This is an article “From an Idea to a Startup” by Marc Primo
Every startup will certainly undergo a phase of unique trials which, even with time, never really goes away. Instead, these challenges become a way of life as the business grows into a more established entity. What every startup founder learns here is that one should constantly search for bigger opportunities and familiarize oneself with the latest solutions available that will help expand the company.
When you encounter a challenge as you are building your own startup, you’ll have to acknowledge that more of these hurdles will be inevitable. And so will mistakes. From product flaws to hiring the wrong people for the job, to erroneous marketing strategies, you will have to learn what to tweak and improve than just stay still and wait until something magically happens. Responsible entrepreneurs never rest on their big idea moments and follow through with innovative solutions that overcome problems.
Here are some of the most common hurdles you’re going to experience when turning a good idea into a flourishing startup.
Turning an idea into something concrete
During the early stages of a startup, one of the main things you’re going to have to prove is your business viability. Is there a good market for it? Will people benefit from what you offer? If you answer yes to both, you can start concentrating on moving your numbers up for profit by mapping out a clear marketing plan.
This will entail a thorough review of your customers psychographics, your competitions SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis and comparing them to your own, and consulting experts from your network on how to make your business more bankable. During this early phase, it will also do you good to perform some A/B testing for validation which means you try out versions of your product to different potential audiences for useful feedback. The insights you gather from testing your products will let you know if your venture is really worth pursuing or otherwise, and which improvements you can take down and adjust.
Gain stable traction
Gathering insights from your product and your audience is important during the early stages of your startup as these prove that what you offer can be useful to the market and grow a higher demand.
Using the proper metrics such as customer conversion rates and lifetime value (projection of how long customers will stay loyal to your brand), as well as churn rate (customers who are most likely to discontinue being loyal to your brand), will help you determine what lead generation channels are most effective in delivering a consistent stream of potential customers. Again, you’ll have to look at the competition to find out what pain points your mutual customers are really looking to address.
Once you get to that level wherein your leads are constantly pouring in, try to minimize your spending on customer acquisition and review their lifetime value to find out which buyer personas you should really put the bigger slice of your marketing budget on.
Listen to what your customers are saying
Finally, it literally pays to lend an ear to what your most loyal customers are saying and doing. Look for tools that can help you review your retention rates and improve your content management with the right audiences.
Another effective way to retain your loyal followers is by establishing communication channels online wherein you can directly ask your paying customers for feedback and what they are expecting from you, or why they are inclined to say pass or cancel their subscription. In this day and age of startups, data analytics play a vital role in every step of your decision-making process. Doing the right moves based on these insights and choosing the right growth partners will help your startup grow at a faster rate and make those common challenges a walk in the park.