How to position your early-stage business or startup for success.

Business people and founders, gather here for a quick session. If you're missing one of the following, you shouldn't be missing one of the following.

So you've got a startup in its infancy or an idea that's still taking shape in your mind. You're probably brainstorming on it with your friends, or taking steps to solidify it.

Here's how you position it for success:

1. Is there a demand?

First, before putting the technology together, make sure there's a demand for that product, that service, that solution in the market. Business goes beyond your hobby or passion. You don't necessarily need to make a business out of something you love. You make a business out of something in demand. Lest you put together a great technology that works for no market. Yes, yes. It's all too possible to build a fantastic product with no market or one with a saturated market.

2. Assembling a core team:

Super important. Even before you start thinking about looking for money. Who do you have? Who's gonna build with you? Sales. Technology. Operations. You need those skills. It's not a business until that assembling is done. Just like a body has different parts driving it forward, a business requires different parts to drive it forward.

3. Clarity on the MVP:

A Minimum Viable Product is what you're selling: your product or service. It's what your business exchanges or will be exchanging for money. It's simply the solution you proffer to a problem. We can't even talk about a business without a viable product.

4. Initial funding:

You need money. To get it, position yourself right. And now, the market has gone beyond “I have a good idea.” It's so beyond that now. Because a lot of African startup founders have made things bad for others. They've siphoned money, made shocking decisions, ran startups into the ground. Word on the streets says investors should be wary of you. It's important, therefore, that you position your business to attract the right kind of funding. And funding is not just about anybody and everybody. Who's funding your industry, your competitors? Who's funding people in other countries doing what you're doing? Why should they look at you? What numbers are you doing? What traction are you building? That, you see, is how you position your startup for funding.

4. Strategic planning:

You probably had enough of this in business classes back in college. But this is where you put it to use. Where are you going with all this? The vision for the business, what is it? What's the plan to get there? How will you measure if you're getting there? Can you give someone a rundown? Is it all documented?

5. Development based on feedback:

First, how you know that your product, service, or solution is viable by running it through its intended users and getting their feedback. You don't stop at the first round of tests. You run as many as it takes to particularly nail your users’ needs and preferences. How are they responding to the product? Ask them if they enjoy your service. Ask them how you can improve on it. Then improve on your product with that feedback.

How easy is that?

Not too easy, I confess. It's why business consultants exist.

Schedule a call with me, would you? I'll walk with you, get you grounded, and get your startup sailing smoothly.

Welcome to July!

Have a great week ahead,

- Nkechi