Is NOW really the the best time to start a business?

Things are looking tough all round. Economic recovery in developed markets is shaky. Developing markets are reeling at the bottom (?) of the commodity cycle. China is choking. And even the most optimistic of VC's are getting nervous about valuations. Is this really a good time to start a business?

The downsides would appear to be a reduction in availability of funding - or at least less attractive valuations and terms, as investors get more cautious. In addition, there may be less buoyant markets (consumer and business) to buy your products. There will be less free support as socially responsible organisations previously supporting entrepreneurs may scale back on their CSR budgets.

However there are some basic fundamentals that, despite the above challenges, still make launching a new business extremely attractive. In no particular order, these are:

1. As the tsunami wave of entrepreneurial activity (that always follows a major recession) dies down, it will start to become easier for new (good) ideas to get visibility and recognition
2. For the last decade it has got easier and less expensive to start a new business, especially tech related.This phenomenon continues. If you understand how to follow the right process and make use of all the tools available, it is possible to launch a substantial busness and take on a major industry player with a few thousand dollars or less. If David were alive today, he would have a bewildering choice of slingshots with which to bring down his Goliath
3. The "process" to launch a new business (mentioned in point 2 above) is now well known, tried and tested. The judgments and decisions that need to be made, such as when to "pivot", remain challenging; but lean startup, business model canvases, validation boards, etc are all mainstream now with many people skilled and experienced in their use.
4. There are some excellent organisations around that can boost a business. These include some of the top accelerators like Y Combinator, Techstars Wayra and of course Mashauri; many free or inexpensive MOOC courses to educate you on various aspects of the startup lifecycle and some of the newer funding mechanisms are fast becoming mainstream too. Co-working spaces, incubators and startup events abound in most cities around the world - from Soweto to San Francisco.
5. Governments, both local and central have long recognised the economic growth potential of entrepreneurs and as such are making it easier to start businesses and many have attractive packages to try and foment entrepreneurship in their jurisdiction.
6. The corporate world have also moved from ham-fisted attempts to compete with new competition such as simply buying out new ventures or force-fitting digitisation to their old business models. Many now are finding ways to embrace and support ecosystems of entrepreneurs within their industry segment (and wider) and finding ways of cooperating by making corporate boundaries flexible and porous - joint ventures, corporate accelerators, funding of potentially disruptive ideas are all becoming more day to day ways of doing business.

This is not to say that it is necessarily easy to get going with a new business. For every piece of good advice, there are five pieces of poor advice available. Google can be your best friend or your worst enemy in this regard. The amount of work that has to get done and the conflicting priorities remain. Although people are more open to new ideas and accustomed to a more digitised world, there is still plenty of cynicism especially in established industries. To be a successful entrepreneur you still need to have perseverence, determination and a thick skin!

However, our conclusion is that despite all the negatives, this is still a great time to start your new venture. To support this, we have just launched a new acceleration programme at Mashauri called The Mashauri Catapult Programme aimed at assisting fitst time founders successfully launch business; as well as helping those that have been working on their concept for a while get traction and move more quickly to the holy grail of paying customers. It supports you with mentor meetings, training and guides you through a lean startup process using best practice tools and templates.

Click here for a more detailed description or see the video below or go straight to the signup page if you are already convinced. Places are limited for the March 15 programme and there is a fantastic offer to the first twenty applicants signing up.

Remember that the best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The next best time is NOW!

Contact me at simon.gifford@mashauri.com for more details.