Key Steps for a Startup’s Growth Strategy

With an increase in entrepreneurship awareness, more and more technically qualified professionals are deciding to start their own business. Creating your own startup is a challenging and complex process that requires a profound foundation to be able to grow. Many people plan and begin their startup but fail within quickly. According to a survey, almost 50% of startups fail within 5 years of their existence. One major reason for this failure is the lack of potential business planning and management skills. Due to this, many startups don’t even complete their incubation period. For good business growth, the following steps must be considered 1) Identify the potential market and customers Every business revolves around buying and selling products or services to customers. What if you plan a startup that delivers products that are already in saturation in the market? You are obviously going to lose just because there is no demand for it. So, identifying the ‘What’ and ‘Who’ of your business is very important. To analyze this, you may choose any of the following methods:

• Analyze Market: Get insight on the market trends while identifying your competitors and the type of services they provide. Also, understand the geographical demands of that product with the most potential market area.
• Perform Surveys: This is a very useful way of getting to know what customers demand. You may conduct both online and offline surveys to understand market needs.
• Informal Approach: Your friends and relatives are the best ones to get authentic and trusted reviews on your idea and products. You should consider their reviews before you proceed further.

2) Create a robust business model: Coming up with a business idea is simple, but putting it into a business model is far more complex and needs both technical and legal assistance. The first and foremost step is to know the minimum budget required to begin the startup. This budget might be in your reach or may require finance or funding options. Once the capital issues settle down, the next step is to identify a model that brings customers close to your product. This should include payment methods, customer service, and satisfaction and product-purchase lifecycle. 3) Mark your key performance indicators: Measuring success in the initial startup stage is very difficult, but setting up key performance indicators will help you understand the progress rate at various instances. Growth metrics should be planned and used to identify the current and expected growth at regular intervals. While creating growth metrics, the following must be included:

• Customer Acquisition Cost
• Customer Lifetime Value
• Capital Burn Rate
• Gross Profit Margin
• Customer Conversion Rates

All these indicators define the success of your business and using a metric that includes these will help you analyze your progress rate and weaker areas. In addition, many capital and technology investors can assist you in beginning a startup from scratch. Conclusion: Whatever your startup idea is, proper planning, analysis and assistance are crucial elements that determine future success. The above-mentioned strategies are an important key to nurturing your startup from the very beginning and acquiring the right market at the right time. Moreover, getting assistance from technology experts will produce fruitful results in the future.