Guide to Getting Started
Starting a startup is not the impossible task you may fear it is. It’s not something you have to have an MBA to do. Make something customers actually want, and spend less money than it costs you to produce.
How hard is that?
Extremely hard!! The challenges involved in starting up a business are daunting but achievable. One huge obstacle many entrepreneurs face when they’re first getting started is their fear of a lack of knowledge about how to be an entrepreneur.
Startup Advisory Committee
The Startup Advisory Committee can assist you in coping with the details, details, details you will need to deal with in starting your business.
When we meet with you we will ask “What do you need to move your venture forward. How can we help you?” Our goal is to provide constructive guidance based on our prior experiences in starting and growing a business. Learn from our diverse group of advisors who will discuss with you the concerns you have about your venture and suggest ways to deal with them.
Members of the Startup Advisory Committee bring our insights of how to run your business developed from the building of our careers as successful and accomplished leaders in our respective fields. If we can’t provide the best answer to a problem you’re having, we can network you with someone we know with the expertise and experience to address your issues.
By providing our feedback on where you are in your program we want to support you in broadening your know-how, venture growth, and skill set. We want you to flourish in the hard-knock start-up life.
There is no yellow brick road lined with the written instructions to follow to successfully create YOUR business. There is a glut of paths to take. You will need to discover the path that works for you. We can help you.
Begin at the beginning... And go on till you come to the end. Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Get Started
Your adventure begins when you envision an idea. Then you imagineer a course of action to convert your idea to reality. Next, you document for yourself and others what your plan is. Here are the recommended steps:
STEP 1. Who are you? What do you want to do? Write a brief concept paper describing what you intend to do.
- A concept paper is not as detailed as a full business plan. The purpose of the concept paper is to for you. Jot down your approach to many of the key issues that you will need to manage as you create your new business. It enables you to deposit your thoughts on what you want to do so that as you go you don’t forget any and can change and add to as your business evolves.
- Briefly describe the concept involved with the business you plan to start up. Explain the core objective of your program.
- Describe your or your team’s qualifications to accomplish what you propose to do. Who are you?
- Define the industry you will be in. What part of this industry do you service?
- Identify how your product is different than what your customer can get from any other possible source. Are there businesses that can or will compete with your produce? What competitive advantage does your product have?
- Explain the need your product fulfills. Give the reasons your customers will buy your product? What is your potential market size?
- What strategy do you have for building your business? What is your marketing plan? What resources do you need to bring the product to market? Write your thoughts about the facilities you will need and its location, team building the human resources you will need to execute your plan, what is involved from going to prototype to commercial ready product
- How will your business make money? Identify your revenue model- direct sales to the customer, advertising revenue, licensing, et al.
- What are the obstacles you will need to overcome to succeed at starting your business?
- Do you have sufficient funding to start your business up? Do you have a financial plan, an estimated budget?
STEP 2.Read the following Thoughts on Entrepreneurship which describes some of the subjects that might be discussed with the Startup Advisory Committee as we interact with you during our sessions:
- To thy own self be true. Take a personal inventory. Identify your own core competencies. Self-analysis and self-awareness are necessary before planning anything, especially something that can drastically change your life. The Startup experience is a marathon, not a sprint. Do you have the grit to persevere through tough times? Do you have the high level of energy that is sustainable over the very long hours the business will require? Do you make good judgements- are you immobilized when you make an unwise decision? Do you have the interpersonal skills required to interact with a motley group of sometimes difficult people? Do you have the leadership ability to call the shots even though you might need to be mean to do some? Do you have the confidence to ignore the advice of others when they say what you want to do is impossible? Do you spend time worrying about the 99 reasons you will fail, or do you get psyched by the one reason you will win big? How do you deal with considerable risk? Can you dare betting all in.
- There are innovators and entrepreneurs, it is rare that someone is both. Being an entrepreneur is not for the faint of heart. It requires courage, perseverance, belief in yourself and your dreams, determination, a never give-up spirit, defiance of the naysayers who rain on your parade, and the ability to appreciate and support yourself when no else will. Arrogance is an underrated attribute for the entrepreneur. It will help you to blow by the many obstacles that will come in your way and achieve what you want to accomplish. Taking on the mantle of entrepreneurship is not for the weak or the timid. The butterfly cannot be unless it survives the intense struggle to emerge from the cocoon.
Whether you think you can or you think you can’t- you’re right. Henry Ford
- Do the research. Vet your idea. The thoroughness of what you find will help you jump start your business. What is your product, and more importantly why would someone want it? Verify your market size. Identify the customers who would buy your product. Analyze your strengths, your way of exploiting them to gain competitive advantage. Do an honest assessment of what resources you will need to make your business a success- do you have enough financial assets to bring your product to market. What makes your product different from all the other products in the market. What competitive advantages do you have that differentiates your product. Who will be your competitors, now and in the future? Are there factors that you can learn from them about how they operate, how they structure their business that will help you in building yours. How will you protect your product from being copied by them? What are the opportunities that makes it possible for you to have a successful venture both from a consumer need or the ability to drastically better the current state of the art- What do I provide that my customer can’t get from someone else or something else?
The beginning is the most important part of the work. Plato
- Be real. Set doable expectations. Are you proud of your product? Do you have enough resources to get it to the market? Does it have competitive advantages over products that are already available. Is your product something people will really want? Your customers, not you, are the ultimate gurus on if you fail or succeed. In nearly every failed startup, the real problem was that the customers didn’t want the product. How are you going to reach out to them to tell the story of how much they need your product? How are you going to make money? How much money do you have to stay alive and for how long.
