Business Startup Checklist: How to Launch a Startup Step by Step
It’s a sad fact that a vast amount of startups fail within the first year, due to a highly competitive global marketplace, high overheads, and other factors. Some of these areas are beyond the company’s control, but one area where you can assert yourself is in the planning stage. Great planning is essential for a startup to survive and thrive, and building a solid business plan — albeit with some flexibility for unforeseen bumps in the road — is an essential part of the preparation for your new and exciting journey into the world of business. With that in mind, let’s take a look at a business startup checklist, and look at the steps you need to take to get your company up and running.
Conduct Market Research
Before you start any other preparations you need to find out if there is a gap in the market for your product or service. Effective market research will give you all the information you need to know whether or not there is a chance of success for your startup, and to gather important information about potential customers and competitors. You’ll be able to break down how they function, as well as the cost and quality of their product or service — you’ll find out where you can make improvements, what challenges you might face along the way, and how you can be better.. This is all highly valuable information.
Write a Business Plan
This is the core of any startup’s preparation — a solid business plan with as much detail as possible. Here’s where you flesh out all ideas big and small, laying the foundation of your business and developing a roadmap for the future of your company. Any investor worth their salt will want to see a watertight business plan before committing any funding to the startup, as you’ll be using it to convince people that working with you is a smart choice. Remember that while a business plan needs to be as detailed as possible, it is also an active document, meaning that it will grow and develop in tandem with your startup.
Budgeting and Funding
A budget is another essential part of your plan, and the more detailed the better. Saying that, there will be some inevitable bumps in the road along the way, but build those costs into the budget as well. You need to know exactly how much it’s going to cost you to start and run your business from the get go, and how long it will take you to break even, and —hopefully— start to turn a profit. Another essential part is this — where is the money going to come from? Will you be self funding or will you need investors or loans to get you going? All this needs to be carefully investigated and planned.
Marketing
A great product or service is nothing without great marketing. That means pushing your marketing messages through all channels, from the most cutting edge social media platforms, to trustworthy, time-tested printed materials. In fact, far from being opposed, digital and print work perfectly in tandem to create campaigns that hit home and last long in the memory. For example, printed materials could contain calls to action, or digital components such as QR codes or similar. As always, make sure you budget accordingly in your business plan for marketing costs, and depending on the size of your startup, you may need a dedicated marketing team.
Develop your Brand Online
This may seem like a similar concept to the above, but the power of social media cannot be overlooked in this day and age. We are all glued to our mobile devices 24/7, and you need to make sure that your product is out there across all social media platforms. Social media also has had a profound effect on customer service, with consumers now demanding instantaneous responses to their communications. It also means that your brand can establish a unique and powerful voice that sets it apart from the noise in a crowded marketplace. This might mean employing a social media manager to handle all the traffic.
Launching a startup is no mean feat. But with a tight business plan, strong budgeting, and powerful marketing techniques, make yours one of the success stories.