Introduction

There are a plethora of ideas available. They're all around us. Some of the suggestions are excellent, while others may be improved.

Every successful business began with a brilliant concept. After all, everyone has problems that need to be solved, whether through a product or a service, and it is entrepreneurs like you who perceive the chance to do so. However, coming up with brilliant ideas is simple. The challenging part is putting such ideas into action.

Unfortunately, many brilliant ideas never see the light of day because bringing them to life is a significant struggle. Perhaps it is the most difficult aspect of the business; after all, as Thomas Edison once said, "ideation without execution is a delusion."

The truth is that only a small percentage of would-be entrepreneurs succeed in transforming their ideas into a genuine firm that can put the fruits of their labour in our hands. A huge portion of them will never start with their ideas, and the remaining portion will start but suffer soon after the startup phase.

So, ideas are essentially business potential energy for achieving something big that you desire. You must create them, apply them, and continually improve them. You need to take the correct first actions to convert your fantasies about the next greatest service or product into an actual, valued reality.

Finding Right Employees

It's just as important to hire the proper people for your new business as it is to have a fantastic product or idea. People are what make a firm successful at the end of the day. Follow these guidelines to guarantee that you employ a team that will assist you in creating something extraordinary.

Create a list of your company's core values.

Define what you want your firm to be, what you want the workplace culture to be like, and what your firm's ultimate objective is. Look for people who share your key values once you've determined them.

Create a staff structure and job descriptions.

You may focus your search and better understand the sort of people you eventually want to locate by creating a list of particular employees that your organization needs to locate. Consider each of these jobs and the function they will play in the company's expansion. Determine which roles are the most critical for your business and work on filling them first with qualified applicants.

Creating an Interviewing Process

While the personnel you choose for your business must have the necessary capabilities on paper, it's also critical that their attitude and behaviour align with the company's objective.

As a start-up, every job inside your new firm will almost certainly come with its own set of problems and difficulties to overcome, and you'll need to employ individuals who will rise to the occasion

Freelancers and Employees Should Both Be Considered

Many jobs inside a new business may not need enough day-to-day work to warrant hiring a full-time employee, and many freelancers have experience working with a wide range of major firms and new startups, and that expertise may often be very valuable to your firm.

Locate the Best Places to Recruit

Instead of opting for the big job boards, focus your search on more specialised job boards and approach prospects directly through platforms like LinkedIn. You may use the site to establish a careers page that lists the opportunities you have available and asks interested people to contact you. Work to build your network in whatever manner you can, and be on the lookout for new talent.

Feasibility Study

A feasibility study isn't simply an option in today's highly competitive and ever-changing company climate; it's an essential preliminary and preparatory step that you can't afford to overlook.

A feasibility study, as the name suggests, is an examination of an idea's viability. The feasibility study is designed to answer the question, "Should we go through with the suggested project idea?"

To put it another way, it aids in determining whether the company concept represents a genuine business opportunity. A successful business endeavour generates sufficient cash flow and earnings, can survive the dangers it will face, is long-term viable, and meets the founders' objectives

Early detection of a company idea's failure saves time, money, and misery later.

The Most Important Aspects of a Feasibility Study

In a feasibility study, you must examine both internal and external factors that might affect your company's performance, as well as answer some questions that will help you decide whether to move further.

a.Market Analysis

This is the first step. It is carried out to find market or market segment prospects and to assess the market feasibility of a proposed product. This entails:-

An Overview of the Industry

Estimation of market size and value Analysis of Target Consumers (behaviour, buying habits etc)

Analysis of Competitors and Market Share

Regulatory and Legal Frameworks

You must assess how you can join the market, attract clients, and increase your client base based on this knowledge, as well as what part of the market you can carve off for yourself. If there is no current market for your planned product, you must either abandon it or devise ways to create one!

a. Feasibility from a technical standpoint

So, you've figured out who your potential clients are and what your market share is going to be. The next step is to determine whether mass manufacturing at this size is technically viable. This includes looking at the availability (and cost) of inputs and raw materials, as well as human resources, distribution routes, facilities, and infrastructure.

b. Financial Sustainability

We need to figure out if the owner's stock will be enough to cover all of the startup costs, including early working capital. How would the necessary monies be raised if this were not the case?

