3 Things To Consider Before Every Startup Launch

If you have said goodbye to your steady full-time job and have recently made the leap into the world of entrepreneurship, then congratulations. Many people have dreams of going it alone, working for themselves and becoming masters of their own destiny; however only a select courageous few turn these dreams into a reality. While you may be eager to get yourself out there, launch your startup and turn your money making idea into a fully fledged business entity, you need to take a step back and consider three important aspects to your startup before setting foot onto the industry stage.
Suss Out The Competition
It’s vital that you have some understanding of your sector before you launch your startup blindly into the ether. There is no chance of your business succeeding if you don’t know the top five market leaders within your industry, if you don’t understand the pricing structure of your rivals and you haven’t completed any market research to discover if you offer up anything different to the competition. While you think you have a new and innovative product, you may actually be rehashing old ideas that have been trialled before by a rival only to fail.
If you can, spend some time posing as a customer and purchase a product from your top three rivals. Try and assess their performance from the ease of navigation on their website to the order processing time, and from customer service to their level of communication. Do they offer any discounts? Did they deliver the product on time? You will discover what courier they use, the tone they utilise within their emails and, once the order is delivered, you will see how you can improve upon it and offer something to compete against an already established product.
You must carry out market research prior to your startup launch to fully understand your industry, your competition and your potential to succeed. If your startup isn’t viable in its current state, you’ll need to go back to the drawing board and reassess.
Startup Structure
It may seem like a wise idea to launch as a sole trader as this is certainly the easiest and most straightforward way of trading. However, if you forecast your startup taking off relatively quickly and you want to be as tax efficient as possible from your embryonic stages, then you need to consider the idea of company formation and employing a well-qualified accountant to aid in your financial affairs. Becoming a limited company means that you can utilise different aspects of the tax system and draw more tax efficient dividends and a small salary from the business accounts. By separating your personal and business affairs, you are treated as two separate legal entities.
Get Your Funding In Place
Under no circumstances should you let your keenness to launch overtake the practicalities of funding your startup. Eight out of ten startups fail within the first eighteen months, and this is mainly due to funding issues. It’s imperative that you have enough financial backing to see you through a lull should orders not take off in the way you expect. You also need to ensure you have the working capital to fulfil orders when they begin flooding in. It’s not unheard of for small businesses to become victims of their own success as the sales begin to exponentially increase but the startups lack the cash flow to fulfil them.
Loans and business angels are effective sources of funding. A business angel will also be looking to invest in you as an individual as well as your idea. This can boost your morale and help enhance your enthusiasm for your business proposal. A business angel will also offer advice and pass on their industry knowledge to help your company succeed. Alternatively, you could use the modern method of crowdfunding to get your business idea off the ground. By offering shares, a small stake or a product discount to your many potential investors, you could secure a more than modest amount of funding to help keep cash flow buoyant.
Becoming a successful entrepreneur is not an easy path down which to travel. You need to put the hours in, forfeit your social life for a little while and keep ploughing away even when things feel like they aren’t moving forward. Remember to put the hard graft in prior to launching, and you could have a business that soon becomes a market leader.