6 Things to Consider Before Starting a Startup.

In this modern digital age, many youngsters are planning to start their own business. In spite of lacking of adequate experience, these young people have creative ideas and enough determination to become their own boss. But this lack of experience can seriously threaten their dream of becoming an entrepreneur and if not handled properly, can completely destroy it.

Any business start-up needs lots of time and financial investment. Hard work and continuous efforts with determination are required to make it work. But aside from these, there are a lot of things that one should consider before starting a startup.

Your Idea

The first and the most important thing is the idea. It’s the idea only that will make you unique and attractive. Every business is based on the idea and before starting the business, one should be clear with the positive and adverse effects of their idea. It is important to recognize the strength, potential opportunities, weakness of the idea and lot of research is required to be done on this basis. You need to analyze the feasibility of your idea. Try to resist the urge to move on to action, and really work out every aspects of your big idea. Many businesses fail because of moving too quickly from the idea phase into the action phase.

Your Customers

Success for your business will be based on client satisfaction. A business always has a targeted market, and focuses on a particular section of customers. There are loads of ways to attract the client. Websites are now a day common marketing trick, and there are lots of web designs available.  Depending on the type of business you are starting up, you may want to consider other types of promotion, like flyers, business cards, advertisements, or sales.The real challenge lies in converting visitors to buyers. At any rate, you’ll want to be sure that you are thinking about your customers first and devising an appropriate way to attract them to your business.

Your Competition

The third most important thing to be considered is your competitors. Today’s market is a competitive one, and there are lots of businesses of all types. You’ll need to study your competitors and analyze them. Looking at the practices of businesses similar to your startup will help you analyze your strengths and weaknesses. Then, not only can you learn from them, but you can figure out how to make your product or service perform even better. To stay in the race, it is important to know your competitors and their policies very well. So before starting any business, analyze the people you are standing against.

Your Capital

One of the biggest hurdles for starting any start up is the initial investment. Many investors back off when they see any youngster with the lack of experience planning to launch a startup. Arranging for the capital for the startup is probably one of the toughest jobs. It is very difficult to convince people (especially investors) to trust you with their money. So before going for any big step, try to arrange the capital first. Make sure you consider how much money you will need to pay employees, live off of, and run the business for at least the first 6 months or a year before you can feasibly expect for your business to return on your investment.

Your Core Team

Tata Industries founder, Ratan Tata, stated once “If you want to walk fast, walk alone, but if you want to walk far, walk together.” His words symbolize the importance of teamwork. Every company whether it is a start-up or a well-established state requires an efficient core team. Especially if you are planning to start your own business, first finalize the core members of your team. Carefully choose who you are going to have surrounding you. They together will decide the future of the company. One of the most important tips for selecting the core members is, “Don’t hire friends for the company.” Hiring friends can get complicated, and you may find yourself stuck between professionalism and friendship later down the line.

Your Business Plan

Last but certainly not the least is the business plan. A clear plan of activities is just like the map to success. Sit down with all your core team members and come up with a clear and realistic business plan.  It will give a much clear idea of your intended business. With this plan in your hand, you can calculate the resources, investment, and potential required for any phase. A proper business plan is required to execute everything properly.

Featured photo credit: strictlybusinesslawblog via i0.wp.com

The post 6 Things to Consider Before Starting a Startup. appeared first on Lifehack.

Source: Lifehack.org