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What our members have to say...
"Just a quick note to let you know that I really enjoyed the Speed Pitching event last night. There were a couple of interesting businesses on show, and the event was very well organised, high energy and fun. Congratulations on a great evening!"
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Paul Breen - Business Coach & Investor |
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21 Points for Startup businesses – Entrepreneur must look beyond the brilliant idea
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Start-up companies face many challenges from cash flow to inventory management, from marketing to retaining quality human resource, from keeping the overheads under control to dealing with legal matters.
Globally, a large number of startups do not succeed because the lack of business acumen and skill set required pushing business from one stage to the next. Entrepreneurs become passionate about their idea to an extent where they ignore the complications in implementing the idea.
Laura Parkin, chief executive of the Bangalore-based National Entrepreneurship Network says that;
“in some cases, what we’re seeing is the lack of ability to innovate besides cutting prices and a get-rich-quick mentality.”
There is no doubt that one of the key success factor for small business is “keeping lean”, however a million dollar question is “for how long this business should remain lean”?
Jared Chung – Founder, Starfish says,
“Lean Startup requires that you confront all of the most uncertain parts of your business model up-front, based on the realization that uncertainty is the greatest foe of a startup.”
Most interestingly, for a very large number of start-up entrepreneurs, the struggle begins much before starting the company. Many entrepreneurs, particularly small businesses often spend too much effort in arranging finances. However there are several practical matters that they must look at in parallel. I read an interesting blog by Rosabeth Moss Kanter is a professor at Harvard Business School and the author of Confidence and SuperCorp. In her view,
“Getting a venture underway is often easier than keeping it going and growing. At each major stage from start-up to sustainable success, entrepreneurs face tough questions about shifting gears, making major changes, and letting go of people, partners, and products. For new businesses, inability or unwillingness to change can land them in the statistics about high failure rates at the five-year mark.”
I advise start-up entrepreneurs to keep a notebook and two pens (one with red ink and the other with blue or black). This notebook will help in two ways;
a) building a To-do checklist
b) keeping track of this checklist (by using the red pen)
To help aspiring entrepreneurs, I have compiled the following checklist (not in any particular order):
1. What is my business (services, manufacturing, retail, wholesale etc)
2. My business name (Check if there any businesses in the vicinity with similar names, avoid using the a name similar to another business)
3. Legal status (proprietorship or self-employed, limited company, partnership, social enterprise – confirm from a legal advisor which type of business you should operate as there might be different legal and tax requirements for different legal status of business)
4. Where will I house my business (shop, office, mall – will it be on ownership of rent)
5. What are local and federal taxes and compliance that I must know
6. At what stage I need to register for sales tax
7. When do I need to obtain a tax number
8. Who will be my banker
9. Who will be my insurer
10. Who will be my lawyer
11. Will I hire an accountant or outsource book-keeping
12. How many people do I need to hire (full time and part time)
13. My financial resources (personal savings, bank loans, family resources)
14. What are potential risks
15. My capital expenditures (computers, furniture etc)
16. Do I have a good supply chain
17. What is my marketing strategy
18. Am I going to use social media? (How and why)
19. What will be my budget (find sample budgets from this link)
20. Have I done my SWOT Analysis
21. What is the best time to launch my business (does is matter)
Every business try to prepare a business plan of some sort. If in addition to a formal business plan, the above checklist is considered too, it will help avoid several surprises that await your entry into business as a start-up entrepreneur.
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