Start Up Your Startup: 13 Things You Need to Know Before Creating Your Own Startup Company

Tatiana Bonneau
Sep 3, 2018 · 8 min read

We’ve heard a lot about Startups here in AMAfeed having featured tons of Sessions which might made you think of taking the leap into the industry, and we can actually see why — with all the opportunities this venture can offer, there’s no question as to why entrepreneurs place their bets on startups, regardless of their potential setbacks. Startups are indeed the excellent way to launch your mark in the industry you are about to take by storm.

Have you decided yet? Before you get started, we have three questions for you:

1. Do you know what you’re getting into?

2. Are you aware of things you have to do and not to do?

and most of all,

3. Are you ready to start from scratch?

Whether you’re a newcomer or a veteran looking for more ways to improve, all these and more would be answered in detail below as we bring you the truth about creating your own startup company, showing the pros, cons and everything in between through the words of the people who can help you best — startup entrepreneurs.

1. Business plan is a MUST, not an option

“[Business plan is] your playbook. If you haven’t thought out at least a couple of plays ahead, how are you going to know where you are going and how you are going to get there? AND as you grow, if you can’t hand this playbook to others, you’ll end up with a group of free radicals and not a team. I think get lots of input (contributors) to the plan, with one editor — that way, everyone is signing up to it.” — Karl Llewellyn, Fifth-Time Startup Entrepreneur

2. There are critical points you might want to take note early on

  1. “Focus on profitability early on, not scale
  2. Identify what problem you’re really solving and make sure it’s not just in your head.
  3. Identify the solution to your problem.
  4. Know where you niche customers are, and get engaging.
  5. Identify what value propositions resonate with your customer demographics.
  6. Raising investment.” –Logan Hall, CoFounder and CEO at Rebelhack.com

3. Trends and changes have implications –understand them.

“Social Media’s developed services are in decline, [whilst] social media niches are in rise. SaaS is in trend, especially if you solve a small business problem (accounting / financing / bureaucracy). Gaming industry is in rise, and will continue to rise as people have more free or wasted. Also, environmental related ideas would be in demand. App stores personal apps are in decline but apps for businesses / tools would be still OK. In general we believe that native apps would be replaced by more standard web.

“AI is a big hit in coming years. Blockchains would be replaced by a better, ‘waste-less’, distributed technology. SEO and some other traditional industries would disappear, too. Cloud will stay here, but big companies like Amazon and Google are flooding the market with buzz words and unnecessary complex environment to tie people to their platforms.” — Elena Ben, Startup Realizer Founder

4. Bankruptcy is completely normal

“It is common to lose money your first few years actually. For me, I have been through bankruptcy BEFORE I ever went in to business, so I have a particular fear of that sting.” — Sue Styles, Business Consultant, Conference Speaker and Author

5. Your workplace is not just an office.

“We put a lot of emphasis on the workplace. Your team is your nest egg and worth just as much investment and time as your business. Weekly WIPS are timed and documented. We all luckily enough share the same ethos and have our values in the right place. This is a great foundation for any team so we foster and support this wherever necessary.” — Jordan Panos, Serial Entrepreneur and Ecoloads Founder

6. Digital Marketing isn’t always the answer

“[The most common misconception about digital marketing is] thinking that it is a solution to all problems. Many businesses only know that they should have digital marketing strategies, but they do not know why. Some also think that as long as a company has its online presence, they do not need other marketing strategies. My experience tells me that no business can survive only on one type of marketing work. Social media marketing also gains its content and strength in traditional PR, event marketing, and more.” — Michella Chiu, Director of Brand Marketing at GREAT WINE, Inc

7. Making your website/app mobile and social media-friendly matters

“Simply put, you need to be where your customers are — both in the device they use, and the context of their user experience. Something we focused on when starting ShipHero was creating a comprehensive set of tools for mobile devices. Designed and built to look and feel like typical smart phone apps.” — Nicholas Daniel-Richards, ShipHero Co-Founder

8. Social media has two sides — use both wisely

“At this point, we can’t say that organic social media has done anything to help Cayenne gain more exposure. We believe that organic social media serves more as a tool to show legitimacy and more information about a company, not as lead generation. As for paid social media (i.e. ads and sponsorships), social media has played a large role in helping Cayenne gain more exposure!” — Cayenne Clothing Team

9. There’s not only one pricing structure out there

“We generally work on value-based pricing. That means our price is determined by the value it provides that customer, not the work involved in producing it. On the other hand, if we’re dealing with a small business that just wants a basic website we might work on cost-based pricing.” — Daniel Hanna, Rhythmwebsites.com owner

10. Partnerships can be both beneficial and risky

“You aren’t even supposed to be friends. It should be a very business relationship. If you want to delegate sensitive or complicated tasks to someone then you should probably wait until they have proven themselves to you. This could take months or years depending on the situation. Give them little bits of responsibility at a time and see how they handle it. Once you start this process and they keep meeting your expectations, then maybe they are ready for some more complicated tasks. It also helps a lot to hire right. Make sure the person you are interviewing is going to fit in with the business, the culture, and most importantly, working with you! The whole trusting someone to do your work for you starts with hiring the right people and giving them the time to learn your business.” — D. Kolbaba, Serial Entrepreneur

11. Expanding your boundaries takes perfect timing

“In our experience, the most successful companies in our portfolio start as localized startups and then expand. Entrepreneurs typically build from pain points that really affect their every day, so hence are building startups that are specific to their environment or region. Validation here first makes the most sense before expanding out. Lastly, you want to be based where ever it is that you are working. So international expansion requires a lot of on the ground resources. Make sure you are prepared for that. A lot of startups fail because they expand or go international to early.” -Adi Abili, Managing Director of Accelerators at AngelHack

12. There are free ways to do branding

“Network — this might seem simple but without an ad budget the easiest thing to do is online network. Go to blogs and see if you can collaborate and search similar hashtags to what your ideal client would use then get chatting, leave some comments. It takes a while but it is the best form of getting your business out there. Then get your own strategy in place, know where to focus your time that will get the best results. Being a startup, time is short so you don’t want to waste it. Always have your ideal client and goals in mind.” — Ally, AuRa Socials and Stocked by AuRa Creator

13. Time management is both the challenge and the key

“I tend to schedule my classes in the morning, so I won’t really work on anything until the early afternoon, but once classes are out for the day I’m clear to get some work done! We’re trying to keep much better records of the current/planned projects, so I’ll take a look at what the most pressing issues relevant to my area (front-end web development mostly). We’ll prioritize issues that cause major functionality losses, then move on to polishing the site. After a couple hours working I’ll answer emails, then take a look at homework!” — Mike Gargasz, Co-Founder and Head of Product Development at NXTSTOR, LLC.

Building a startup company is your small, baby steps in breaking into the business world, and as they say, the first steps are the hardest steps. Be sure that you’re headstrong and wholehearted in taking the challenge — it’s either you go big or you go home.


Originally published at startupama.amafeed.com.

from confusion to clarity, not insanity

Tatiana Bonneau

Written by

Real college dropout genius, hard code nostalgic, former fetus, elf in denial, communist leftover

Data Driven Investor

from confusion to clarity, not insanity

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