The business's further capital requirements, likely profitability, and cash flows for a particular number of years are also investigated. A general estimate of your sales, expenditures and break-even points would be required for this. Remember, we don't need a detailed budget at this time; all we need to know is whether the company can survive in the long run.

The outcomes of these assessments may not be black and white, i.e., they may not be negative or favourable. To form conclusions based on them, you must be sceptical, analytical, and use sound judgment.

Making The Business Model

A business model explains how your company operates and how it develops, distributes, and collects value for consumers. Because you've already conducted evaluations and have a much better understanding of the future product or service that will arise from your big idea, as well as possible consumers, you can start working on the draft version of your business model right now. You will need to outline everything about your prospective business and how it will interact with the immediate surroundings at this point in the process.

The following questions must be addressed in your business model: How are you communicating with your consumers and establishing a long-term relationship?

How are you going to create the value you're proposing? What are your primary cost drivers and how do you generate revenue?

This is discussed more below.

A. Valuation Creation

This is about how to use activities and resources to produce the value you provide to your consumers.

You must identify:

1. Key activities (examples of key activities include: controlling the supply chain if logistics are crucial to your business (e.g., Dell), training and choosing human capital if you require the best personnel (e.g. consulting companies such as Accenture, etc), in addition

2. Determine how critical resources (intellectual (e.g. IPRs), physical (e.g. machinery), human (e.g. No. 1 expert), and/or financial (e.g. high liquidity) resources will be engaged in the process of developing your value proposition, distribution channel, customer connections, and income stream.

B. Process of Value Delivery

It's all about identifying your client groups, the value propositions they'll receive, and the customer channels you'll use to provide it, as well as how you'll start, expand, and sustain customer relationships. The primary value you provide your consumers is referred to as the value proposition. Newness, performance, personalization, design, brand/status, pricing, cost-cutting, risk-cutting, accessibility, and/or convenience/usability are all possibilities. Describe your consumer channels in detail: How will your consumers be able to access your solution? A customer channel is a term that specifies how your product is delivered to customers. Make sure you select the appropriate customer channel for the appropriate client group.

Consider how to build and sustain a relationship with your customers as you expand on your customer connection. Customer relationships are the interactions that your firm has with its customers to recruit them, keep them loyal, and drive more sales.

C. Valuation Capture

This is about capturing value for your business. You must establish the expenses that are intrinsic to your firm as well as the primary cost drivers (cost structure). Focus on the primary cost drivers in your business model, as this will help you understand the dynamics of your business model and allow you to optimize the primary income streams accordingly (revenue stream). This would entail responding to queries such as:

a) How much are your consumers prepared to pay for what they want?

b) How and what do they pay for rivals' products/services now?

c) How do they set their prices?

Market Research

"The process of acquiring information that will make you more aware of how the people you wish to sell to will respond to your present or future products and/or services," according to the definition of market research.

Market Research is Required

You'll need market research to look into the market for a certain product or service and figure out how the target audience will react. Market research might be quite beneficial to you.

● Recognize and plan for industry and economic shifts

● Identify/monitor the competition in your market

● Identify chances to develop and enhance profitability

● Recognize and prepare for industry and economic shifts Reduce the amount of risk in your business decisions.

Market research is an essential component of every entrepreneur's business plan for new businesses, and market research data feeds into many aspects of the strategy.

Market Research: What You Should Know

a. Secondary research - gathering information that already exists

Secondary research is information that has already been gathered and organized for you. Secondary research makes use of data gathered from outside sources such as government agencies, industry and trade groups, labour unions, media sources, and chambers of commerce.

You can use the following secondary sources:

b. Open sources

Government departments, business departments of public libraries, and other organizations provide these services, which are normally free and frequently include a wealth of useful information. Government statistics are one of the most accessible and comprehensive public resources. Local chambers of commerce and their business development divisions are another source of public information. They may be able to provide you with data on population trends, community economic features, payrolls, and industry growth, among other things.

c. Business sources

These are beneficial, but they generally come at a cost, such as subscription and association fees. Research and trade groups are two of the finest commercial sources of knowledge. Banks and other financial institutions, as well as publicly listed companies, may be useful.

