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Who, How, and Why a Startup | Startup Xperts

In a recently concluded Global Entrepreneurship Summit, I had the opportunity to meet with some of the students’ community too. One of them posed a question – Should we become an entrepreneur now? Or are we safe in taking up a job with a decent salary? I am sure this question is not unique to this set of individuals; it is likely to linger in many students’ and professionals’ minds as to whether one should jump into the entrepreneurship bandwagon at this stage or not.

Let me try to uncover some part of this challenge and trust that will help you as to why, when, and how, this could be pursued.

First, why would you like to become an entrepreneur?

  • Is it because you think you can make tons of money than your job?
  • Is it because, you are so passionate about solving some issues and contributing to society?
  • Or because, you are either not getting a job, or fired from a job, and like to pursue entrepreneurship?

If you objective is to only make money, then I would raise a caution flag that this is probably not the right way to approach your entrepreneurship. We get carried away by some startup success stories, but there have been many failures which mostly do not get reported or not known. This is not to scare you from taking this plunge but to share with you the brutal reality that there are high risks involved when you jump into this entrepreneur-ship. Many do not venture into starting their own business for the fear of failure. According to Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s Founder and CEO, “I knew that if I failed I wouldn’t regret that, but I knew the one thing I might regret is not trying.”

Right at the start, if you are looking at an exit for your business (by selling your entity sooner or later), you probably may not find one. You need to believe in your idea, product, or service; for one that you plan to build bigger and better. Tons of entrepreneurs have sold their company (in part or full) but then, selling and making money should not be your only goal.

Another common question that I come across is, ‘what’s the best age to step into an entrepreneur’s shoe? Should I get into a job now, make some money, and then start something on my own? Well, there is no one right, or wrong answer. I would say there is no ‘right’ age to become an entrepreneur.

Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook when he was just about 20 years.

Sachin Bansal co-founded Flipkart at 26.

Jimmy Wales founded Wikipedia at the age of 35.

Craig Newmark founded Craigslist when he was 42.

Ray Kroc started McDonald’s at 52 years.

Startup Xperts is a management consulting firm with an objective to transform companies into the next level of growth. Our mission is to help companies to steeply accelerate their growth. Be it family run business, small or medium enterprise or a boutique firm, Startup Xperts have all the right answers to step up their growth. Startup Xperts help clients in a range of service areas including business consulting, strategic consulting, sales and marketing consulting, digital marketing, HR, Operations and leadership training.

To know more about Startup Xperts, visit us at www.startupxperts.com or write to us at info@startupxperts.comThe views expressed in this article are that of the author’s and Startup Xperts is not responsible for this content. In case of any objection in content, IP violation, incorrect or inappropriate information, please inform us at ceo@startupxperts.com. We will do our best to act on it at the earliest.

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Why do startups need a business mentor?

Recently, I had an opportunity to deliver a session to a large group of entrepreneurs.  At the end of my presentation I was asked by a half a dozen entrepreneurs requesting me to be their mentor.  One of them posed a question – “why will I need a mentor as I am already running a reasonable successful startup? “

“Does that mean Sachin Tendulkar and Roger Federer, don’t need a coach?  Or should the coach have far skills superior to Sachin or Federer, to be their mentor?” was my response.  It simply means that there is someone who observes you closely and provides those critical suggestions/inputs which will help these superstars perform even better at their current level or help them sustain their peak.  Improvement is required for everyone, even at the highest level, and so it is essential that startups and SMEs certainly do need a mentor in taking their business forward.

Mentor is not a consultant; rather they act as your coach.  A business mentor or a business coach comes with rich experience, are business savvy, built successful enterprises, and one who has the passion to support entrepreneurs in helping their dreams become a reality.

