I just came across a great article by Ben Horowitz (Netscape, Loudcloud, Adreessen Horowitz) on Why Startups Should Train Their People . Ben's not a trainer, but a manager, CEO, and venture capitalist. And he comes at this from a practical point-of-view, which makes it much more powerful. There are some great nuggets here for us trainers, instructional designers, and performance improvement professionals. Maybe some things we have forgotten over the years? Simple things, such as clearly setting expectations during the training of how/why/and when what is learned should be put into practice.

My favorite part of the article is when Ben states:

"Ironically, the biggest inhibitor to putting a training program in place is the perception that it will take too much time. Keep in mind, that there is no investment that you can make that will do more to improve productivity in your company. Therefore, being too busy to train is the moral equivalent of being too hungry to eat."

The advice in this article can be applied to any company, not just startup companies. So spread this one around to all your clients and potential clients.