entrepreneurship Archives

Five Ways to Grow Your Startup Business

Like anything else in life or business, you have to put in the time if you’re looking to reap the benefits.

No matter what kind of business you run, you’re going to want to increase your sales and grow your revenue. There isn’t an easy one-size-fits-all business growth strategy for small business owners. However, this article focuses on the key strategies you can use to give your startup business the best chance of growing.

There isn’t an easy one-size-fits-all business growth strategy for small business owners

Understanding Startups

Startups are businesses that want to disrupt industries and change the world—and do it all at scale. Startup founders dream of giving society something it needs but hasn’t created yet—generating eye-popping valuations that lead to an initial public offering (IPO) and an astronomical return on investment.

On a high level, a startup works like any other company. A group of employees work together to create a product that customers will buy. What distinguishes a startup from other businesses, though, is the way a startup goes about doing that.

Regular companies duplicate what’s been done before. A startup aims to create an entirely new template.

Five Ways to Grow Your Startup Business

Build a Sales Funnel

The first way to quickly grow your business is by building a sales funnel. Think of a sales funnel as a customer’s journey. When they enter your business or visit your website, they’re at the top of the funnel. When they buy something or sign up for a service, they’ve successfully gone through the funnel. You should try to come up with ways to move people through the funnel to make a sale. This can include offering a discount or getting their contact information and sending them updates on your business. Remember that every sales funnel needs to be carefully conceptualized before it’s created.

Acquire New Customers

This is the most obvious and the most focused upon by business owners, managers, and the marketers they charge with execution. Unfortunately, it’s also the most challenging and expensive aspect of revenue growth. Regardless of the difficulty and expense, bringing on new customers is the lifeblood of any business since with growth and expansion comes more options for the business to make its desired impact. By focusing your customer engagement strategy and meeting customers where they are with effective content, you can find and attract interested customers. And loyalty programs and personalized messages can keep those customers interested, and your business growing.

Increase Customer Retention

It’s not enough to just get new customers for your business. You also need to keep your existing customers coming back. When you increase customer retention, you’re building customer loyalty, which can increase sales. Considering it costs five times as much to get a new customer than it does to keep a current one, focusing on retaining customers means your business won’t spend money on something that isn’t a guaranteed investment.

You can increase your customer retention by prioritizing customer service, creating a customer loyalty program, engaging with customers on social media, or launching an email campaign.

Build a Bigger Online Presence

Even if you don’t have an online business, expanding your online brand presence is crucial to getting your product in front of more eyes, especially if your product sells directly to consumers.

The key to building an online presence lies in the consistent posting of content. Whether you share content via a blog, newsletter, or Twitter account, posting regularly will help your followers stay interested and engaged with your brand. Whichever online platform you use to promote your business, make sure the content you post is consistent with your brand’s identity.

Form Strategic Partnerships

Entering a strategic partnership with another business can give you the chance to reach a broader network of customers or align growth with strategic goals in your business plan. You may even form a strategic partnership with a vendor to help expand your business. Whatever type of partnership you form, you must manage business relationships and maintain effective vendor relationships.

Sometimes, acquiring other businesses is a very quick way to grow your own business. If you can find competitors or businesses in other industries that would complement your own, you could use them as platforms to scale fast.

Conclusion

Like anything else in life or business, you have to put in the time if you’re looking to reap the benefits. Don’t focus on the short-term outcome of your work. Look to the long term. Build sincere value and look to help your customers. Genuinely care. That should be the foundation. After that, it’s simply a matter of taking action and putting in the work to scale.

What is Market Fit and Why Does It Matter?

Like in cards, when it comes to starting a business, an entrepreneur must know when to hold them and when to fold them.

One of the biggest differences between successful startups and those that fail is how soon they begin confirming that real demand exists for the product they’re offering. If you want to make sure you’re in the minority of startups experiencing consistent growth, give yourself the best start possible and make sure you have market fit before shipping the product. Keep reading to learn how to ensure a strong product-market fit.

*Product-market fit describes a scenario in which a company’s target customers are buying, using, and telling others about the company’s product*

What is Product-Market Fit?

The most simplified definition of product-market fit is in the name: your product fits into the market, is where it is supposed to be, and you grow your business because of it.

