Start-ups face enormous odds against succeeding. A third of all new businesses fail in their first two years. More than half fail in the first four years. And those statistics were valid in 2005 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Monthly Labor Review, May 2005, pg 50). Think about what the failure rates might be today in the current economic climate.

Any start-up has a finite amount of money to reach a defined goal of having their new product in the marketplace. Usually the business plans assume development times that do not allow for employee learning curve—each employee is assumed to be fully skilled to do the job at hand.

The best way to execute a start-ups business plan is to use the best talent you can rent (consultants) or buy (employees). There is no time in the plans for recovery from the natural and unavoidable mistakes that occur during learning. In other words, hiring for start-ups should not consider for any critical positions interns or employees who have to "grow" into their jobs. In addition to the potential for the mistakes that are part of the learning process, the lesser experienced people also require closer supervision and mentoring from an experienced worker. This further dilutes the experienced work force as they focus less on the product development and more on the people development. Unless your start-up is in the field of education or training, it will be successful only from getting the product into the marketplace and start collection of revenue from sales.

So, for start-ups, there is no time allowed for on-the-job training (OJT).

But, as a company matures, it is important to create an environment where less experienced workers can learn and advance. The more opportunities that exist for advancement, the greater the attraction for highly skilled individuals to work at your company. So when should a company start to embrace OJT and use interns? I think the process should start once the company becomes cash-flow positive. By that time, the marketplace is making your product a success, and thoughts can turn to fostering company longevity by creating a flow of talent through the ranks of the employees.

Are these hard and fixed rules? No, no, no! I have witnessed several great exceptions where an intern just out of college has made great contributions to a product development team at a start-up. But I have also seen the other side, where development languished because too few experienced people were leading the charge to get the product finished.

-Don Burtis