Dream Big, But Start Small

If you do not have a million dollars from a VC, and created a disruptive product, which you intend to spread fast into huge markets in months around the world, then maybe you should dream big, but start small.

Many new small businesses these days are referred to as “start ups”, but maybe not, because according to Paul Graham, a VC and co-founder of Y- Combinator seed capital firm:

“A startup is a company designed to grow fast. Being newly founded does not in itself make a company a startup… Only a tiny fraction are startups. Most are service businesses – restaurants, barbershops, plumbers, and so on. These are not startups, except in a few unusual cases. A barbershop isn't designed to grow fast. Whereas a search engine, for example, is.

However, without that sort of backing typical of start-ups in the world, an entrepreneur’s reality is to take small steps in order to build that big dream. Even the genius Apple founder had this to say about starting small: “Start small, think big. Don’t worry about too many things at once. Take a handful of simple things to begin with, and then progress to more complex ones. Think about not just tomorrow, but the future.”

Its good advice, one reason is because of many complex parts that have to come together as a cohesive whole in the beginning. When we get an idea, we can envision the entire length of it, but when we get down to the execution, it takes a village to put it all together with limited resources. We are talking about creating or sourcing for the right products, the right target market to sell our products, the right location for our product, the right people to hire to carry out operations, and it goes on.

Notwithstanding, start-ups with their fast paced culture have many lessons that small businesses can apply, and we should take note:

Test your idea before launch: an article by Stacy Karacostas, a business owner, who writes about starting small, but growing big without stress states her method of launching a product into the market. She mentions how she offers variations of her work for a period of time, and monitors how well her target market accepts it. If the product gets responses enough to generate revenue then she would consider investing resources to launch that product. Fast paced start-ups are known to carry out product tests, moving fast and breaking things, before they launch, and small businesses can do the same.

Keep it simple: keep the business model simple. The genius of a fast paced start-up is the simplicity of their business model in complex industries. Take for instance Uber, and the ability to summon a taxi to your doorstep. The backend must be complex to achieve that, but for customers it’s a simple step-by-step process, which is Uber’s goal. In Nigeria, there is Konga, and Deal Day, and Interswitch, with simple business models that ensure that we can purchase and make payments seamlessly. Small businesses also must also ensure that it is clear what our business models are. For instance, a small business may be offering design services such as graphic design, illustrations or animation, and include SEO services, content marketing and social media management. Those services may come on later, but to start small and dream big, it is important to keep it simple in order not to complicate things, and so that your customers are clear what your business is about.

Keep finding solutions to problems: many business owners are inspired to start businesses because they recognise a gap. And like a fast paced start up, we must also continue to seek to understand the changing needs of our customers, and add features that delight and satisfy them, the way Facebook adds little features that may seem inconsequential, but increases the user’s capabilities to use the platform in experiential and fun ways to connect more with their friends and families.

Conceiving an idea for a business is a big dream, and though we take small steps to build, we must manage the process of scaling that dream, fast paced or not.

What are your ideas on how to start small and dream big?