What is a startup?
There are various definitions of startups but for me, it is simply starting a company by individual or group of people within Idea, innovation, or different market perspective
There can be very structures of a startup and different equity structures, business models, and many other perspectives as it is completely new for every startup no one can exactly tell you how to start a startup there are some of the common stages that are good to follow:
Identifying the problem
Every big company starts with a big problem and tries to solve it by bringing innovations into that industry. It can be anything that fills the gap and has a high demand in the market.
Make sure the problem you are solving is big enough to become a sustainable company
You can follow trends also and try to become a completely new category and business is also one type of problem-solving example everyone is trying today to become a web3 company which will eventually solve the centralized problems for many people.
If you solving a wrong problem or a problem that does not exist can immediately close down your startup so how can you identify the market size here comes the idea validation
Idea validation
Here you will try to identify will your product or service are really in demand you have to do it at a scale good enough to get the surety it depends on your business size it can be hundred people as well as ten thousand people too
There are several ways you can do so one of the best ways to make a low-cost first product of your product or services
It can be a prototype, landing page, or anything that can capture leads and you can understand how many people are ready to buy it and what they are willing to pay
You can run simple ads or manually ask similar people willing to buy it and do a quick survey
Try to get as much information possible on that survey if your product is in high demand among the community and they are willing to pay above your expense then it is a good signal to start with
Team building
In most cases, no one can run the whole company solo. It is good to have a good team of all necessary members needed to run on that vision.
Try to hire people who believe in your idea are ready to invest their time with you and are also capable of their skills.
Make sure every team member respects the value of the company properly and you should pay them well as well.
If you don’t have the money you can do an equity deal and try to partner with them they will get returns if the startup is successful
Business model
You should be very clear with your business model and your future plans too.
There are various business models like B2B, D2C, etc.
But it is not limited to this. You should be very clear with your revenue model, your cost of customer acquisition, basically almost every aspect of your business that can lead to profitability or sustainable growth.
Growth
If you build a solid business plan and also have a good investment (which I will discuss later) then at this stage you should focus on improving your products or services to be in the game for a long time.
If there is no chance of improvement in the product then you should focus on scalability and expansion of business and also try to reduce unnecessary expenses simultaneously.
Fundraising
For continuous growth or just to start you may need capital requirements if you have sufficient funds you can bootstrap your startup but if there is a lack of capital you may need to raise funds
I am going to discuss some of the methods from which you can raise funds at any part of your startup. Some may be equity as well as debt and other complicated conditions too.
Methods of raising funds
Your network
It is one of the best ways to raise funds when starting. You can ask your friends, family, or anyone in your network willing to invest in your business or can just give you money as a debt too.
Remember to take up a backup plan in case your startup fails you can pay your debts. Mostly this type of funding is good at starting but not good in terms of the long term as there may be conflicts too.
Crowdfunding
This type of approach is very good if your startup is related to a social or environmental cause many people are willing to donate for solving this problem and they can crowdfund you too.
There are many websites like Kickstarter which provide this type of service where you can simply do it manually.
The best part is you will not have to return any equity or money in return. If possible give some benefit against this like free service, a sample product at a specific range, or a similar type of Idea.
Pre Launch funding
If you have a very innovative product and are very confident about your product you can give your consumer a way to pre-book that product in this way you will get funding to handle operational costs very easily.
Make sure you are pretty confident about your product as if it fails on expectation there will be very much negative impression of yours also it is a very risky move may get some refunds.
This type of funding is very rare and only a few well-reputed people can do it. It is best if you are relaunching a model with an already established brand
Bank and schemes
There are many schemes running that fund startups; it can be private as well as government. Also, you can take loans from the Bank in return for a mortgage.
Angel investors or venture capitalists
These both are different usually Angel investors are individuals who are willing to invest their money in the businesses
Whereas, Venture capitalists use a pool of money from different companies or many other ways
Both can bring experience and money in return for equity.
They might reach you or you can pitch them your startup
Other methods
There are various other methods of raising funds live shows, strategic partnerships, etc.
If your startup is huge enough then probably you may not be reading this article but still, you can go public through IPOs.
Why startup fails
It is said that almost 9 out of 10 startups fail to grow. But it is necessary to understand. It is not actually failing but just learning.
There are various reasons for startup failures; they can be single as well as multiple, internal as well as external.
I recently saw one travel company fail due to corona and lack of capital and there was no reason other than it. So you cannot predict 100% but also it is true it would be a great experience, learning and from networks you get. You can start new things at any time.
Make sure you do make your online presence perfectly you can search on our blog for various ways to do perfect branding, website building, marketing, etc.
Conclusion
I try to give every information that a beginner needs before starting a startup after analyzing various startups and reading many articles.
Breakdown everything and present it will update it from time to time
Comment below your startup experience so new readers can get more information
