5 Things Every Business Can Learn from Startups

Salt Flats

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3 min readJan 30, 2020

Written by Dwight Ramseran, Senior Consultant

#1 Focus on the customer

Most (if not all) successful startups are obsessively focused on their customers and what they can do to make the customer experience better. Successful startups understand that building a product that is truly brilliant effectively hinges on how the customer interacts with that product.

As such, customer-focused strategies guide every aspect of startup creation, from informing product development to determining how and where to market the product. Any company can benefit from using their customers as a “North Star” to guide decision-making at all levels and across all functions of the business.

#2 Experiment fast and often

Lean startups often work through a process of rapid experimentation, analysis and improvement. This allows them to quickly and efficiently create new products and business lines by iterating and refining their core ideas until they have something truly special to offer to the market.

While careful planning and strategic thinking does guide this process, these efforts facilitate and bolster the process rather than acting as a roadblock. Some businesses allow new ideas to get bogged down with bureaucracy and legacy processes that were built for a different time.

Allowing room for rapid experimentation can be the difference between keeping up with the pace of innovation, or getting left behind.

#3 Focus on culture

Corporate culture has been a hot topic for many years now, especially so-called “startup culture.” The business world at large has held a long-standing fascination with the tight-knit communities fostered within the startup world that seem to be a source of endless inspiration and speedy growth.

Though it is important to note that no one startup has exactly the same culture as another, one thing that many do have in common is that they prioritize building a strong, sustainable, and supportive culture centered on their main resource — their people.

Any business can stand to benefit from establishing a stronger focus on creating a quality, sustainable culture, or perhaps re-evaluating their existing culture.

#4 Collaborate

Startups generally promote open and collaborative environments in which teams are encouraged to work cross-functionally, and knowledge is to be shared across the entire organization — especially to those that can benefit the most.

Sharing new ideas and working beyond the walls of individual departments can open doors to collaborative innovation. Breaking down internal organizational barriers allows fresh ideas and knowledge to flow to people across domains of expertise.

In larger companies particularly, we often see a prevalence of silo-ed organizational structures, where knowledge is hoarded within departmental walls. Free flow of relevant and beneficial knowledge and information, however, is crucial in bringing the best ideas to light and uncovering opportunities that no one silo on their own could ever imagine.

#5 Prioritize continuous learning and development

Working at a startup is in and of itself a learning experience, and many startups go beyond this to promote active and continuous learning across their organization. Startups realize the value of having talented employees who are given space to both grow their existing skill sets as well as develop expertise in new ones. These individuals improve the organization at large and are happier in their workplace.

Sometimes, companies can neglect the development of their employees, assuming that one development strategy fits all (or worse, not supporting development at all). This leads to missed opportunities to realize the full potential their people have and can cause workplace dissatisfaction.

The importance of development/growth opportunities cannot be understated — in a recent national survey of 400+ employees spanning Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials, 70% of respondents replied that job-related training and development opportunities influenced their decision to stay at their job.

Did you enjoy this article? You might also like The True Purpose of a Business by Rod Collins, Head of Facilitation at Salt Flats Innovation House.

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