Crafting Brand Identity

Other commercial information sources include local newspapers, journals, magazines, and radio and television stations.

a. Educational establishments

Even though more research is undertaken at colleges, universities, and technical institutions than in practically any other sector of the business community, they are typically neglected as vital information sources.

b.Primary Study - Your Study

You can do your study if you feel that secondary research has not helped answer pertinent issues. More time, effort, and resources will be required. It may be essential for company concepts that are completely fresh and have never been thoroughly examined.

You may focus your study on certain groups and adapt it to answer certain queries.

Primary market research frequently includes the collecting of data, which is then statistically analyzed to determine patterns.

Data can be collected in a variety of ways, including face-to-face or phone surveys, online questionnaires, mail, and telephone calls.

If you're researching with a questionnaire, follow these suggestions to boost response rates:

• Keep it as short and basic as possible

• Make it aesthetically appealing and easy to read

• Move from broad to more detailed questions

• Include a cover letter explaining why you're doing this survey

• Avoid inquiries that are too difficult to answer, such as leading queries.

You may choose to organize non-directive talks and observations of how customers engage with a product or service in a natural context, or you may choose to use a defined set of questions.

Iconography and Patterns

In their brand style guides, several corporations incorporate brand-specific patterns. A pattern may be utilized to enhance your brand image and make your firm stand out on product packaging, business cards, goods, and other promotional materials.

How to Create a Brand Identity

When it comes to building a corporate identity, there are three key guidelines to follow:

● Make sure it's the same across all channels

It should be easy to link an email you send to a customer or your real company location with your brand.

● Make an effort to stand out from the crowd.

One of the key characteristics that clearly and accurately communicate your unique value as a firm should be your startup's brand identity.

● Adhere to your market's and audience's needs.

Witty phrases and fun logos are uncommon in large B2B enterprises. Similarly, creating a too serious image in your marketing efforts is not the ideal idea if you are targeting millennials.

The following steps should be included in the process of developing a brand identity:

1. Research the market you want to target.

You should also familiarize yourself with your target audience's age, occupation, and hobbies. As a consequence, you might use a slogan, tagline, or goal statement to express your results.

2. Create graphic concepts that convey your brand's message.

Choose designs, patterns, and colours that effectively communicate your mission statement and appeal to the target demographic.

3. Get feedback and make adjustments to your brand identity.

Only a small percentage of businesses can build the correct branding approach from the outset. Most likely, you'll need to try out a few different possibilities before committing to one. You may gain useful information and develop your brand identity by presenting it to small focus groups.

4. Maintain a current business brand.

Your principles, philosophy, or mission statement may evolve as your company expands, and this should be represented in your brand identity. That is why it is critical to stay current with design trends and to analyze and change your corporate brand regularly.

Finance

Business finance is an important and inevitable function in any business and efficient financial management is crucial for success and sustenance since it involves the management of financial resources and financial activities of the organization.

Even though a strong vision and a great product are the central needs of a business, one cannot ignore the importance of finance and its efficient management.

Therefore, efficient finance management is indispensable for the survival & growth of a business.

When you've made a budget, you should stick to it as far as possible, but review and revise it as needed. Successful businesses often have a rolling budget, so that they are continually budgeting, e.g. for a year in advance.

Comparing your budget period on period can also be an excellent way of benchmarking your business' performance. It helps you determine where you overspent and helps track wastage of funds, which is of prime importance as optimal use of funds is essential for a business to sustain and grow itself.

Fundraising

Once you have determined where you stand in terms of fund requirements, you need to plan on how you will raise these funds.

There are three general categories:

1. Bootstrapping

Bootstrapping refers to funding a business with its capital often entails using personal savings, credit cards, promising stock for sweat equity, or borrowing from friends and family. Borrowing from friends and family can also be an option. It sounds ideal, but for most small businessmen, it isn’t realistic to depend entirely on them.

2. Debt

Simply put, debt is capital you have to pay back. Generally, debt is easier to come by in terms of funding and can be raised from banks and financial institutions as well as in unorganized form. However, unless there is a clear path for the borrowed money to be converted into revenue with which to repay the loan as per agreed terms, debt should not be incurred.

