Ravi Kikan
Ravi is a Mentor at MentorEdge ( A CIIE- IIM-A initiative), A Knowledge driven enterprise. He is a Growthhacker for Startups, Online Community Builder, Startup Connector and B2B Marketing Expert.
A Goal Is A Dream With A Deadline…Napoleon Hill
The biggest fear for anyone wanting to startup is the fear of failure..Well this has been mine too at some point of time.
From my experience of launching various startups, failing & falling, touching success or from meeting some amazing founders globally there was just one point that came out loud and clear………….” HOW THE HELL DO I STARTUP”
You will be surprised that the risk to startup is not just for people who are testing the new waters of entrepreneurship for the first time but for everyone at large e.g. people who have failed earlier or senior level profile unable to decide when to startup or people who miss that confidence boost to start something of their own.
Right from a senior corporate resource to a fresh graduate that same lame question bounces out in ears ” HOW THE HELL DO I STARTUP”
From my own experiences, meeting some brilliant entrepreneurs globally and by throwing open discussions in the Startup Specialist Group there were some key pointers that came out to help people who are thinking of starting up.
Here are some few pointers that can get your started RIGHT AWAY BUDDY 🙂
IDEA IN PLACE
Answer these questions to yourself for your special idea, Am I addressing an existing gap in the market? Am I creating a new market altogether? Who will be my end customers? Am I creating some big economies of scale? Am I trying to solve some problem through my idea?That’s your starting point dude, Now you are good to go.
BUSINESS PLAN
Write down that DAMN business plan. A business plan is not that sheet of document which you copy from internet, it is that document that is your vision document of your idea…It is what you will do for your business, it is the pit stop channel on how you would want to run your business. Take help from net, entrepreneurs and from wise people BUT a business plan is essentially a document which will help you plan your business for long term and short term objectives..Talk to your friends, read, debate but make this damn thing up. Create a small, smart and crisp ELEVATOR PITCH.
BOOTSTRAP OR CROWDFUND
Don’t waste timing in hunting for a VC on an Angel Investor unless you are creating OPTIMUS PRIME or some 10th generation Robots where definitely you would need the entire GDP of some countries. Go talk to your friends, go pitch it to your dad (he may be the best critic:)) Get the basic funds to startup your venture. Keep in mind this is business and there is a ROI that you need to promise even if that is for borrowed money. Ensure you have a pitch plan to say ” Look this is how I will return back the money” Here are some more tips to raise startup capital
BUSINESS INCUBATOR
Don’t waste time in hunting for rentals or starting from your home where you wake up always in a hangover state or with noises coming out from all corners to not let you focus at all. Search and Find the nearest business incubator around you so that you are in an ecosystem which has benefits of incubating and supporting your business. Get into that damn startup ecosystem.
GET A MENTOR
Its always wise to have a good mentor working with you who can handhold you from nascent to higher stages of success. He or she would be the person who will support, accelerate and criticize your skills as and when required. You would need this person who is combination of your dad, mom and your demanding coach. Check out these top qualities of a mentor.
GET A GOOD TEAM
A bad team or a stupid co founder is pure suicide. It is often said that it is better to have a great team with an average idea running the business then having a Jacass team running a fantabulous idea. Here are some tips to hire a quality startup team.
PROTOTYPE, MVP: ” Get this ASAP “
Get the Minimum Viable Product(MVP) or the Protoype asap so that you have something to show. It is better than an elevator pitch sometimes on what you are trying to bring out. Unless it requires too much of investment and time and people and blah blah blah….Get this done asap, rather this is the first thing that you should look at building.
LEARN FROM MISTAKES
Read as much as you can, network as much as you can, meet as much as you can like-minded people who have gone through the same path you are going and take notes on what is critical to do and what can be done later. Do not just experiment for the sake of it. Good if you want to jump but be a little careful and then HELL YES DO WHATEVER YOU WANT TO. Learn from these Tips from First Time Entrepreneurs.
GET STARTED NOW 🙂
There are may free pointers that global experts have shared in these discussions“HOW TO START YOUR STARTUP” Thread 1 & Thread 2 Thanks to startup rockstars Matthew Ridge and Bart Chudas who kickstarted these threads.
