Effective Tips for Your Startup
If you have finally made the decision to start building a new business (whether it is your first business ever or one of many that came before it), it can be an extremely frightening proposition. Your continued (and eventual) success has a lot to do with whether you lay the foundation properly from the beginning.
How do you start?
If you are at the point where you are ready to start a new business, it is safe to assume that you have a unique, exciting idea. At least, that is what you know to be the fact. The reality is that you cannot be the only person who believes in your idea. You must get other people to believe in it as well. An important part of that concept is having a really clear understanding of how your concept will fit into the grand scheme of things. You must have no doubt about how you will fit into the market. Obviously, that is critical because if you can’t answer that question, you will be finished even before you have had a chance to begin. You need to be able to understand why your customers would want and need to acquire your products and/or services. Do your potential and existing customers really need what you are selling and will your offerings really make a significant contribution? You need to look carefully at your idea (as objectively as you possibly can) and try to determine if it is really worthy of centering your startup around. The answer is not necessarily obvious.
Get really close to your target audience
Whether you realize it or not, the minute you begin to interact with the members of your target audience, there exists an unspoken agreement between you. The agreement that you have between you is that you will make every attempt possible to solve the other person’s problem(s). If you are able to accomplish that, you will succeed at forming a relationship with that person and, hopefully, that bond will last for a very long time. That is what you can do for the other person. What the other person can do for you is to provide you with the other perspective, which can be extremely valuable. You may not be able to obtain that perspective from anyone else. It is very important for you to remember not to attempt (in any way) to do a “hard sell.” If you do, you will not achieve the results that you are hoping for and it will truly be an exercise in futility.
Choose the name of your startup very carefully
The name of your startup company must be perfect. It must be a name that other people will remember and it must represent your business extremely well. Based on your startup company’s name, other people should have absolutely no doubt about what you are offering and what you can do for them. Additionally, the name of your business will be critical to search engine optimization. When a person is searching for products and/or services, you want your business to appear at the very top of the search engine’s results page.
Pay close attention to your Return on Investment (ROI)
Although you are working hard at building relationships with people and not “selling,” that doesn’t mean that your ultimate goal is not to sell your products and/or services ultimately. Of course, you want that. That is exactly what everyone wants. In fact, it is the reason that you formed your startup business in the first place. That doesn’t mean that you are not passionate about what you are offering. It just means that you value what you are offering and feel that you deserve to be compensated for those offerings. Those are not unreasonable expectations.
Test the waters first
It is a very good idea to check out the reaction that people might have to the concept of your startup before you actually go through the entire process of establishing the company. It is kind of like the concept of testing a cleaning fluid on a new garment. You wouldn’t use the fluid on the entire garment initially. First, you would test a corner of the garment. Once you see that the fluid is safe and works well, you can use it on the rest of the garment. Some risks are worth taking and some are not.
Conclusion
Since the U.S. economy tanked in 2008, developing startup companies and entrepreneurship has been encouraged in general. If you have a unique, potentially successful idea for a startup company, you should definitely pursue it. However, it is important to remember that you should establish the proper foundation and everything will fall into place as it should. Once you have done that effectively, you can start to interact and to establish meaningful relationships that will be mutually beneficial. Your startup company should consist of valuable people who can represent you and your business in an amazing, unique, exciting manner, unforgettable manner.
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Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Music Industry Network
Discussion: What Do You Consider When Launching a New Startup?
Jonathan – You’ve made a good start there but perhaps oversimplified the number of things to consider. As the CEO of a startup music tech company, I can attest that there are a million things to consider. The biggest one is: can I commit 3-5 years of my life to this project? Do I believe in this idea enough to eat, drink, and sleep this company until there is no chance it will succeed? If you can say yes to that level of commitment, then you’re on to something.
I wish the following 3 books had been around when I was first getting started in business. If so, I probably wouldn’t have gotten an MBA. Those books are:
Traction – A Startup Guide to Getting Customers http://www.tractionbook.com
Lean Startup – http://theleanstartup.com/
Do More Faster – http://www.domorefasterbook.com/
I would encourage anyone considering a startup to read those 3 books ASAP.
By Jimbo Lattimore
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Small Business & Independent Consultant Network
Discussion: What Do You Consider When Launching a New Startup?
What I tell people is to get a proper bookkeeping system and set it up correctly the first time.Also remember to always pay your government taxes on time. Because of what I do for a living, bookkeeping, I see a lot of problems that occur because the basics were not done in the beginning.
By Wanda McNamara
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Social Media News
Discussion: What Do You Consider When Launching a New Startup?
You are right when it comes to choosing your name; SEO should play an important factor in your name choice as it will help draw in visitors if chosen correctly. Great post !
By Madison McMahon
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: ThoseinMedia
Discussion: What Do You Consider When Launching a New Startup?
