5 things to keep in mind before you launch a startup
For some entrepreneurs, it seems like a child’s play in launching a startup, and they don’t even care whether it will be successful or not. To be honest, there’s no point in giving your best shot if it’s going to be ineffective and of no use to anyone.
Just in India, you can see thousands of startups launching their products/services, but out of which, only a few will be successful. I already shared my insights on why most of the startups fail, and yet another reason is no branding. Without a proper marketing strategy, no startup can be successful. So, before you even think of launching a startup, there are a few things you need to keep in mind to make the startup not end up as a failure. To make things easy, I’m listing down five things you need to keep in mind before you launch a startup.
5 things to keep in mind before you launch a startup
1. Don’t even think of launching the startup without proper market research
Your startup idea might make the world a better place, but what if there’s already a startup working on the same idea or there’s an already established firm somewhere in the world & based on the startup idea you’ve in your mind? Isn’t that going to kill your startup? So, before you make up any plans to launch a startup, go ahead and do some market research or outsource it to some company to do it for you.
Also, you should see if the product has any audience base in the market now.
There’s no point in launching a billion-dollar idealized startup with zero audiences as it will always lead to an instant failure.
You should also check whether the current audience in the market is going to like your product/ service and benefit from it. All these can be known with proper market research.
Proper market research will always help you understand the customers you’re going to serve and give you a chance to do better before launching the startup.
2. A plan to manage the team
You might be the youngest one to start a startup, but no one gives a sh*t about it until it gains the name for itself. Success doesn’t depend on you, and it’s not just one person’s effort as it’s more of a team’s effort. So, before you plan to bring a significant change to your startup idea, decide who can be on your team first.
Without proper management, you may face many problems like delays in the project deliveries, not reaching the targets on time, etc. So, to avoid these, there should be a proper channel/medium to make the teamwork towards a goal and not get distracted until the end. Few startups might not be successful in the first phase, but they eventually succeeded later. So, you should have a plan on what to do if your startup ends up as a failure & how to make the startup get out of it.
But, for a typical entrepreneur, managing the team is a big task, and almost 90% fail because of poor management. With all the resources you have, the startup should be a success, but without driving the team to work towards it will surely make you a failure. So, take a moment and understand that the failure rate is more than the success rate, and you can’t take the risk of mismanaging the team.
3. Investing funds wisely
Besides managing the team, one should also have a plan on how to spend the funds wisely. It is also one of the reasons why most startups fail. You should stop buying the stuff you like and invest it in the growth of the startup.
Better resources and a balanced budget will always lead to higher productivity.
So, before you think of launching a startup, you should have a plan on how to invest the funds wisely.
4. A proper marketing strategy
As already mentioned above, your startup idea might be the next big trend, but without proper marketing, no one will get to know about you. Also, there is a chance of copying your idea by other startups, and ahead of you, they may get into the audience with proper marketing. So, before you plan on launching a startup, think of the best way to promote it.
I mean, brand it in such a way that users will think of just your startup whenever they’re in need of it!
Always think of monopoly, and leave that bullsh*t competitor analysis before you even put your leg in the startup world. If your idea is unique, then I don’t think you’ve to worry about competitors, etc.
Remember, these are just to think of before you come up with a startup afterward, you’ll surely need competitive analysis, predictive analysis, BI, etc. which I will explain later in a separate article. For now, a brilliant marketing strategy is what is going to make your startup live long enough to be called one of the most successful startups among other prominent startups. So, think of a good marketing strategy and let the team know about it.
5. Don’t even think of partnering with other startups
From your perspective, your startup idea might be unique, but from others, it may not be! And a few of Buddy's entrepreneurs want to join with you to make it better. It is where you should step up and say ‘NO’ to them. Well, your business idea is still in concept, and what’s the point of partnering with other startups, which may or may not be working on a similar approach?
Remember, it’s your idea, and no one knows better than you. So, you should discuss more with your team on making it better than thinking of partnering with others to make work easy.
I hope you understand the concept of what to keep in mind before you plan to launch a startup. There are many other things you need to preplan, but these are the main things, and others can be expected after starting a startup too.
Inspired by Silicon Valley, The Social Network.
Note: This article was first published on my blog dated November 27, 2016, and republished here.
