Market Research – In order for a small business to be successful, it must solve a problem, fulfill a need or offer something the market wants. Make a Plan – A business plan is a blueprint that will guide your business from the start-up phase through establishment. Register Your Business – Once you have chosen your business model you have to choose a name for your business, Then register it. Plan Your Finances – you likely went into business to pursue a passion, not to become an accountant. so get a bookkeeper. Choose Your Accounting System – If you decide to get started on your own, make sure you consider choosing the right accounting software in order to create and manage your budget.
EARLY STAGE PROJECTS
Gain access to services that can streamline and automate your startup at every stage
IDEA STAGE
TURN AN IDEA INTO A BUSINESS
SEED STAGE
LAUNCHING A STARTUP
Choose a co-founder – Look for someone with solid track record who you have some history with. Not having the proper support can kill the best of ideas. Pick a workplace – Many founders work from home initially to save money, but others choose to rent at a co-working space, share or rent and office. Find an Advisor – A mentor can provide deep industry insight and wisdom to help you navigate some of the challenges that come your way. Apply to Programs – If you need some additional resources and expertise, consider applying for an accelerator or an incubator to expand your network. Raise capital – taking it to the next level requires financial investment, decide how much money you need and practice pitching your product to investors
EARLY STAGE
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
Build a board – If you have been funded by a VC at this point you should have access to a board of advisors, if you do not, use your connections and networks to start building a board. Research and Development – At this point you have an idea of your customer, now it must be refined by enhancing your brand and researching your product-market fit. Make a minimum viable product – An MVP product is a product with only a basic set of features enough to capture the attention of early adopters and make your solution unique. Traction – or validation, is typically the first year of a start-up. This is the stage where you begin to get the word out, and you collect data to help target your core audience. Scaling – as your conversion rates increase you will need to build out your staff and infrastructure to support your growing workload. For the smoothest scaling up,
GROWTH STAGE
SCALING A STARTUP
Create a process – you may have a process that got your business this far, but is it repeatable? creating formulas for your marketing, distribution, and on-boarding are critical to growth. Automation – once you have a process you should consider automating the ones that cost you the most time, by using software as a service (SAAS) providers and CRM’s to access data faster, hire faster, market better, pay easier, and streamline operations for a truly scalable model. Outsourcing -This little dirty word allows a startup to break into the big time. When you’re in full control of your core competencies, you’ll start to scale, you may not need a full-time graphic designer right now. Risk Management – Compliance with established rules and regulations helps protect organizations from a variety of unique risks, while risk management helps protect organizations from risks that could lead to non-compliance—a risk, itself.. Sharpen your team – A business is scalable, only when it has the right people on board. Hire the right people
ENTERPRISE STAGE
TRANSITION TO BIG BUSINESS
Business operation management – The first major step is to find a champion that can lead this effort. meaning you might need to hire a VP of Business Operations. then get to work building your business operation plan. Customer acquisition – Maximizing your sales funnels, this refers to the buying process that companies lead customers through when purchasing products. streamlining and converting this process into something easily repeatable is key to expansion your SME ( Small Medium Enterprise). Partnerships – applying to startup partnership programs are great for enterprise level stability. Startups stay afloat thanks to an influx of steady revenue from corporations, and corporations become increasingly nimble and innovative thanks to new ideas, products and services from startups. New Markets