I disagree slightly in regards to “selling.” The implication within the article is that it is somewhat shameful to have to sell your service or product. Personally, I feel that’s a bad place to start from and the reason a lot of start ups fail.
You can sell to your target audience and indeed should by either a hard or soft method. Marketing done well will connect you with your audience and drive sales. Too many start ups and small businesses focus solely on getting the company, product, service up and running that they forget the next step, marketing. Most will mistake awareness for marketing. A person can know about and like something without purchasing.
While setting up the company, also set up how to market it and budget accordingly. I’d advise using multiple marketing strategies that are most effective in hitting a company’s target audience. That way, the failure of one method doesn’t doom the whole endeavor.
If you believe in the quality in your product or service, then the marketing of it is of value to your consumer. You are doing them a service by marketing it. If you are bugging the consumer, then you have either a problem in the marketing method or you haven’t fully established the correct target audience.
By Brian McCabe
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Network – #1 Group for CMOs
Discussion: What Do You Consider When Launching a New Startup?
That is a great questions but the tips are “start up 101” not even at the graduate level. Missing sections:
1) Competitive analysis, are there existing like offerings in the market already and why our launch is better. If there are no competitors and it is obvious take the position of the first and only for as long as you can. It is the strongest position there is assuming demand for your offering. If you can not beat competition get out of the business now.
2) Who is your target market and what benefits are you offerings to them
3) How do you communicate to these potential customers, what channels are you going to ue.
4) Are you on line only, retail only or both.
5) Do a three year business plan with a source and application of funds (cash flow)
6) How much money do you need to launch and where is it coming form.
7) Do your sources of funds require an end game in 3-4 years and is that compatible with you and your team. If yes, cool you are made. If not, you better use fools, friend and family to finance you.
8) Will you use trade shows, include the cost of those shows in your BP.
9) Investors a) invest in the idea b) invest in the people behind running the business. Are they backable. Many times they are not.
10) Who is the best presenter on your team. Assign that person to make all investor presentations.
11) It was stated that picking a name was paramount. BS!!! Yahoo??? Google?? Hulu??? twitter?? Uber??? come on folks. I can see it now. Four people in a conference room for three hours and they came up with Uber.
12) Same with logo, in Mad Men’s day logo was really important. Now with way over a billion people online logo means little.
13) What are the real strong benefits of your offering. How do you promise those benefits and what is the support for those promises. Investors and consumers will want to know this much more than your name and logo.
By Fred Held
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Small Biz Forum | The Group for Small Business Owners & Professionals
Discussion: What Do You Consider When Launching a New Startup?
The most important aspect of a business is customers.
Thus, the first thing (even before spending money) is to identify (and ideally recruit a paying customer.
By James Johnson
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: WritersWorld
Discussion: What Do You Consider When Launching a New Startup?
I commend the tip. However, be cognizant of the innate growing pain period until you secure the necessary desired customer support to breakeven. Then enter that period of moving beyond that point to realize high profit and sustain it. Also, that it is fact that most small/medium/large businesses may fail but if the entrepreneur believes in his/her product with perseverance success will come.
By Yvonne Wallace-Lawrence
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Small Business & Independent Consultant Network
Discussion: What Do You Consider When Launching a New Startup?
I would recommend a loose business plan as a guide to follow.
By Adrien Nicolas
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Small Business & Independent Consultant Network
Discussion: What Do You Consider When Launching a New Startup?
Start Ups, which I call emerging companies or new ventures should start with the essentials: A sensible business plan. Even if you don’t have all of the answers in the beginning, a plan helps you put things in order through research, identifying consumer markets, learning the industry, understanding how money is made. Your business plan (GPS), get’s you there safely. So in essence all startups would benefit greatly from having a plan.
By Laurana Edwards
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Succeed: Small Business Network, Powered by Staples
Discussion: What Do You Consider When Launching a New Startup?
How to acquire customers that produce a profit “earliest” (preferably before “launch”.
How will terminate the business without loss.
How will I resolve disputes.
By James Johnson
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Social Media Mastery for Business Leaders
Discussion: What Do You Consider When Launching a New Startup?
I’ve been thinking about such an idea for quite a long time. I have yet to put it into practice but I think the first thing you have to consider is :
Am I ready to spend countless hours working on it?
Do I have that fire that will make me able to do what needs to be done and enjoy it?
By Thomas Meriaux
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Succeed: Small Business Network, Powered by Staples
Discussion: What Do You Consider When Launching a New Startup?
Reaching out to our warm market sometimes makes some of us uncomfortable, so use it as more of a referral tool so not to put pressure on those you know while still getting the word out and reeling in interested parties through word of mouth. Use social media and possibly have an event, start a local group with other entrepreneurs.
By Cindi Dameshek
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Succeed: Small Business Network, Powered by Staples
Discussion: What Do You Consider When Launching a New Startup?
