How to start a startup journey. Plan to start or start to plan a start-up? Before answer this question.
Theory?…Practical?…. Which is first?
I would suggest keeping the minimum plan in place to manage the basic things instead of spending a lot of time to prepare a detailed plan because 80% of it may not work as expected, it applies to any startup. There is a huge difference in the PLAN and REALITY.
Who expected that the mobile revolution vanishes public telephones?
Google did not expect that it rules the internet world when it founded on 1998.
Facebook did not expect that it turns to be the platform of social life for the world.
10 questions ask you before you jump to start a startup:
1.What is the market potentiality?
To my knowledge, we can’t base 100% on the surveys and reports. However, you can take the data which group of the people is the target customers.
2. How focused am I?
I would suggest a focus on one venture get it succeeded. If you work on plan B in parallel, the bandwidth will be consumed at the wrong place.
3. Did I find a co-founder who is same crazy as me?
It is tough a manage the show alone, find a co-founder who is as crazy as you so he/she can share some work.
4. Did I have an entrepreneur friend?
This is the best part of your venture as he/she knows the business and you as well. Consequently, he is the best person to judge when you are helpless.
5.Is my family with me?
This is an essential task which every entrepreneur need to prepare their family to face the journey. Eventually, there would be a direct impact on them for every step you take.
6. How long could I survive with the existing fund?
Money matters, so keep a good amount of money for at least a year to manage the show from the day you are LIVE with the product.
7.Does the core team in sync?
This is an important step every entrepreneur should be careful, select the team which is in sync with you. Both should be transparent to each other.
8.Am I adaptable to tweak the business model based on the market trend?
Don’t stick with the initial plan though you sense it is not working out, keep tweaking according to the market.
9.How useful in Time Management & prioritization?
Divide the tasks on priority and manage the time based on task.
10.How to leverage the effort & fixed assets in the worst case scenario.
Sorry to discuss. However, it is part of the journey. For instance, if everything goes wrong and the venture is not going well, plan in such a way from the day one that your effort and assets can get leveraged in a different way.
I would like to map a road journey to entrepreneur journey.
For instance, you set-up the destination (about 900 miles) in the GPS and started the journey.
Road journey vs entrepreneur journey:
| Road Journey | Entrepreneur Journey |
| If you take a wrong exit on the highway, it takes a lot of time to come back in the journey. | As an entrepreneur, it takes a good amount of time to be on track for the mistakes you did. However, should have the patience to be on track. |
| You might get caught by a hidden police for your high or very low speed in the road journey. | We would end up paying a lot for unforeseen issues in startups. |
| You can’t have fun on the journey if you don’t have a co-driver.You need a co-driver when you want to take rest. | Of course, you need a co-founder to share your pressure as you can not do everything on your own in a startup. |
| Careful and make sure fewer accidents in your driving history, otherwise the insurer won’t come forward to insure you. | Ha…ha…ha if you have more failures the investor won’t come forward to fund you in the next ventures. |
| You might have met with an accident and the cargo to trash | If you are serious, get a standby car and start the journey from there. Instead, if you go back to home, it is much difficult to initiate the drive from scratch. |
‘Start small achieve big’ have a happy journey
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He is the Author, Product Specialist, Business Consultant, Entrepreneur, Public Speaker, Thought provoking writer, and Joke writer. Follow him on Twitter
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