7 BIG THINGS A START-UP MUST HAVE TO SUCCEED

The following are steps to a successful start-up business. This include:

🌍 Business plan

A business plan is a document that entails products/services you offer to your customers. It also entails how you plan to make money, how you manage your business, business goals, description of the company, financial performance and the executive summary of your business whereby it should explain the financial matrices of your company search as:

     1. Net profit 

     2. Current ratio

     3. Returns of your company:- either short-term or long-term returns

🌍 Capital

Capital is money set aside to start and run a business. Business capital can be retrieved from operations of businesses or be raised from debt or equity financing.

     TYPES OF CAPITAL

-Working capital

-Equity capital

-Trading capital

-Debt capital

Capital can be derived from various common sources such as:

- Personal savings

-Corporations

-Family and friends

-Angel investors

-Venture capitalist

-Private loans

-Working

-Borrow loans

🌍 Customers

A customer is an individual or business that purchases other company's good and services to fulfil their needs. Customers are important when it comes to revenue of a certain organization/businesses. Customers are often classified as external/internal customers.

External customers are customers dissociated from business operations and often the parties interested in purchasing final goods and services produced by the company.

Internal customers are individuals/businesses integrated into business operations, often exists as employees or or other functional groups in the company.

🌍Finding your Niche market

After you have produced a unique start up idea, the first task that any entrepreneur should ask themselves is ‘who is my targeted audience? Who will be interested in my service or product? You must consider the potential customer’s demographic – like gender, age, relationship status, hobbies, disposable income level etc. Sometimes, you need to dig deeper to detect the buyer’s persona. Customer needs, wants, ambitions and the loopholes that your product/service can solve. An effective way to find your niche market is to interview as many people as possible from a variety of divergent backgrounds and demographics. For example, US-based Media and Entertainment startup CEO Vijay Koduri conducted interviews with YouTube enthusiasts, creators, and gamers. He wanted to gain insight into their habits concerning YouTube and the strategies they use when watching videos, creating clips, sharing links with others, etc. After he had gathered all of this useful information, he presented his product – Hash cut – which allows users to make clips, memes, and mashups from any YouTube content. He asked them how they would use this product if it were available to them; giving him an idea of what kind of market he could fit into. This helped them identify who their core audience was and then they re-positioned the website, the social handles as well as their marketing strategy based on their findings. After identifying the niche, start small and focus on being better for the focused group of users. 

🌍Determine Product-Market Fit 

Achieving product market fit is a challenging task for startups, especially in the preliminary stages. It involves understanding your target market and creating a service or product that resonates with them.  It goes beyond their appeal, but rather their willingness to pay for it. As Greenpal, a lawn mowing service’s co-founder says Gene Caballero, “Make sure you are solving a big enough problem. If your company’s solution is not ten times better than the traditional product or service, it will be difficult to market your offering successfully.” Thus, to gain an understanding of whether people would buy your service/product, speaking with family and friends as well as strangers and colleagues is recommended before launching any project. 

🌍Networking with people

Networking with people is an essential tool for start-up founders. Networking with potential buyers can help you understand their wants and needs, while networking with influencers and industry professionals can get you valuable reviews of your product or service.  Additionally, talking to investors is important if you need funding. They will be able to tell you what kind of business they look for when deciding where to invest and the factors they analyze when making an investment decision. Networking for a startup is something that cannot be ignored as it offers invaluable opportunities for growth – find like-minded people by attending meetups or seek advice from industry experts and learn from their experiences. Networking ultimately has the potential to make or break a business, so investing effort in this area is paramount. “Meetups can help you find like-minded people and avoid bottlenecks. Find an industry professional to test your product and learn from their experiences” says Monica Barrette Founder at Monica Barrette Agency. 

🌍Flexible business model

One can’t be stubborn about a change of business model in the present competitive business world. As an entrepreneur, it is necessary to be ready for modifying the business model as per the nature of the market. Take the customer or market behaviour into account and study it thoroughly to bring about a strategic change in the products or services to move in the right direction. In short, be open to pivoting or evolving through the necessary iteration to prosper. Never take a back step or shy away from experimenting for the growth of the business. 

🌍Timing

Timing is one of the critical factors from a competitive point of view, and it’s led many businesses to prominence despite the chaotic and busy market at the time of entry. For e.g., when YouTube arrived in the market, there were already dozens of video-streaming platforms available. YouTube, however, was launched at an overly critical time, i.e., when the high-speed internet had become the norm but before any other video streaming had risen to prominence. Thus, it enjoyed a radical early success. Target potential customers by understanding their behaviour You need to understand the behaviour and the lifestyle of your prospect before you target them for marketing activities. For e.g. if your target demographic is in between the ages of 19-25 years old, you can place a safe bet on using social media platforms as the right channel to approach them. “If you have a business service, announce it on the radio so that prospects can hear your message while in the car thinking about work. If you have a consumer product, reach out to the trade media so that it is on the radar of retail buyers. Also, the adage is true. You must spend money to make money. And, if you have a killer value proposition, this will pay off tenfold” sums up Linda Parry Murphy of Product Launchers. 

🌍Keep a Close Eye on Competitors

Never take any competitor or rival for granted. This is one factor one should never neglect, or you will lose ground quickly. Always monitor what your competitors are up to it and identify the several types of rivals. The competitors fall under the indirect and direct categories. The companies that belong to the same industry with a similar target audience come from direct competitors. Well, the indirect competitors are those products that are the perfect substitute for your niche. Perform research on your competitors to maintain the forefront. 

🌍Funding Strategy

Half of the startups fail due to a lack of funding. Do not let this be in your case by planning out an ideal funding process. To meet the capital resource, identify the right funders and build a healthy relationship before asking for funds. Reach out to the funders, angel investors, and more that are interested in your business idea. This increases the prospect of shaking hands with the legitimate funder to kick-start the business. 

🌍The crisis response

Having the right strategy for responding to a crisis is far more important than having ways of avoiding one. No matter how successful an organization is, one moment of mishandling a crisis can lead to its downfall, so it is essential that you consider the specifics of your response plan in detail. The established protocol must take into consideration every aspect that could arise during or after a potential issue and accurately address them to mitigate any further damage to your company or its reputation. The crisis response needs to be carefully thought out and well-executed to ensure the safety and sustainability of the business.

🌍A Growth Strategy

A business is only as successful as the growth strategies it incorporates. A strong understanding of growth hacking tools puts your company in position to meet its bottom- and top-line objectives by enhancing customer base, increasing conversion rate, and uncovering untapped opportunities. A combination of social metrics analysis, creative problem solving, and hard data can lead your business to where it needs to be on the road to success. A sound growth strategy requires commitment, dedication, and an unwavering focus on achieving results. With a bit of planning and ingenuity, you too can reap the benefits that come with having a firm grip on these powerful tools. So do not wait any longer – take charge today and start creating the bright future you deserve for your business!