Steps to follow to launch your Business Idea
There are numerous ways to Start a Business Idea.
- Here, we will share with you the Steps that we consider most important and the tools we recommend.
Since there are different factors that can prevent a business from succeeding, we will focus on the First Steps.
- Once a Business is up and running, your concerns are others.
As you can see in the image below, we’ll suggest an Onion layering strategy.
- From outside to inside.
Our Experience
If this is your first time at Consuunt, you may be wondering:
- “Who are you to give advice on Starting a Business?“
We have been working in venture capital for years.
- Buying, restructuring, selling and starting Businesses.
We have experience in what a Business should focus on, if it is to be successful.
* If you want to know us better, visit our “About Us” Page.
Now that you know who we are and what structure we will follow, let’s begin.
Do you have a Business Idea but don’t know how to start?
We recommend you to follow these Steps:
1. Check that your Idea meets a Market Need
The first thing to do is make sure that your business idea meets a real Market need.
Many Entrepreneurs fail in this first step because they believe that people will love their product.
- Instead of checking if there is a Real Need in the Market.
To do so, we recommend you to:
- Analyze consumer behavior instead of asking them.
- Check if there are similar products that meet those needs.
- Make no assumptions.
- Test your Conclusions.
For this first Step, we recommend you to visit our Customer Insight Page:
CUSTOMER INSIGHTS
- Why do people choose a certain product?
- What makes us desire a certain thing?
If you want to know the answer, check our Customer Insights Page.
2. Analyze the Macro Environment
Once you have confirmed that your Business Idea meets a Real Market Need, you have to analyze your macro Environment.
Why?
Because perhaps, there are external events that can affect that Market Need.
- For example: Imagine you were planning to start a Typewriter Business, when Personal Computers were starting to appear.
How can you do it?
One of the best Tools to analyze the macro Environment is PESTEL Analysis.
PESTEL ANALYSIS
- How can you effectively study your macro Environment?
- Why is it important?
If you want to know the answer, we recommend you our PESTEL Analysis Page.
3. Analyze the Market you are Targeting
So far, we have:
- A Business Idea that meets a Market Need.
- An enabling macro Environment.
Now, it is time to analyze the particular Market you are targeting.
Why?
Because you need to know the difficulties that you might find in that Market:
- Competitors.
- Substitute products.
- Entry barriers.
- Suppliers.
- Clients, and the “power” they have.
- etc.
The best and easiest Tool you can use to develop this analysis is the Porter 5 Forces.
PORTER 5 FORCES
- How can you study a certain Market?
- How can you obtain useful information?
The answer? Check our Porter 5 Forces Page.
4. Establish a Goal-oriented Strategy
All the Tools we have mentioned so far have two main purposes:
- Check your Business Idea.
- Help define How to develop your Idea properly.
- When analyzing Markets, Environments and Customer Insights, juicy conclusions are always obtained.
Now is the time to start Building your Business.
To do it, you must use a Goal-oriented Strategy.
Why?
Because if you don’t set well-defined Goals, you can be sure that you won’t make progress.
The most successful and profitable companies that we have analyzed are companies that have clear, defined and understandable Goals.
What Tool do we recommend to develop a Goal-oriented Strategy? The Balanced Scorecard.
BALANCED SCORECARD
- How can you establish an efficient Goal-Oriented Strategy?
- Is there an easy way to do it?
If you are interested, check our Balanced Scorecard Page.
5. Prepare a Financing Plan
Once you have started your Business operations, you need to consider something:
- Sooner or later, you may need financing.
But why bother now?
Because the more you use economic-performance-oriented metrics, the easier it will be for you to obtain financing in the future.
Also, the best way to assess how you are doing, is by studying your financial performance.
We encourage you to visit our “How to Raise Funds” Page.
There we explain, in a very simple way, how you can define your performance in a financial way that may be attractive to future investors.
HOW TO RAISE FUNDS
- How can you Fundraise effectively?
- How do I Start?
If you are interested, we recommend you to check our How to Raise funds Page.