As you can easily see, “startup” has become very popular and fashionable word. Anyone who starts the company says that he does just that. Despite everything, I believe this word is misused. Not every company is a startup, and not every startup is a company.
Additionally, you can get the impression that we show the wrong approach to building the company and our whole conception is based on external financing. This should definitely be your last plan. Along the way, you should focus on a number of other, much more important aspects.
Let’s try to define a startup
As Steve Blank says — startup is a temporary organization, seeking a repeatable, scalable and profitable business model.
This is very easy, in the end each of us is looking for a space in which will give us fulfillment, and which will bring us profit. In addition, one that can easily scale and grow by going step by step through successive stages of development.
So remember to do not ignore the reality that surrounds you and to do real business from the very first day.
The first stage is to prepare for action. Most of us start to run own business alone as a freelancer. While mentoring here in the Cat in Black Software House or on the lectures very often we hear the question: “How should I transform my passion to a profit, what to do to do make something I love profitable?” After all, all of us want to wake up with the feeling that we are doing what we love. The problem is that there is no only one and clear answer and each business requires a unique approach.
When we manage to find a place for themselves to act and win some good, most loyal customers, we begin to hire employees who either take over our responsibilities and we will prepare to expand into another field, or relieves us so we stopped working after 14h a day . In subsequent years, we try to look for new clients and the way that all of our processes could be scaled. Of course, scalability is important from the very beginning and we should apply great attention to it, but in real world not always we can achieve everything that we’ve assumed, in the first months of our activity.
Taking control over more than 10 employees team is becoming a challenge for us. Our focus is divided not only on the sales, but also on human factors, which in the case of poor organization may contribute to the failure of our entire project. It’s a good time to start thinking now about that how strong leader we want to be and what boss we want to be for our employees.
The team and your approach to its management is one of the key factors in the success of your business.
What is important to achieve success?
Success in business — is one of the many dreams of every (not only the novice) entrepreneur. So what you need to do to achieve it? Answer the question, about which I wrote earlier:
– What should I to do to transform a passion to profit?
This is the most important thing in business. Passion and everything connected with it. It doesn’t metter if you’re: making coffee, sew clothes or create software. The most important thing is to approach it with enthusiasm and “infect” others with it. People who are your customers and your team.
Another important element contributing to the success is the problem that you have to solve. The more difficult, complex and annoying for others it is, the more solution is needed.
Baking gluten free bread you solve the problems of people with allergy, when sewing clothes you solve the problem of the people, which is cold, when the autumn wind blows.
It’s just a small example, but consider how you are able to solve other peoples problems. The more there is a need to resolve, the more likely it is that people and businesses will be willing to pay for it.
The third most important thing is what have already said: the team of people you work with. With this people you spend 1/3, if not more, time each day. You need to know that you can rely on each other, that you are unity. There is no room for error, for elbowing. As Will Smith used to say in his speeches, the people who surround us have a huge impact on us. When every day you will have to listen to complaints and desperate attempts to depress you and other people, you will soak with it and stop believing that what you are doing makes sense.
There is no complicated formula — everything is simple. It doesn’t matter what way have traveled or where you are now. What matters is where you’re going.
Other key aspects of establishing your own business
One of them is to check your competition. If you have an innovative product or service that no one has, then you are in an ideal situation. However, not everything is always as simple as that. So remember to check your competition and do it well. It is not enough just to type in a Google search, check the first two pages and say: now I know everything. You have to do a proper reconnaissance to be sure where you stand.
If you find your rival and you’re sure what is he doing, you should answer the question, if you can do the same thing better and faster. Define your strengths, putting enormous pressure on them and never imitate anyone. You must follow your own approach to business, because you do not know what factors contributed to the fact that a company is just at this moment of development, why leads such campaign, or create a website in this particular way.
Do a little reading
You should increase your your knowledge in issues such as Customer Development and Lean Startup. It’s a huge dose of knowledge and examples of that how we should do market research, its verification, returns, and then proceeds to implementation by creating a customer base and then building your business.
Enjoy anonymity
Fortunately, at the beginning of the company you are still anonymous and the fact that people do not associate your brand gives you the opportunity to learn and make mistakes. Unfortunately in the future, you won’t manage to avoid them, like everyone, but for companies that already have a well-earned reputation in the market costs of bad decisions are much, much more expensive.
Summary
You do not need to say much. Take matters into your own hands and create great product which you’d like to use.
