If you are thinking of start a startup or business These expert tips will be very helpful. Ten fundamental premises when undertaking.
Ten Success Tips That Work To Start A Business
1.- Because someone puts money in your project, you don’t have to give them a part of your company
“It must be clear that if you invest 10,000 euros in your business and another person 50,000, this person does not have to have 50% of your company just for lending you that money. As an entrepreneur, it is necessary to value your idea and the effort that you are going to put into it. Beyond the money you put in. For that you have to assess your company and argue it based on verifiable data. It is not a conversation of the type: I think this is worth two and another thinks it is worth five, but you have to quantify each of the things you contribute: I am going to leave my job and I have an annual salary of 50,000 euros plus a variable, I also miss the opportunity cost that working next year, I would have had a salary increase of a few percent …
In addition, you have to think that you are taking a reputational risk: if your business project goes wrong, it is your reputation that is at stake. To the extent that you can defend all this with figures and data, it will be easier for you to position yourself in front of an investor so that they only put money in. “
two.- If you can’t afford to hire talent, there are other ways out
“You have to be aware that you are not capable of doing everything. And what you don’t know how to do, you have to look outside. And you will find that you will not always be able to afford it. We have had to look for non-monetary formulas to collaborate with people who had that talent that we lacked ”.
3.- Look for investors who not only contribute and not only look for money
“Look for investors who don’t just put money in. That they open doors for you, that they advise you. You have a financial profile that makes you dough and calls you once a month to see how you are doing, and that’s it. You have people who have been entrepreneurs, who have been successful and who like to continue surrounded by those who start projects because they remind them of their beginnings: these people are very well, because they have already gone through where you are going and can give you advice. And in that line, the best, for me, is the industrial partner who puts in money, knows your sector, can open doors for you and, in addition, there can be synergies: I am going to be the first to hire you and let you go. to help grow. It is the ideal partner. Agree that it is not the one that puts you more money, but it generates business in itself. It helps you sell faster ”.
4.- What do you sell and who do you sell to? You know?
“It is essential to analyze who your customer is, what he buys, how much, when and where, and to do the math to see if your idea is really sustainable. Sometimes it is also important to raise your eyes, to look at other horizons, because we tend to focus a lot on the closest market: on small initiatives, small companies, with a small number of workers and targeting very close markets. And it is by thinking about the broader ones that you can find more opportunities ”.
5.- Hold on to real data
“When you prepare your business plan, hold on to what little real data you have. Don’t puff them up. There is little information that really comes close to what you are looking for when you are preparing your market study: financial and market information. U.S [plataforma de venta de muebles online] We start from market figures related to the Internet and the number of providers. From there
we started to build the financial model. If yours starts from the fact that you will start with 200,000 unique users per month, be careful… ”.
6.- Do not linger with the ‘business plan’
“It is clear that business plans are good to help you reflect on some aspects of your business, especially financial, apart from the fact that they are essential if you are going to apply for grants or loans, but remember that companies that are successful achieve it by being well managed, not by a good business plan. My recommendation is not to spend too much time, no more than necessary, to develop it. I am sure that no entrepreneur reviews his plan after having been in business for six months ”.
7.- Don’t get locked into your initial idea. If you need to invest in new lines of business, do it quickly
“You have to be aware that your initial business idea can evolve and change once you get started. It is clear that an idea is a key element to start, but you have to be flexible to change it. Do not lock yourself in the one you initially have. At first, we had planned to go out with a line of business [venta de inmuebles en el extranjero] and the one that in the end has become the main business [gestión patrimonial internacional] it was a secondary idea. It was a difficult decision, but when we realized that it was this line that had the most business potential, we invested in it and, in the end, it was the one that has managed to differentiate us in the market. “
8.- Market research, always at your clients’ offices
“When you are in an incubator, when you are in the early stages of the company, in which it seems very important to write a good business plan, you need to touch customers, talk to them to obtain that information. The market study must always be in the offices of our potential clients and, if possible – which is not easy – in those of the competition. We thought we had a technology that interested a specific niche, but we found that it liked it, but they didn’t need it. “
9.- Sit down with an expert in your sector
“Something that would have helped us a lot is to have sat down to talk with someone powerful in the marketing of online products, some sector expert.”
10.- Don’t underestimate the people you know – they can help you
“Don’t underestimate the number of people you know who can help you. Previous professional experience is always an added value that makes the business idea become a company more quickly. It is an accelerator of the start-up of the project. Sometimes it is a very positive factor, other times it also generates a perversion of the knowledge you acquire, a traditional way of doing things, which sometimes slows your capacity for innovation. But professional experience in the sector or in complementary areas always offers you a different point of view. It also provides a network of contacts, a greater marketing capacity, because the entrepreneur, apart from being a good manager and technician, has to be a good salesperson ”.
