Laying A Solid Foundation For Your Startup

You want your business to stand the test of time, and the only way to do that is to lay solid foundations. 

“No matter what your reason for wanting to start your own business, developing the foundation is the same. Laying a solid foundation for your business will provide you with a road map to follow as you build your business.”- Jeanne A. Estes

Having a successful startup is a big dream for many, and the great thing about that is success is totally relative. So if you have set your own goals, then you will be able to judge your own success. But, what tends to happen is businesses are built quickly and without much thought – because the internet makes it possible to do that now. 

But if you hold your horses, and lay those foundations well, you will weather almost any storm. 

Planning is the only way.

You need to plan what your business will look like in 5 years, the infrastructure, how will your business work with quick-moving technology? What are the big picture strategies? And the small details? 

Let’s explore a couple of areas that you should consider:

Product

The cornerstone of everything you will do now and in the future will be your products. And while over time, your products will expand and change to fit customer needs and time, the foundation of your business is the product. Most of your planning time should be landing in this area. 

• What is your product?
• Who will you sell it to?
• How are you going to sell it?

First and foremost, your product should always be focusing on value and contributing something to the world (eyeliner, toilet paper, bug catchers – every product has value). You need to explore as much as you can about the product, and the people it is designed for. 

Knowing your target audience, right down to how much they can spend is the only way that you can make sure that your product and your audience make sense for each other. 

You will need to consider what kind of marketing you can do personally, and if you may need to consider hiring a team to help. 

Marketing

Much of your visibility and your sales are going to come down to the strength of your marketing department. Big brands have their marketing built into the bones of everything that they do. 

Product research, market research, identifying your customer base, where does your brand fit in the landscape? All of this and more lands in the marketing remit. And you will likely find a big cross over between your marketing and sales department in the early days. 

Bring a team, a freelancer, or really knowing your stuff in the early days can change the course of your business, and you can hit the ground running in a way that you may not have managed otherwise. 

There are millions of great products out there, but you will never hear about them. Do you know why? The marketing left more than a little to be desired. 

If you have a great marketing plan, then you need to be able to execute it well too.

Team

When you start working on your early business idea or any type of product testing and prototypes, you will often be alone. However, it is very beneficial for you to have people around in the early days to help you stay on track. We will often say a product is perfect or ready for market when actually it needs more than a few tweaks. A team can hold you accountable for your actions, help you reach the goals you’ve set. 

You don’t have to fill every position in your company with bodies straight away. You can take on a lot of the work yourself, or have people do more than one thing while you are getting the business off the ground. When you are building your team thing about what you really need, and what exactly they will do before hiring anyone. 

Know that some things will need another business, not just a freelancer. Enterprise application development, procurement, accounting, and other specialist areas will need research before you outsource the contract. 

Money

If you don’t have the cash to get your business off the ground, then you have already arrived at your first issue. The best-case scenario is that you have put together a great business plan, and you have pitched to investors and got the finance needed. But most often, people will need a combination of grants and loans to really get off the ground. Look into your options, discuss it with other business owners, seek advice from any business support enterprises in the area too. 

Build strong foundations by working well, slowly, and finding the right people.

This is a contributed post.