In many ways, entrepreneurship is a gamble. Despite following best practices and having a solid business strategy, there’s still an element of risk in how to start startup company. Whether or not your venture takes off depends on some key variables.
Let’s look at the most important factors for startup success. The below mentioned four factors will greatly influence the successful launch and growth of your startup or company:
1) The Right Team
You may have a great vision, but you’re going to need the right talent to bring to make that a reality. Your core team (including co-founders) and first few hires are especially important since they build the startup’s culture, develop the business, drive innovation, and execute high-level goals.
2) Customer Retention
As an early-stage entrepreneur, you should be tracking how frequently customers use your product/service and their retention status. It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that customer acquisition equals startup growth. But customer retention is the fundamental aspect that underscores sustainable growth. Therefore, robust startup health goes together with strong customer engagement.
3) The Perfect Timing
In products/services where the barrier of entry is low, the timing of the launch is critical. If you enter the market too early, there’s a chance you’ll end up wasting resources waiting for the trends to catch on. If you enter too late, you’ll be left fighting for a foothold in the market space. So, it’s not just the first-mover advantage; it is also the first-mover timing.
4) A Robust Marketing Plan
Positioning your product/service makes a massive difference to business growth. From attractive packaging and showcasing your USP to creating a digital presence to positioning your startup as a thought leader, there’s a lot involved in crafting a marketing plan that appeals to your target audience. Therefore, the marketing strategy should consider customers’ buying decisions and preferences.
To know more about the key factors to build your startup, sign up for Wadhwani National Entrepreneur Network’s (NEN) pro bono courses. You’ll learn to validate your startup idea, develop a business plan, network with other entrepreneurs, and much more. The startup development program provides experiential learning, exposure to mentors and investors, masterclasses, pitch days, etc. These free-of-cost courses are open to students and young professionals who aspire to be startup founders and entrepreneurs.
The WEN IGNITE Program collaborates with educational institutes to mainstream entrepreneurship education at their campus by enabling its students in the later years of their graduate/post-graduate programs, recent graduates, and/or alumni to build upon their business ideas from scratch and convert them into potential Real Ventures. WEN also trains and supports the faculty, facilitates exposure to mentors and experts, and provides word-class entrepreneurship content. All this at NO COST to the institutes and students.
Interested Institutes can apply here: https://entrepreneur.wfglobal.org/institute-application/
