Here are some fundamental questions about a business which are valuable to ask at various key moments in the business lifecycle:
What do we stand for?
What’s our function?
Who do we appeal to?
Who’s our target audience?
How do we present ourselves?
How do we differentiate ourselves?
How do we make ourselves look different and feel valuable to the people who encounter us?
I think these questions will keep the business grounded and adaptable, making sure it consistently offers a clear, differentiated, and valuable experience to its audience.
Meaning and structure
Starting a business is a multifaceted journey that involves bringing a marketable skill, idea, service or product to life, creating value for your target audience, and leveraging your knowledge, abilities, efforts, and time to achieve success. Adaptation, continuous learning, and effective resource management are ongoing processes that contribute to the growth and sustainability of your business. To ensure you have a clear understanding of your business venture, you should consider the following questions:
• What exactly is it that you do?
• Who is your target audience?
• Why does your business matter?
Are you thinking about starting a business? Contact me via e-mail and book a business development strategy meeting.
Why does it matter?
While 80% of executives know that their companies’ success depends on introducing new products and services, the term “innovation” is often associated with geniuses turning start-ups into gold mines. Private equity firms place hundreds of little bets on start-ups hoping for the next Skype, Twitter, or Amazon. These bets on the next growth engine often depend on luck more than insight as many companies invest in or buy them, unsure what they’ll yield. What do you think happens if these companies dedicate insufficient resources to support innovation in the start-up phase? Contact me via e-mail for a deeper dive into the subject.
Startup thinking
When you start a business there is a method and there are things you need to do in order to build it up. In business you have to set certain goals that you want to achieve and then act towards achieving those goals. Once you have defined your goals and begin to pursue them with your team you will find that obstacles continuously arise as you go towards it.
Whenever you create something new, it’s rarely a smooth progression, you will have to overcome obstacles along the way in the form of people or situations that go wrong. When an obstacle arises, immediately face the obstacle which comes in the form of a situation, something not working, something going wrong or perhaps somebody trying to sabotage you. Never react towards the obstacle as if this should not be happening, face it and see what the way beyond it is. How can I either dissolve it, bypass it, or use it? So, I do not enter a state of reactivity when obstacles appear on your paths.
What is your relationship to difficulties and obstacles that arise as you travel towards your goal?