12 Jul Do’s & Don’ts For Every Startup

Do’s & Don’ts For Every Startup :

Every company is different -not only in the niche they serve or the business model they follow, but in personality and intellect as well.

This is specially true in the start-up phase.

Start ups operate differently from companies that have been around for decades. They are more fragile and require more blood, sweat and tears.

How they operate from the start can make or break the company. What may seem like a few harmless decisions can easily determine the organization’s fate.

That is why we here at Markegist have created 10 “Dos” and “Don’ts” every start up must follow if they are looking to become a long-term profitable organization.

Things to “Do” :

Be obsessed with your mission: Every start up must craft a mission statement. In its simplest form, a mission statement describes why you are in business. Once you know exactly what your mission is — you need to breathe, eat and sleep it. You need to exude this to your employees, customers and colleagues.

Focus on sales: Make sure you know how your company will make money and how you will actually make sales. Do not leave this up to anyone else. Your company will face many challenges along the way. These challenges will range from personnel issues to changes in the market. If you have a solid strategy to make recurring sales, your company will survive and thrive. Sales will help cure all trouble.

Focus on sales: Make sure you know how your company will make money and how you will actually make sales. Do not leave this up to anyone else. Your company will face many challenges along the way. These challenges will range from personnel issues to changes in the market. If you have a solid strategy to make recurring sales, your company will survive and thrive. Sales will help cure all trouble.

Funding: Businesses often spend too much time and money chasing the wrong form of funding from the wrong people with inappropriate terms and then raise too little. sales always take longer and working capital requirements can fluctuate far more than expect, so don’t go overboard but do get enough cash . Otherwise you will spend all your time raising money and not growing the business.

Have a mentor: The hard work is up to you and your team. having a mentor can be a huge support and can help you to see the woods from the trees. First time entrepreneurs often fail  because they don’t have a more experienced mentor from whom they can learn and turn to for ad-hoc advice. Everyone needs a sounding board.

Put Passion above everything: Customers are savvy–they know when something is genuine or if you’re just going through the motions. So do your employees, partners and affiliates. If you don’t enjoy what you are doing, find something else to do! It’s hard to compete with someone who gets up feeling excited every day and who’s full of ideas about their business. To them, what they do doesn’t feel like work. Enthusiasm is contagious, so determine what it is you enjoy doing and then share your gift with      others whose talents may lie somewhere else. When everyone plays to their strengths, the results are superior.

Do fail test: Startups also fail because they remain with strategies that don’t work for so long. They continue to plug away despite the fact the strategy has little chance of succeeding. Smart startups fail as much as any other, but they fail fast. What this means is that when they see a strategy that clearly isn’t working they terminate it. They don’t try to make it work, they move onto something else simply because the risk of wasting your marketing budget for the year on an ill-fated campaign isn’t worth it.

Things you  “Don’t” mess with :

Don’t Disagree with the Customer: There’s a saying in startup marketing that you have to lead from behind the customer. This is no myth that has to be debunked. The customer is STILL always right. If you have a disagreement with your customer base, you are going to have to resolve that, and it always has to be resolved in the customer’s favor. If you disagree with your customer, the chances are this is something that you have done wrong.

Don’t settle: One of the things you should absolutely not do is settle for less. Go out of your way to always improve. Startups commonly mess up when they gain a tiny piece of success. They are so pleased with themselves that they lose intensity and they try to settle on the results already achieved. Any success should be taken as a reason to accelerate the intensity in your marketing. Use the art of persuasion to convince both investors and co-founders that you have to increase your marketing resources not take the time to celebrate.

 Don’t get caught up on cutting edge technology: Use the technology you have and are familiar with technology is sophisticated enough to be forgiving. As a start up, you don’t need the most expensive solution,You just need to get it done. Let your few employees use what they are comfortable with. You will be far more productive if you are not spending your time learning new technologies and software systems.                                                                                                                                           

Don’t waste money on advertising agencies: You can do better marketing for your company than an advertising agency ever could. Save your start up budget and do your own marketing plans and work. Getting sales is about direct response marketing, not branding. The branding will come automatically, over time from consistently delivering a great product and focusing on the customer.

                                                                                                                                                                       Don’t ignore the value of legal assistance: A legal battle is probably the most disastrous thing that could happen to a startup. Even if you’re completely and 100% innocent, it still won’t change the fact that a lawsuit could last for months to years and that’s a distraction that could cripple a startups potential, taking away money that would have otherwise been used on R&D or marketing. simply put lawsuits are expensive, time-consuming, emotionally and mentally exhausting.

DON’T Be Afraid to Go Out and Meet people: As a startup owner, it’s absolutely necessary to go out there and get your hands dirty. If you’re serious about getting funding, you need to go out and build relationships with the people important to your business and industry. Talk to your potential customers and find out what they want when buying your product or services. Ask what their pet peeves are and learn out how to make them happy. You should also interact with influence’s in your industry, and even your competition. Simply put, you need to make your presence known. You can’t afford to keep yourself holed in, coding all day long.

Don’t give up too early: Successful businesses are usually very different from those described in their original business plan. Try something and if it isn’t working, try it a different way. The key is not to give up too early. Persistence is a vital quality of any entrepreneur.

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