3 Essential Steps for New Startups

Most entrepreneurs truly believe that their ideas have the potential to make them wildly successful. That turns out being true for some. But not all startup ventures reach the level of success their founders expect, and some are complete failures. Adding the 3 steps outlined here to your startup plan will improve your chances of a successful launch.

Objectively Assess the Need

It’s all too common for would-be entrepreneurs to think of ideas for products or services to sell, and quickly jump in with both feet trying to market that product or service without objectively assessing the need for that it. Here’s a stark reality: if the market doesn’t perceive a need for your product, it won’t sell; and you will have wasted valuable time and money creating and marketing your product.

Identify your Unique Selling Proposition

Whether you’re launching a completely new and revolutionary product or something that’s similar to what others already sell, you must identify your Unique Selling Proposition (USP). Once you’ve developed your USP, incorporate that into your marketing strategy. Remember, just because you inherently know what makes your product better than similar offerings doesn’t mean your prospective customers will.

Plan Ahead

Virtually every startup is fraught with potential problems and barriers. What those might be for you and your startup depend largely on what you’re bringing to market. For example, some product categories are governed by strict regulations, often from multiple levels of government and multiple agencies within each level. In fact, dealing with regulatory requirements is often the single largest expense associated with creating a product and bringing it to market. If you don’t have the resources necessary to navigate the regulatory environment, you could find yourself dead in the water before you even manufacture your first product. But that’s not the only potential problem. In fact, there are so many, we can’t begin to list them here. But we can tell you that you must objectively brainstorm for potential problems that you might face launching your product, then develop strong contingency plans to deal with them, if and when they arise.

Ideally, you’ll incorporate these steps into your plan before you launch your startup; but if you’ve already launched and haven’t completed one or more of these steps, you may want to put everything on hold until you complete the missing steps.