Starting up your business is not a one-day hustle. It is not as glamorous as it often seems to be.7 out of 10 startups fail. Though there might be a host of reasons for such failure, still most of them can be attributed to lack of awareness and a culmination of small faulty planning elements, both before and after starting up.

This session is for starting up of a business. Hence, we will talk about 8 basic things which should be sorted out before you start your business:

1.Do your homework before you plunge into entrepreneurship–

The first and foremost thing to be done is some homework. You have a business idea. Now before going any further with it, you need to judge its feasibility and market demand. After you do that, you would need to understand the legal framework of the sector you wish to enter. In brief, following are some of the points to be taken note of:

• Entry Barriers in the target market
• Applicable Licenses and registrations required
• Trademark Search of the proposed brand name
• Name availability of the proposed brand name, in case you wish to register a company
• Exit Strategy

Based on the above, you need to decide the type of business form you wish to take up- proprietorship, partnership, LLP, company.

2. 12 month survival money in the bank-

In case you are in an existing secured job and planning to quit for starting your business, this is a must thing to follow. Your business idea will not start paying off from Day 1. In fact, there is a 99% probability that the first two years of your business will not yield any revenue at all. Expenses, on the other hand, will mount. Hence, it becomes very very important to plan your personal and family finance.Rent, mortgages, and health insurance — these are all things that don’t pay for themselves. Budget for these, budget for unnecessary or unforeseen expenses.

3.Better to go solo than to work with wantrepreneurs-

This might seem very trivial in the initial days of starting up, especially for college startups. We all have that one friend who we plan to share our venture with. Jointly coding the app or building websites. And we do not bother to officially document anything. This is one the most common grounds wherein startups have fumbled time and again and this has even led to the closure of ventures.Hence it is very important to document. A founder’s agreement is a NECESSITY. This helps in defining the relationships among the founders, consequences of exit, consequences of a VC funding.
Also, you should work on potential partners and building network. Who could you benefit from working with? Forming a relationship with a business in another sector could help you tap into a whole new customer base and building profitable synergies. You’ll get access to their customers and you can recommend people to them too. It’s beneficial for all parties. Find someone to share half the workload and you’ll move twice as fast.

4. Funding for scaling up and not survival-

Funding today has become a means for survival. It has become the objective of which businesses are starting up. Too much of a rush towards this is a major roadblock for your business. The focus should be building up a sustainable long-term business model and not availing VC funding. Professional funding is usually safe to avail when you need to scale up your business and grow the already stable stream of revenue. So think before approaching for funding. Even if you need funding, there are a lot of ways to achieve that without diluting your interest too. Some questions to ask yourself:

• Can you bootstrap your company?
• Can the requirement be solved by availing a small business loan?
• Can the friends and family help or should you look for venture capital or an angel investor?
• Do you really need a professional investor right now?

Also being rejected by a VC does not mark an end to your aspirations. It also does not mean your business is not worth it.

5. Marketing & Branding is for everyone-

It is a common myth that only established businesses need to advertise/market. The fact is, in fact, the opposite. Startups and early stage businesses need to market themselves even more. It is another myth that only formulated products can be marketed. The right strategy is to start marketing from the very initial stages. When you are trying to build an idea from the seed, you should start building an accompanying marketing strategy from the seed too. 

Marketing does not mean you have to spend oodles on GoogleAds, hoardings, posters, etc. Thanks to social media, digital marketing has grown in leaps and bounds. Start a blog, offer to write articles or talk for free on your expert subject, get people trying and reviewing your product or service, Create a YouTube channel, a Facebook page and you are ready to shoot.

6. Core Team is important, co-founder is not–

This perhaps is one of the most important things for starting up. However, you try and however brilliant you are, you simply cannot execute everything.

This perhaps is one of the most important things for starting up. However, you try and however brilliant you are, you simply cannot execute everything single-handedly. You have to delegate few things and assign roles. Your core team would be your strength and help you in implementing those strategies and ideas.

7.Vision of your business from Day 1-

The first few years of a startup are usually unstructured. This does not cause any problem in the initial days but is likely to impact the business’s long-term survival.This is where technology comes into play. Embedding technology should do 3 things for you- Save your time & in turn money, automate processes and instill a discipline.

8.Over or Under Spending – Plan your business expenses-

You will need to learn where and when to spend. This stays a valid point even if you avail seed funding or angel funding. In fact, becomes even more important then. It’s important not to waste the funds but it’s equally important to spend where necessary. This is where planning comes into play. For example: do you really need that glass door office? Or do you need to hire that super expert resource who would build your product? When there is ample money in the bank, we tend to become less caution and start spending on trifles, not really necessary items.

Apart from these 8 points, an overall To Do would be to hire a consultant or outsource your regulatory compliances. Because let’s face it, you cannot do it all. Maintaining your business in the compliance zone is not an easy job for founders. It demands a lot of time and effort. So its highly advisable to let compliance experts do their job and you do what you do best – Running your business and taking it to heights.

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