Starting a business from scratch is not easy, especially for those who are doing it for the first time. According to Startup Genome statistics, 90% of startups fail in the first year. This fact is not very inspiring, but there is a key difference between successful projects and unsuccessful ones, which is that its founders do not stop at the first mistakes and financial losses. In addition, most problems can be avoided if you take the following steps before starting a business:
- Solve the problem, not create it.
Any business is about solving the pain of the end user. Your idea may be the pinnacle of genius and uniqueness. But if you do not analyze the market, its volume, the demand for the product or service, you can spend a lot of time, effort, and money to implement something that will not be in demand among customers. Catriona Smith and Sam Bromley of Simply Business advise you to test the interest of your idea by creating pages on social networks or researching trends on Google Trends.
- Immerse yourself fully in the process of creating a business
Owners of successful companies, where all processes work like clockwork, can afford delegation. However, at the nascent stage of your project, you should focus absolutely on all its stages and results. Dmitry Leus, founder and director of Imperium Investment and the Leus Family Foundation, says that a business built remotely cannot be successful. The owner must always keep his finger on the pulse and be able to quickly make decisions, react and solve crises. Leus also adds that he himself is more loyal to those companies in which the owners are also top managers.
- Create an MVP of a product or project
MVP is a minimum viable product, a kind of prototype of your business, it is less expensive in terms of time and finances. There are many approaches to creating an MVP:
- Concierge MVP
- Wizard of Oz MVP
- Landing Page MVP
- Email MVP
Depending on your niche and product features, you can use one of these approaches. By the way, Tesla Cybertruck is essentially also a kind of MVP, because before the opening of pre-orders, the company only had a prototype car, they did not spend money to create a finished product. The company received 1.27 million paid pre-orders, despite the fact that production will not begin until the end of 2022.
- Make a business plan for your project
Someone will say that business is a very dynamic organism that is difficult to predict. But experienced entrepreneurs will not agree with this. “Time is money,” Benjamin Franklin once said, and planning will save it. A business plan will help you calculate the project budget, start-up stages, assess risks, and form the structure of your future business. Planning is your fulcrum that will point you to weak points and first results.