Business mentors / Business coaches will help you fine-tune your strategy, help you network with right contacts, suggest you as to when to take your idea to an investor and can also help you balance your work-life.  It is critical to have a mentor who would play the devil’s advocate for you, to ensure that you take the right decisions.   Business mentor should not hesitate to ask the right questions; they guide you through barricades and successfully navigate, steer your company in the right direction.

Having understood the need of a mentor, how will you be able to identify one?

  Look closely, right from your relatives to bosses to peers.  You have known them for long and they too know you well.  This helps you strike the right chord to get things started

  Next is to look at external sources, say through social networks.  LinkedIn is a useful source to look for the right type of mentors.  You may not know the individual beforehand, so the best way is to look at their ‘recommendations’ to understand if that is the kind of mentor who you would like to have for your company

  Look at online blogs, magazines, etc. and you might come across a business mentor who can complement your skills

  Networking in meetings can also help  you identify a good business coach for you

Once you have identified, it is always better to formalize their engagement.  It is good to set the expectations right at the beginning.  The best way is to have a brief conversation with the would-be business mentor or business coach, say for an hour or so.  This will help understand whether both of you share the same wavelength, same values and if they are also open to share their knowledge, experience and more importantly their time in helping you shape your idea, or build your enterprise.

Some mentors might provide the support free.  But in those cases, the commitment and involvement levels are likely to be significantly lower.  Also it is difficult to request or find the right time to take their guidance constantly as their priorities would be different and might not sync with your expectations.

While striking a commercial term with the business coach, you can have various modes to structure the payment terms.  The usual ones are a flat retainer fee for a fixed period.  In some cases they are inducted into the board and given stakes in the company.  Sometimes a combination of retainer and success fee might work best.

Once your business mentor or your business coach is on-board, you will need to have reviews, discussions in a periodic manner.  A fortnightly or monthly meeting can work best.  These reviews are important to keep the business running with razor-sharp focus and thrust.

Business coach, with their experience and wisdom should be able to give shape your idea or you’re your business to the next level.  In the event if things do not work out with the mentor as envisaged, you can politely disengage with the mentor by giving them sufficient notice.  The key is not to burn bridges with your mentor, as what goes around comes around.

Sometimes it is also advisable to have more than one mentor.  Let’s say, if you have a mentor for marketing and sales, you may look at mentors for financial strategies or organizational development or operations excellence.

The need of a mentor has become more critical than ever before.   These business coaches have practical experience backing them and have faced numerous instances before.  You might probably know as to what you need to do in your business, but your business coaches can also suggest you what not to do.  You will not only derive these significant benefits in having these business mentors in your team, but also can make their success story a part of yours too.

Startup Xperts is a business growth and consulting firm with an objective to transform CEO’s vision into achievable, actionable goals that deliver results.  Our mission is to help companies to steeply accelerate their revenue growth, profitably.  Be it family run business, small or medium enterprise or a boutique firm, Startup Xperts have all the right answers to step up their growth.  Startup Xperts help clients in a range of service areas including business consulting, strategic consulting, sales and marketing consulting, digital marketing, Sales Process Outsourcing (SPO), HR, Operations and leadership training, sales training, business mentoring and executive coaching.

To know more about Startup Xperts, visit us at www.startupxperts.com or write to us at info@startupxperts.com

Author Shyam Sekar acts as a Chief Mentor and Strategist at Startup Xperts and provides business consulting and execution support to numerous startups and SMEs, helping them build their enterprises successfully.

The views expressed in this article are that of the author’s and Startup Xperts is not responsible for this content.  In case of any objection in content, IP violations, incorrect or inappropriate information, please inform us at ceo@startupxperts.com. We will do our best to act on it at the earliest.

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Are you missing out in Digital Marketing?

The way that we have done business in the past and the way it is now have undergone a transformation, a digital revolution indeed. A few years ago, Facebook was hardly known; LinkedIn’s presence was not felt. But today digital is all over the place. With marketing undergoing major transformation, and will continue to evolve as we move forward, as a CEO or a CMO, have you utilized the ‘Power of Digital Marketing’ in your business?