@ James. I hope you consider those before launch. The most important thing is the business plan. Do I have one? Do I have a reasonable chance of following it and performing to it? Do I have buy-in from my partners/investors/employees? The three thing James measured should be included in the BP as well as an advertising/marketing plan. Plan to succeed and succeed by your plan.
By Joseph Morris
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Succeed: Small Business Network, Powered by Staples
Discussion: What Do You Consider When Launching a New Startup?
@Joseph. Gawd no, it’s not the business plan that’s important (unless you’re seeking investors) – it’s CUSTOMERS. And James’ “before launch” is right on – you’re looking for cash flow the day you open your doors.
By Ed Zimmer
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Succeed: Small Business Network, Powered by Staples
Discussion: What Do You Consider When Launching a New Startup?
how about a feasibility study even before the business plan?
most startups skip that step because they assume that their
business is going to be successful because it was “their idea”,
“their baby”, and are emotionally attached.
By Tony Walker
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Succeed: Small Business Network, Powered by Staples
Discussion: What Do You Consider When Launching a New Startup?
The most important step you can perform before starting a business based upon a “great idea” is taking the time and effort to determine if there is a viable market for the new product or service. Ask yourself this simple question: If it is such a great idea, why hasn’t it been done before? Then take the time to ask at least twenty potential “buyers” what they think of the idea, how much they are willing to pay for the new service or product, what it will take to get them to switch to the new service or product, and how much money will it add to their bottom line. Follow this relatively simple process, and you’ll know pretty quickly of there is a real market opportunity for your new service or product.
By Thomas Neustedter
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Succeed: Small Business Network, Powered by Staples
Discussion: What Do You Consider When Launching a New Startup?
What “DID” I consider when I launch my business 34 years ago is a better question. Not much other than I wanted to be in the export management business. Didn’t know enough to consider anything.
If I answered the question. “What should I consider my answers would have prevented a starry-eyed entrepreneur from going into.
As a believer in a Higher Power I know I was driven by God. I quit my job with no money in the bank, 4 children and no other job . After that everything just fell I to place and I followed. Had I stopped to think about anything or consider anything I would have never done it. Thank you God for giving me the wisdom to follow your urgings
Do you think Bill Gates and Paul Allen had a plan for Microsoft? It just happened. Same with Zuckerman and Facebook , it happened and then grew.
Problem is we forget where the real direction comes from. We want to take all the credit
By RL Bud Abraham
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Succeed: Small Business Network, Powered by Staples
Discussion: What Do You Consider When Launching a New Startup?
To start a business one needs to consider the demographics of the area. The person who is starting the business needs to prove he or she has the collateral in order to apply for the loan to start up the business.
By Jane Ginsburg
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Succeed: Small Business Network, Powered by Staples
Discussion: What Do You Consider When Launching a New Startup?
What is incredibly important to me now, during my relaunch in a new market, was something I never considered during my first launch – How do I effectively DOMINATE my market in 6 months – the time before new competitors are born and existing non-competitors expand into my market, and turn into competitors.
By Janel St. John
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Succeed: Small Business Network, Powered by Staples
Discussion: What Do You Consider When Launching a New Startup?
As a SCORE volunteer I have seen too many would be start ups that do not under how they are going to market their idea and to whom. You have to know your prospects and your competitors. Don’t fall into the trap of “if you build it, they will come”! Second many do not understand the basics of financial management or the terms. There is a place for a start up but they have to recognize it takes a lot of work.
By Virgil Dissmeyer
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Succeed: Small Business Network, Powered by Staples
Discussion: What Do You Consider When Launching a New Startup?
@Virgil. I concur with you. I’m also a SCORE volunteer going through final stages of becoming a mentor. In my view, a comprehensive business plan forces the entrepreneur to confront what he doesn’t know and to either come up with solutions or to reconsider. My views on BP come from my project management training and certification as a PMP (Project management Professional). Developing a comprehensive project management plan forces you to accomplish the upfront planning to make a project successful. Of course, you can’t mindlessly follow the plan but must be ready to update it as things change. You know, like the famous German General Clausewitz wrote that no plan survives the first moment of battle. The point is if you’ve created a comprehensive plan you know what your weapons are and can respond better to the unknown.
By Joseph Morris
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Small Business Web
Discussion: What Do You Consider When Launching a New Startup?
Well put about start-ups. Spend time on your Business Plan and also focus on the Start-up and Operations cost going forward at least 1 year.
By Bill Kiefer
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Small Business Web
Discussion: What Do You Consider When Launching a New Startup?
List what you need and cost it up, look at finding if you need.
Get a professional to design your visual branding, logo, business cards, website, social media profiles etc
Get out there and make contacts, build relationships.
Don’t expect to make a sale pr profit straight away
Have a positive outlook, be brave.
By Abbie Thoms