Product-market fit is when your customers become your salespeople. In business, it is a magical moment when three things happen:

Existing users recognize your product’s value.
They tell others about their great experience with the product.
Your company replicates the excellent experience for the new users.

After all, the end goal of likely every business is to provide enough value to customers that they become your advocates and help you grow your customer base.

Product-market fit is a well-known idea in the startup community. It refers to a situation in which a company’s target consumers buy, use, and tell others about its product in sufficient numbers to keep it growing and profitable. It is the degree to which a product satisfies strong market demand. Product-market fit happens when you successfully identify your target customer and serve them with the right product.

How to Measure Product-Market Fit?

In theory, you may test product/market fit through surveys that determine what proportion of your consumers consider your new product to be a must-have. However, product-market fit is more about an in-depth and realistic grasp of who your consumers are and how they feel about you and your product than it is about hypothetical statistics and percentages.

Is it creating organic growth, where people spread the word on their own? Are people willing to pay for your product? If they are, you have a product-market fit.

Your product/service will most likely satisfy a tiny part of the market as a startup or early-stage firm. If you want to acquire this knowledge in the first place, you must first establish a relationship with your consumers and communicate to them (over and over again).

Who is Responsible for Creating a Product-Market Fit?

We usually link product-market fit with product management and marketing, but, in reality, achieving it is a company-wide effort. All departments contribute to the company’s achievement of this significant milestone, including sales, business development, support, and finance.

The Importance of Product-Market Fit

Paying attention to market fit, sometimes called product-market fit, is what keeps us from selling dentures to people with teeth or snow shoes in the deserts of Rajasthan.

Like in cards, when it comes to starting a business, an entrepreneur must know when to hold them and when to fold them. In this regard, we cannot overstress the importance of product-market fit for entrepreneurs.

Product-market fit is important because, until that point, you don’t know whether or not what you are building solves a real problem that a large enough market has. Without clarity on this, you could continue investing in building something that is not commercially viable. Worse still, you could burn cash by hiring prematurely or investing in sales and marketing that will not generate a return (premature scaling is often cited as one of the main reasons startups fail).

The effort of confirming product-market fit has several upsides, many of which go beyond avoiding the time, expense, and raw pain of backing a poor idea. Benefits include:

You gain the opportunity to make changes and serve a real need in the market.
You gain a valuable tool that you can use to attract investment.
Confirming your assumptions is great for morale and can motivate you to keep going when things get tough.
If you have an in-demand product, you will have an easier time finding business funding that can help you accelerate your company.

*when it comes to starting a business, an entrepreneur must know when to hold them and when to fold them.*

The Downsides of Poor Market Fit

Failing to challenge your assumptions is highly risky. So, here are some downsides of a poor market fit.

Burning money and wasting time: However passionate you may be about your product, the sad truth is that potential users may not feel the same. Learning that sooner rather than later saves you resources (time, as well as the treasure) to pursue a project that can succeed. Give yourself that opportunity.
Wasted potential: Your product might have been transformative with just a few adjustments. However, by not doing the research and analysis to ensure a good market fit, you deny yourself the information you need to make vital changes (which might be small) to your product or target market that could lead to astonishing success.
Lack of a clear business case: The startup market is highly competitive. While it’s hard to quantify, there are potentially thousands of competitors for each segment of the market who are hungry for the funding they need to put rockets under their enterprise. So, when you go to an investor, don’t bring a knife to a gunfight. Instead, have real research in your pocket that shows you’re a winner, or be prepared to lose out to your better-prepared competitors.

Conclusion

Building a business is hard. Knowing you’re on the right path is motivating. When it’s good, it’s good. You can see your way to the finish line, believe in yourself, and have every confidence that your hard work will pay off.

We hope you found this guide helpful. Now it’s time to turn that knowledge into business results.

How to Make a Funding Proposal?

Whether you are a startup founder, business owner, or corporate entrepreneur, your funding proposal is very important. After all, it captures your rationale for why people should invest in your idea and give you a lot of money.

In this guide, we explore what a startup funding proposal is and how you can leverage it to build momentum in your fundraising.

Startup funding proposals help startup founders share an overview of their business and make a case for why they should receive funding.

