Several internal and external factors go into making an innovative start-up. Some of these are in your hands, whereas others rely on your context and perhaps even, luck. Whatever factors may impact your access to success, this is a guide of standard procedures you should follow in order to run an innovative startup:
- Identify your role in the current market and its stakeholders’ perceptions. This means being able to tailor your startup’s growth aspirations to your economic context. For example, in economies where 90% of businesses are micro and small enterprises, the level of experience in that market may not match your startups’ growth aspirations that perhaps, cater for a more developed economic structure. More importantly, identifying your role means adjusting your start-up’s vision towards one where intervention in the market is required. Stakeholder perceptions play an important role in understanding where you’ll find investment, employees and an audience. What do investors think of the market you are entering? And the business community? The general public?
- Hire the right people. With creative minds constantly coming up with innovative ideas, it is important to include members in your team that can manage visions into a reality. One of the main struggles startups face is attracting and retaining talent. More specifically, hiring sales and management experts, rather than those with technological and technical expertise. An interactive relationship with a good manager can turn your startup into a profitable business. Indeed, startups are competing with large corporate employers that deal with expensive budgets and high levels of experience in human resources. They are under pressure to do more with what they do not have. This requires members of the team to take on great responsibility.
Side note: Consider joining a capacity-building program that will provide your team with a skillset to establish respectable corporate governance standards. This will give your start-up the structure and ability to be investment ready.
- Create a 12 months action plan. Innovative startups are able to use action plans as tools to turn visions into profitable institutions. This means lasting beyond the one-year mark by sustainably growing out of the micro-business stage. Shared responsibility and accountability delineated in your plan, can give your team a transparent structure that through joint effort, can achieve common goals. Additionally, a good action plan is essential to include in a convincing pitch deck for future investors.
- Risk management. Risks startups may face are often contextual. How essential you are to the market will determine how resilient you are to economic crises, riling in investment, and engaging with clients who faced a negative experience. Indeed, an economy booming with startups does not mean it is healthy or sustainable. Underqualified founders may actually have a negative effect on your state’s economy because they offer unstable job opportunities; spend capital in an environment lacking future prospects and waste investment on ideas that never mature. Managing risks through carefully planned mitigation strategies could determine your start-up’s fate.
Eighty percent of entrepreneurs fail. Some of the most successful startups are the result of previous failed attempts. Experiencing setbacks however, often makes entrepreneurs running them grow in resilience and confidence. Running an innovative start-up can be competitive and laborious at times. Follow this guide to give yourself the opportunity your start-up deserves to achieve your goals.