3 Tips for Growing a Successful Business

Yesterday a friend called. He was in the corporate world for long and now wants to quit and start a café.

I couldn't help laughing. A café is the first business idea that comes to most people's mind. Starting a consulting business is the second one.

Both are good ideas, however getting into a saturated market always makes it tough for you. In order to enter a red ocean, you will have to create a new category within that red ocean and stand out.

On the other hand, many of the blue ocean concepts out there are totally vacant. Like startups in the Geo Spatial Intelligence Space and Gene Testing.

Recently, Nucleus Genomics a genetic testing company that is focused on calculating a patient’s risk of certain diseases, raised $14 million.

What is interesting to note is that the company has not even gone mainstream and yet there is so much interest around their offer.

Nucleus users have to upload their own genetic results previously obtained by an at-home testing company or they can their own genetic testing kit provided by the company.

Then Nucleus will calculate polygenic risk scores, which is a measure that provides a genetic predisposition for a potential condition, and provide information about said risk on their platform.

The advantage of entering a blue ocean is that you can quickly dominate the space and also attract investment from VCs quite quickly.

So, the biggest tip that I can give you for starting a business is to enter a blue ocean and get the growth trajectory right from the beginning.

Unfortunately, most startups do not follow this and hence you need to pivot midway, which is also a great adventure.

So backrub turned into Google after some time and Odeo became twitter, while Burbn became Instagram.

Being aware of the trends going around you and getting ready to pivot is the second tip that I have for you.

The third is to be obsessed with your customer and provide so much value that they have no other choice but to spread good things about your brand.

Amplify that by providing value on digital channels using strategic digital marketing, SEO and content marketing. Your brand will start gaining traction in a way that astounds your competition.

The best startups have a good product or service that is scalable. The startup can pivot quickly, understand the market and is ready to take advantage of opportunities when they present themselves.

For a detailed discussion, message me or attend FUTURE Talks at Astrolabs Academy on July 29th at 7pm.