3. Equity

Equity refers to capital a startup founder receives in exchange for stock in his or her company. Equity investments are most valuable in businesses that involve high-risk and normally a longer period for return on investment. The downside to equity is a big one: giving up ownership (and sometimes control) in your company. If equity is available (which is rarer), most entrepreneurs jump at the opportunity because they are not based on his or her credit or collateral, nor do they have to be immediately paid back in the form of instalments. You need to make your decision considering what is available and suitable to you.

Testing The Prototype

Prototypes are functioning versions of fresh product concepts developed by entrepreneurs. A prototype is anything that describes, models or shows how a firm will operate.

Company prototyping is the art and science of testing new business ideas and concepts in a risk-free environment to understand the implications of new designs and decisions before putting them into reality. It enables you to formulate hypotheses, conduct experiments, and test assumptions. A prototype aids in the selection of relevant options and directions, the acquisition of finance, the gathering of feedback, and even the facilitation of manufacture.

The Making Of A Prototype

1. Designing: This stage entails iteratively improving a company concept through creative thinking, drawing, animations, and 3D models.

2. Engineering: This process entails building something that works and optimizing it for sustainability, cost-effectiveness, and client preferences. In this stage, miniature prototypes that are 100k in size and function like the product are created. This step may necessitate the assistance of industrial designers and engineers.

3.Production: At this stage, you create a full-fledged prototype that is more concrete, polished, and performs nearly identically to the final product (sometimes referred to as a "beta" or "pre-production prototype"). It's the final major loop, and it's frequently the difference between a decent concept and a terrific result.

You're securing things and investing more time and money with each level. As time passes, your view will change slightly or dramatically.

During the creation process, there are a few things to keep in mind.

• Thoroughly investigating the product prototype's needs.

• Keeping in mind that though your prototype may not be flawless, it should be functional.

• Examine rivals' goods to discover what aspects of your prototype you may enhance.

• Hiring Professionals and making certain that they can meet your expectations.

• Communicating thoroughly with your proto-typer, so that you are both on the same page (and also making sure to enter into a non-disclosure agreement).

Launch And Beyond

Before the Launch

Before you enter the field, you must first create a buzz. You can go about it in the following manner:

• Purchase a domain name and begin building your website.

• Set up social media accounts.

• Start a blog.

• Make an effort to get mentioned in press releases or news pieces.

• Provide influencers with free samples.

• Make a search engine optimization strategy.

• Begin to promote your brand. You may still take pre-orders even if you haven't officially launched or started selling anything.

Make your presence known in whatever way you can, and be inventive with your marketing methods.

The Launch

Now that you've completed all of the preceding processes, don't wait too long to launch the product or service (unless there's a strategic purpose to do so); otherwise, you'll keep waiting to feel ready. You're going to run into a few minor snags along the road, and that's ok. You may always make modifications as needed along the route.

Post The Launch

Remember that the launch is merely the beginning of fresh cycles of experimentation and testing to execute the continuous development of your business model.

It's critical to have a long-term goal in mind while remaining flexible about how you'll get there. In many cases, products will not be ideal in their first iteration. You'll have to make adjustments to the product along the road, and the best method to figure out what needs to be changed is to test it with actual people. To confirm your idea, get honest input from test groups. Entrepreneurs that can make adjustments on the fly and continue to improve based on market input are successful.

Do’s and Don’ts

Do's

• Pick a startup idea that is an innovative take on an existing market

• Solve a problem with your idea

• Acknowledge the risks associated with your proposed business and plan mitigation measures

• Keep your elevator pitch short and to the point

• Be willing to listen to ideas and suggestions - from potential customers, investors, or advisors

• Invest enough time to get to know your target audience Wherever feasible, have statistics to back up your statements.

• Wherever feasible, use data analytics and keep track of everything that happens.

Don'ts

• Pick a startup concept in an already oversaturated industry

• Pick a concept with too many unfavourable factors

• Be overly concerned with being "the first and only"; competition is a kind of validation in and of itself. It's only a matter of having a competitive advantage.

• Ignore your rivals

• Oversell your concept by portraying it as a game-changer - keep it reasonable for the first few months • Wait until the product or service is launched before initiating branding and marketing