This article could help uncover areas that your businesses should explore to make your company stand out, improve upon your brand image, reach out to more customers and building a solid foundation to your business.

Business buyer is today a lot sophisticated, and they have a need to buy. They now have plethora of information, lot of data to analyze, and more so, their purchasing decisions are influenced by the complexity involved in the buying process.

The first step is to define your Digital Marketing Strategy.

  • What are we trying to sell?
  • Who is the target audience?
  • What is the message that we would like to share with the audience?
  • What are your marketing objectives and how do you plan to track the ROI through these efforts?

It is essential that the management and marketing team addresses the above questions so as to have clarity and objectivity. The message needs to be consistent across various channels. Hence integrated messaging is the key and it should flow across both ways, both from your company and from your audience.

There were days when the buyer relied heavily on information from a manufacturer or a service provider, in order to buy. Today the customer has more than enough information at their finger tips. So treat the ‘Data like a King’, and ‘Content like a Queen’. The crux is that the context should be relevant to the customer. Proper use of information and analytics will help weave a perfect story which your audience wants to see or know about.

Another disruption in marketing has come up in the recent past, which is the ‘Mobility’. Organizations need to have a mobile strategy in place. Web and mobile strategies must meet, and it is becoming mandatory to have a mobile site that renders the website well across desktops/laptops, smartphones, tablets and e-readers.

Digital marketing is measurable, customizable, and can be executed effectively at a lower cost. It has various components and each of it needs to have a specific objective and results tracked. It starts with the website that should have a good design (good UI), clear messaging, ease of navigation and speed. SEO, SEM and Social media are some of the components one needs to pay close attention to.

SEO: Search Engine Optimization helps to optimize your website. It also increases visibility of your content through proper usage of keywords. It helps in ranking up your site based on your keywords, its density, etc. This is organic and cost effective, but takes time for results to be seen.

SEM: Search Engine Marketing is ad based where you bid for keywords. You can play with your budgets but sometimes minimum bid amount can itself be higher.

Social media involves social groups, networks, blogs, videos, reviews, etc. Most popular amongst them are LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, etc.

Companies can derive significant benefits if they are able to leverage the power of Online Marketing. It can be further classified as ‘traditional’ and ‘gorilla’marketing.

Email marketing and banner advertisements can be classified traditional where as gorilla marketing helps to generate inquiries and close sales through cost per acquisition deals, affiliate programs, CPC (cost per click), etc.

The points discussed above are just the tip of the iceberg, and the marketing team needs to include a well thought out Inbound and Outbound digital strategy.

Inbound marketing can be done through blogs, videos, social media, SEO, discussion forums, whitepaper, etc.

Outbound marketing includes email campaign, webinars, virtual conference, display ads like Google adwords, etc.

A right mix of inbound and outbound marketing is the key, when you are looking at targeting prospective buyers for your product or a service or a solution.

Customer today has multiple touch points before they make their buying decision. Hence it is essential that we provide one integrated message, across all channels of communication.

With so much of avenues to reach out to your customers, and with lots of action happening in the marketplace, be conscious to cut the noise, make yours stand out, and fish where the fishes are.

Startup Xperts is a management consulting firm with an objective to transform companies into the next level of growth. Our mission is to help companies to steeply accelerate their growth. Be it family run business, small or medium enterprise or a boutique firm, Startup Xperts have all the right answers to step up their growth. Startup Xperts help clients in a range of service areas including business consulting, strategic consulting, sales and marketing consulting, digital marketing, HR, Operations and leadership training.

To know more about Startup Xperts, visit us at www.startupxperts.com or write to us at info@startupxperts.com

The views expressed in this article are that of the author’s and Startup Xperts is not responsible for this content. In case of any objection in content, IP violation, incorrect or inappropriate information, please inform us at ceo@startupxperts.com. We will do our best to act on it at the earliest.

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