People-Based. Market-Driven.

StartUp Resources

Introductory Guide To Alternative Staffing
Learn about the sector and the basics of launching and operating an alternative staffing enterprise.

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Feasibility Study Outline
Feasibility analysis is an essential step to assess market opportunities, understand your likely cost structure and make an informed decision about whether to proceed.

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Legal Structures for ASOs
There is no one-size-fits-all legal structure, just a set of several options with various trade-offs. Strategy is at the core of deciding which legal structure is best for your staffing enterprise.

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Practitioner Advice to Aspiring Operators
Experienced practitioners counsel others to understand their local market and target industries, invest in sales talent and internal systems, and anticipate and manage cash flow needs.

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Key Elements for High-Performing Alternative Staffing Organizations
Enterprise growth and sustainability depends on the ability to compete and differentiate one’s services in a fast-paced industry.

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Understanding and Addressing ASO Attrition Factors
Our analysis of ASOs exiting the field reveals four key contributing factors: insufficient market research and planning, change of sponsor organization’s priorities, weak management skills, and excessive customer concentration.

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Social Enterprise: Proceed, with Caution
In this thoughtful paper, Steven Dawson, Visiting Fellow at the Pinkerton Foundation, encourages workforce practitioners and their funders to consider creating social enterprises to employ low-income constituents with eyes wide open, and outlines crucial lessons learned from both success and failure over the past four decades.

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EMBERS Staffing Solutions Case Study
Sponsored by Trico Charitable Foundation and released in May 2015, this document details the social enterprise journey of EMBERS Staffing Solutions (ESS) in Vancouver, British Columbia, from concept in 2003 to startup in 2008 and then rapid expansion in 2014. Prepared by the Sauder Centre for Social Innovation and Impact Investing at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business, the case study highlights valuable insights about launching, sustaining and scaling an alternative staffing business or similar employment-focused social venture.

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