It’s not who you are that holds you back. It’s who you think you’re not. Denis Waitley
- Be realistic. Assess your resources. Do you have enough to achieve your plan? Know your weaknesses - cash flow, marketing, tracking costs and revenue, legal advice, product development, the ability to enter an established market. You will need to turn theses weaknesses into strengths. Know the startup hierarchy. Think of the startup community as high school: You've got your freshman, sophomores, juniors, seniors, and the then teachers and staff. When you first enter the startup community you're a freshman. Experience counts. Get advice from people that have been involved in successful startups. Question them. Don’t be intimidated by not knowing the questions to ask. Your advisors should know.
You need to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else. Albert Einstein
- Be fully committed. Do you actually want to start a startup? Instead of working at an ordinary rate for forty years, you will work like hell for four. And maybe end up with nothing. Your business success will come at the expense of family time, friend time, vacations, and any other hobbies or activities you once enjoyed. This business must be your entire life, or it will die. 100% of success is showing up.
I get up in the morning determined to both change the world and have a hell of a good time. Sometimes this makes planning my day difficult. E.B.White
- Plan. The most important reason to write a business plan is to force the management team to solidify their objectives (what), strategies (how), and tactics (when, where, who). Writing a business plan allows you to think more clearly about what you’re doing and where you’re going. Document what you need to grow your business. It is your map. If you’re flying from SF to NY with no map I can assure you that you won’t get there. The business plan sets a tangible goal, that helps you to stay focused and on track. Creating a plan with time based sales projections, expense estimates and revenue forecasts enables appropriate, efficient decision making. The plan should be constantly revised to adjust for how your startup is progressing. Grow your plan as you need it.
Alice comes to a fork in the road and asks:
"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where–” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat. Lewis Carrol
- Brand yourself. Your brand should represent the value you want to be able to consistently deliver to those whom you are serving. Your brand is derived from who you are, who you want to be and who you want people to perceive you to be. What is your company's mission? What are the benefits and features of your products or services? What do your customers and prospects already think of your company? What qualities do you want them to associate with your company?
Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them. William Shakespeare.
- Do. There is no try, there is only do. Don’t overthink, you may create problems that aren’t there. Plan your work, then work your plan. Take care of the details: Choose a legal structure. Register your business- licenses, tax obligations, permits, licenses. Evaluate liability and purchase insurance. Establish a cost accounting system, products or services. Use your business plan to benchmark where you are in building your business. Did you meet expectations? What needs to be done to get on track? Don’t put off activities that can be done today. Seize the moment. Competitive advantage has a time limit.
What is the best time for planting a tree. 20 years ago. The second-best time is now. Buddha
- Adapt. Many entrepreneurs fail in their startups because they fail to adapt to the changing dynamics, customer requirements and the market trends. Often you may start with a plausible goal and then by a sudden twist of circumstance you get to be where you didn’t expect to be. You will need to adapt, and adapt fast. A startup entrepreneur has got to be quick in making decisions and altering the course when there is an opportunity Don’t get too attached to the plan that you started with. Most startups end up taking a completely different plan mid-way altering the entire plan with which they started the company. Microsoft originally started out selling programming languages. When IBM approached them to develop an operating system, they said “Of course we can” even though they had never done one. They created DOS and history became made.
If you’re too anal to embrace making sudden change, you may want to keep your day job.
It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. Charles Darwin
- Hone your social skills. How you present yourself to others, the way you dress to project a professional image, the way you relate to and motivate the different personality styles of the people you meet, the poise and confidence with which you interact with others is more important to the success of your business than your resume of accomplishment. You will need your people skills to form relationships with customers, suppliers, employees and venture capitalists. The measure of your success will be based on your ability to persuade, charm, empathize, and socialize with others. No one wants to make deals with someone they do not trust or enjoy; everyone wants to engage with people they respect and who they would be willing to friend.
Be yourself. Everybody else is already taken. Oscar Wilde.
- Team up. It’s not just about you. Time management might be the biggest problem faced by entrepreneurs, who wear many (and all) hats. If you only had more time, you could accomplish so much more! Delegate. All first-time entrepreneurs should know that 2 heads are better than one, and dozens are better than 2. To accomplish great goals, you will need to successfully build a team. Hire A players: a salesperson who just won't take no for an answer; a hacker who will stay up till 4:00 AM rather than go to bed leaving code with a bug in it; a graphic designer who feels physical pain when something is two millimeters out of place. Usually in a tech / software startup 70–80% of your costs will be people. Culture trumps strategy. The secret to success in a business is your relationships with people. Your employees will be your company’s best resource.
Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic. Dave Barry
- Be Accountable. Managing a start-up requires the attributes of a super hero. You must plan, organize, staff, and lead to get the result you desire. You are 100% accountable for everything that happens to your company. You will need to hold yourself and those around you accountable to deliver results. Accountability means being totally responsible for the choices you make and the consequences for what you have wrought. Accountability means to say NO when it is mean to do so, accountability means to treat failure not as a result but as a lesson. Accountability means to accept the kudos and the blame with equal equanimity.
Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny. Lao Tzu
- Trust the Process. As you move along in your business, you may think that the only thing that matters is the result, it doesn’t matter how you get there. If the process is flawed and dysfunctional, the result will be still born. The process is about putting maximum effort and performing to the best of your ability in each moment of your venture. Every moment you do something that is associated with your goal deserves your maximum attention and effort. Remember that every moment is a big moment, no moment is bigger than other. If you can start living your life one moment at a time – then you will find that the journey may be more rewarding than the outcome itself.
Process, the way we get to where we want to be, is more important than the outcome. The quality of your process will define the quality of your outcome.
When the outcome drives the process, we will only go to where we’ve already been. If process drives the outcome we may not know where we’re going, but we will know when we get there, we want to be there. Bruce Mau
STEP 3. Here are a few websites that can help you think about how to entrepreneur: