5 Keys To Launching A Startup

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Launching a new business can be both exciting and intimidating. It’s exciting because it is introducing something new into the world. At the same time, it’s intimidating because there are numerous unknown factors to consider, complex concepts to learn, and dreams to validate. 

One way to get to a good start when it comes to launching your own business is to find out if it’s a good idea, create a plan, build a team, use good technology, and model best practices.

1. Find Out If It’s a Good Idea

A business idea worth pursing has to be validated. There has to be a market for the product or service. Customers should either want or need it. The vision has to align with the opportunity. Besides validating the idea, you should also research the scope of the idea. Can the idea be improved, scaled up, or adapted to different markets?

2. Create a Business Plan

Your business plan is a formalized decision-making process about mission and values, business structure and revenues. These plans will serve as a blueprint to raise money and shape policies. When setting up the proposed budget, it’s a good idea to assume zero profits in the first year of operations. This does not mean that there will be no profits; it just means that should things not go according to plan, there will be enough money available to pay the rent, keep the lights on, and retain employees.

3. Build a Core Team 

Despite the prevailing myth about the self-made man or woman, all businesses are actually a team effort. You should build a core team early to design the business’s philosophy. It’s essential to build this team built around shared values, aspirations, and ideals because a team that lacks a unified perspective faces the risk of falling apart due to dissension. A cohesive team will work together to evolve the groundbreaking decisions necessary to launch and grow a new business.

4. Use Good Technology

Technology is no longer something to add to a business. It is more like one of the foundations of business. Like office walls and furniture, technology is essential to the infrastructure of a business. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MegaPath, a company that builds Ethernet-based networks, summed up the intrinsic value of technology in a business when he said, “In today’s competitive environment, businesses require solutions that help them improve the way they do business, while reducing costs”.

5. Model Best Practices

While your initial research may have validated that your idea is a feasible one, you will get a head start if you model the best practices of those in the same or similar fields. This will give you a template to work from as you develop your business. There is no point wasting time and money reinventing the wheel. Instead, use the knowledge and wisdom gained from others who have gone before you. This borrowed model will help to shape and reshape your own business model. A model is not about imitating what other businesses are doing but about observing what works and what does not work. Additionally, a model need not be derived entirely from a single business. It could be a compilation of different businesses. 

Summary

By finding out if your inspired vision is a good idea, creating a plan, building a core team, using good technology, and modeling the best practices of other businesses, you are taking practical steps to develop a firm foundation for the success of your business.

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