dating.
While mingling with local business owners, she began fielding questions from founders about how to hire initial employees and what their titles might be. Startups have some big issues to work through as they grow. Akiko can handle all that unpleasant paperwork that comes with increasing staff, and can help businesses understand the differences between bringing on contractors and hiring full time staff.
She'll establish a startup as an employer in accordance with state and federal regulations. "I audit current policies and procedures. I also offer myself as a third-party individual with HR training who steps in and helps you organize and figure out which jobs to create now, and which jobs to create next month," says Akiko, who will find and hire candidates too.
It's a piece of the startup puzzle that's not often addressed. "My main goal," says Akiko, "is to build relationships with startups now. Money is not the short term goal." These days, she is holding regular office hours to introduce herself to the larger community, and a recent post on the Philadelphia Startup Leaders mailing list yielded many new contacts. Akiko also writes a
blog.
Akiko grew up in Scranton and got her undergraduate degree in psychology. "I love theories of motivation. The people aspect of a company is super interesting to me."
Source: Joyce Akiko, Go HR for Startups
Writer: Sue Spolan