Creating a Start-up or how to be entrepreneurial are topics that float around a lot these days. But what does it take to be successful? Where and how to start? The following article will cover some of it and will outline an approach and things to take into consideration. Creating a Start-up or a new business means operating with a high degree of flexibility and uncertainty, as no one can predict the future. Therefore, it is vital to be agile and adjust along the way. At the same time the “just do it attitude” needs to be managed carefully.
AMBITION & RISK
We all agree that the best and most successful companies know how to balance ambition and risk. Which can be a challenge, especially at the beginning when the idea and the decision to start energized the founders so much, that the eagerness to keep going ASAP no matter how, takes over. “You see we are at the beginning and don't want to spend too much time on all that stuff, our idea is great, and we need to find investors now...”, “IP and partnership, no need to worry the designer creates the logo for free for us.” I don't agree.
Being able to embrace risk is vital and part of successful entrepreneurship. Still, it has to be managed smartly to ensure that future growth is not at risk. After all, you put in so much passion, time and money you should give your idea/business the best foundation it needs to be successful and attractive to investors — if this is your goal.
THE START
You have an idea or not yet defined? What to do?
explore environments, situations as well as mindsets and behaviors that foster entrepreneurial opportunities.
focus on exploring concepts of need, problem, idea, value, and opportunity.
analyze the makings of an entrepreneurial opportunity.
PROBLEM SOLVING
create the basis for your effective entrepreneurship through problem discovery, definition, characterization, as well as analysis.
have you considered developing a taxonomy of problem types to be able to explore the problem types? It is a good exercise.
MARKET SEGMENTATION
Do your homework, it is essential:
market segmentation and primary market research.
analyze segment opportunities (product and service) and choose the respective market segment to target.
CUSTOMER
Knowing your customer is a must.
try to “see the world through the customer’s eyes”.
create end user profile (primary market research with more interviews of prospective customers).
understand your customer/potential customers understanding through customer persona (that need to be defined of course).
MARKET SIZE
estimate the total addressable market size for your product or service.
explore the foundations of primary market research in order to learn to understand the voice of the customer.
VALUE PROP
quantifying the value proposition
and define your growth-hypotheses (and ensure you keep on validating on a regular basis)
BUSINESS MODEL
develop a sustainable business model for your Start-up and understand the unit economics of your business.
choose or design a business model.
define key matrix
measure the cost of customer acquisition (COCA.)
and estimate the Lifetime Value (LTV) of your customer.
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
Ask yourself: “Are we solving our customer problem in a superior way?”
learn and apply full life cycle use cases and high level product specification.
create Minimal Viable Products, simple prototypes, or use "smoke test" to validate.
etc...
And now? You test, you change, you sell, you present, you create a pricing model, you learn about the dependencies of sales to consumers and businesses and hopefully you have some fun as well and bring your business idea to life.
LAST NOT LEAST
Fall in love with the problem and not the solution.
Focus on simplicity and stay grounded to keep your company grounded.
Build a unique vision.
Ensure your Start-up is set up strong and build on solid foundation (“perfect investor”, management/board, control of investor)
Be compliant (licenses, Corporate Governance)
Constant innovation and a willingness to embrace risk is the name of the game:)
Ping me if you want to share your ideas, feedback or if you need support. I am happy to provide guidance, input and help.
About the author:
Birgit Baier is a Strategic Realizer - making complexity simple. She is international and digital at heart, a passionate Business Transformer with over twenty five years experience in leading digital and integrated marketing, innovation, brand development companies and managed strategic technology alliances/partnerships.
Creating meaningful solutions, products, services, brand experiences and delivering strategic innovation is what drives her.
More details can be found here: www.bempowered.de.
You can book Birgit as a speaker: http://www.women-speaker-foundation.de/speaker_Birgit_Baier