What is Startup Funding?

Funding refers to the money required to start and run a business. It is a financial investment in a company for product development, manufacturing, expansion, sales and marketing, office spaces, and inventory. Many startups choose not to raise funding from third parties and are funded by their founders only (to prevent debts and equity dilution). However, most startups raise funding, especially as they grow and scale their operations. This page shall be your virtual guide to Startup funding.

Why Do Startups Require Funding?

A startup might require funding for one, a few, or all of the following purposes. An entrepreneur must be clear about why they are raising funds. Founders should have a detailed financial and business plan before they approach investors.

1. Prototype Creation

2. Product Development

3. Team Hiring

4. Working Capital

5. Legal and Consulting Services

6. Raw Materials and Equipment

7. Licenses and Certifications

8. Marketing and Sales

9. Office Space

10. Admin Expenses

What Is a Startup Funding Proposal?

Startup funding proposals help startup founders share an overview of their business and make a case for why they should receive funding.

Simply put, it is a text document, PDF, or slideshow presentation which gives a complete overview of the company and its goals. Through the proposal, investors can understand the what, why, and how of the company and get a better idea of why you are looking to raise a certain amount of money. It also helps investors who like to remain actively involved understand whether the company is worth their effort or not.

How To Make a Funding Proposal?

There is a basic structure to every business proposal. Here are the four parts, in order:

Introduce yourself
Show that you understand your customers/clients and their needs
Describe how your goods and services meet those needs and present your expected expenses and profits
Persuade the bank or committee that you have the integrity to be trusted with the money.

You don’t need to start with blank pages, either. You can speed up the proposal writing process using pre-designed templates and samples.

Here is a short list of all the different points an investment proposal should touch upon:

1. Summary of your project:

Start the document with an abstract of your project and its purpose. It is the part that most investors will use to determine if they wish to continue reading. In it, make sure you discuss the key points that offer clarity to investors. You can include details of what your company does and how is it different from existing solutions to pressing problems. You may also emphasize the importance of your product in your industry and how it improves the industry.

2. Current performance of your company:

Here, you give a more in-depth overview of your company. Point out what you are doing, how you are doing it, and what you are building. List your current assets and liabilities to help investors understand your startup’s strengths and weaknesses. If your company is still at its ideation stage, pair the proposal with an MVP presentation. If you are at a later funding stage, it is also important to add a paragraph where investors can find out more about your financial reports.

3. Details of existing investors, partners, and team:

Briefly introduce existing business partners (including investors), their background, and the amount you have managed to raise from them. If applicable, enter the number of funding rounds your company has already been through and the amount raised. At this stage, you should also briefly introduce the existing team members, their background and skill set, and a link for those who wish to see their complete CV and LinkedIn profile.

4. Information related to the product market:

Mention the market size, obtainable market share, product adoption rate, historical and forecasted market growth rates, and macroeconomic drivers of the market you plan to target in the funding proposal. Briefly describe the results of your market potential analysis and showcase the potential to scale shortly, along with a sustainable and stable business plan. If your business is already generating income, make sure you indicate and break down your revenue numbers.

5. Operational feasibility:

Create an overview of the projected operating costs by splitting them into different categories of expenditures. Describe the assumed operational costs of your biggest competitors and how these translate into their growth (if applicable). Further, describe the challenges and limitations related to the technical aspects of your company and the team’s skillset.

6. Company’s current valuation, investment requirements, and expected returns:

Start by pointing out the current valuation of your company and list the sources that derive this conclusion. Make sure to get your company’s valuation done by a trusted third party. Based on the company valuation, describe the amount and type of funding you are looking to acquire and the amount of equity you are willing to give up. Now, give an overview of how the funds will be utilized by creating a generic overview of the next steps. Spend a lot of time on this one as it is the most important subchapter for investors.

How to Conduct a Market Survey?

Whether you are starting a new product and want to estimate demand or changing an existing product and want to find out acceptance in the market for this product, a market survey is the best way forward.

You may have a great idea for a product or service, but before you go any further, first make sure there’s a market for it.

Quite simply, you must conduct a market survey.

Market surveys collect data about a target market such as pricing trends, customer requirements, competitor analysis, and other details.

Most marketing managers depend on market surveys to collect information that would catalyze the market research process. Also, the feedback received from these surveys can be contributory to product marketing and feature enhancement.

In this article, we explore the concept of a market survey and enlist the steps you need to take to conduct a market survey for your product/business.

Whether you are starting a new product and want to estimate demand or changing an existing product and want to find out acceptance in the market for this product, a market survey is the best way forward.

Conducting Market Research: A Guide

Today, we live in a consumer-driven world, and businesses face cut-throat competition to survive and succeed in the market.

A company cannot succeed without understanding the consumer’s needs and behavior, so it relies on intensive backend market research. Market research not only tells a company what to produce, but it also tells how to present the product to the consumer. Work doesn’t end here. Once the product is out in the market, market research is conducted to gather information about customer feedback so that the company can make necessary changes to increase its reach.

If you’re new to market research, this guide will provide a blueprint for conducting a thorough study of your market, target audience, competition, and more.

Ways To Get Funding For a Business Idea

Lack of funding is attributed to be one of the common reasons behind failed businesses.

You just came up with a great new business idea – great! But is a great idea enough for a successful business?

If that’s what you believe in, it’s time for a reality check, my friend.

Coming up with a great idea is the first step to becoming a successful entrepreneur. Now you need to work on turning that idea into a reality by funding it, taking it to market, and letting your business change the world. According to a recent study, over 94% of new businesses fail during the first year of operation. Lack of funding is attributed to be one of the common reasons because money is the bloodline of any business.

Steps to take an idea to market

While a good business idea will have an impact on all phases of a company’s development, other entrepreneurial efforts also play a role in shaping the future.

Everything begins as an idea. Whether you’re in business, school, jail, or debt, that’s how it all gets rolling. But what is the true significance of an idea? An idea is a thought or collection of thoughts generated in the mind. Ideas often form during brainstorming sessions or through discussions.

All world-changing events and great success stories can be traced back to a single idea. But don’t fall into the belief that having a great idea is all you need. If you have a great idea, then you’ve completed the first step of becoming a successful entrepreneur. Now you need to work on turning that idea into a reality by taking it to market and letting your business change the world.

A business idea is a starting point for any current or future entrepreneur. It is necessary because it marks the start of a new life – the life of a business and an entrepreneur.

While a good business idea will have an impact on all phases of a company’s development, other entrepreneurial efforts also play a role in shaping the future.

This post covers all the necessary steps for an entrepreneur to take an idea to the market.

A business idea impacts the overall development of the company.

How to take an invention idea to market?

Without a viable plan to develop your innovative ideas into marketable items, you will never be able to profit from them.

It’s not about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen. – Scott Belsky, Behance Co-founder

You might have a wonderful concept in your mind for a new invention that you believe many people would be eager to buy. However, without a viable plan to develop your innovative ideas into marketable items, you will never be able to profit from them.

An idea is an unverified thought that originates from your imagination; it’s a lightning moment that helps you solve a persistent problem that’s been bothering you for a long time. Innovation is an expansion of a matured concept. To become an innovation, an idea must take the route of least resistance. You must do market research, product development, and cost estimates, and if all goes well, obtain a patent.

Timing is everything in the field of invention. If you wait too long, someone else will seize on a similar concept and take your market share. On the other hand, if your invention is the first of its type, the market may not be ready, and you will have an uphill battle to carve out a niche for your product. Another significant problem is making the general public aware of your product. Your concept may be fantastic, but without a marketing strategy, no one will ever learn about it. While problems are many, a successful entrepreneur focuses on solutions.

In this article, we will discuss how to take an invention idea to market.

Step 1: Document it

The first stage in commercializing your innovative ideas is to obtain ownership rights. You will not earn from your idea merely by imagining it; you must have evidence proving that you were the first to think of a possible product.

As a result, record all you can regarding the concept, design, and marketability of the product in an inventor’s journal. A court-worthy inventor’s journal can be any bound notebook with consecutively numbered pages that cannot be removed or reinserted.

Step 2: Check for patent

Before putting too much effort and money into a new product, make sure it doesn’t already exist. A quick check of the United States Patent and Trademark Office will reveal what has already been patented.

You should also complete a non-patent “prior art” search. If you find any sort of artwork or design related to your idea, you cannot patent it — regardless of whether a prior patent has been filed.

Step 3: Conduct research to ascertain whether the idea has a market

Do some initial market research before devoting too much time and money to patenting your innovation. Conducting market research can help you learn how many consumers or businesses could use the product. The market research should answer one key question – Is this something people will buy? Once you’ve determined the demand for your product, ensure that it can be made and supplied at a low enough cost that your retail pricing is affordable. These prices can be determined by making a comparison to those of similar items presently on the market. It can also help you assess your competitors, which will exist regardless of how unique you believe your innovation is.

Step 4: Make a prototype

A prototype is a representation of your invention that puts what you wrote in your inventor’s journal into action. When you exhibit your idea to potential financiers and licensees, this will illustrate the design.

Do not file a patent without first creating a prototype. You’ll usually always find a mistake in your initial design or come up with a new function to include. If you patent your idea before ironing out the wrinkles, it will be too late to incorporate them in the patent, and you risk losing your new design’s patent rights to someone else.

Here are some rules to keep in mind when prototyping your invention:

Sketch- To begin prototyping, sketch down your innovation concepts in your inventor’s notebook.
Mockup- Using any materials, create a 3-D model of your design.
Model- Make a fully functional model of your product.

Step 5: Consider filing a patent

Patents are classified into two types: utility patents (for new processes or machines) and design patents (for manufacturing new, non-obvious ornamental designs). While you may start the patent application yourself, you should submit it with the aid of a patent lawyer who has the necessary technical knowledge.

Others will ultimately infringe on your patent if your idea is valuable. Hiring a qualified patent attorney ensures that your patent is completely protected and that you avoid costly court fights.

You could opt to sell your product without a patent. However, business experts recommend obtaining a patent for several reasons, such as:

Protecting your intellectual property
Higher profits
Selling power

The value of an idea lies in the using of it. – Thomas Edison, General Electric Co-founder

Step 6: Get investors to back your invention idea

Investors have money. You need money. Now, convince them to invest their money in your product idea. If your product idea is brilliant and you have a prototype to back it up, more than half your work is done! Even better, if you already have an MVP (Minimum Viable Product), then your investors can see for themselves how much traction (paying customers who are interested in your product) your product gets!

Prepare an investor pitch comprising all the relevant details such as your mission, company vision, product idea, team, market opportunities, and financial projections.

Step 7: Product development

Armed with the required funding, extensive market research, and a can-do attitude, it’s time to kick your product development into full gear!

You will need a product development strategy with rigid but attainable targets and goals. Develop the product after careful consideration of its quality, quantity, and demand.

Step 8: Market your invention

Now that you have successfully converted your invention idea into a profitable product, it’s time to market your innovation and sell your product. Make a business strategy for your product concept, including whether you want to start your own company or sell the idea to an existing company. Working on your pitch and presentation to capture the interest of investors will be part of this process.

How To Find A Problem Worth Solving?

Ideas are the raw material for innovation. But it doesn’t suffice merely to have great ideas. What entrepreneurship calls for is ideas that can work. What that essentially means is that your ideas are good if and only if there are any takers for them. Ideas that solve real-world problems always have takers. So, it’s not ideas that you base your business on. It is problems that need solving that you base your business on.

One of the most important things you can do to insure your startup against failure is to identify a problem before you create a solution. So, the question is: How to find a problem worth solving? Over the next few minutes, we will go over a series of questions which will help you find a problem that needs solving.

Top 10 Reasons People Become Entrepreneurs & Why You Should Become One Too

There is a special appeal about entrepreneurship. Starting a venture of your own, being your own boss, doing things you love… what can be more charming than living life on your own terms? So many people dream of becoming entrepreneurs; yet so few actually choose to become one. After all, giving up the financial security of a job to embrace the risk and uncertainty of entrepreneurship takes courage. But for those who dare to take the road less traveled, entrepreneurship offers rewards that are unmatched by any job.

There are dozens of reasons why people become entrepreneurs. Here are the top 10 ones that successful entrepreneurs cite as to why they chose entrepreneurship as a career.