You’re starting your own business. What’s the most important thing you need to know?

Starting a business is thrilling! Understanding your target market is crucial. Success depends on knowing your prospective clients, what they need, and how your product or service can meet those requirements. Comprehensive market research can help you discover your target customer, understand their preferences, and customize your offers to their needs.

My experience shows that there are two models for creating a business. The first is to identify demand, needs, and pains of consumers and create a product/service based on that. The second strategy is to start from your inner meanings, translate them into the world, and gather your deep audience of consumers of goods/services. In my opinion, both strategies can exist and even be successful, but being at the center of a strategy based on deep meanings is much more interesting and comfortable.

One of the things that I did when I was looking to start my current business was I enrolled in a 6 week business bootcamp that was given by the university. From that bootcamp, I was able to meet my 2 current mentors who have helped me understand what it takes to be an entrepreneur with a clear vision of what I wanted the business to look like. Through my mentors, I was able to file the correct paperwork for my business, network with other business owners and get into a leadership program that has not only helped me step out of my comfort zone, but has been beneficial to my growth and trajectory as a business owner and entrepreneur. I still have weekly meetings with my mentors just to check in and get some advice as I continue to grow.

Getting a business off the ground can be a long/difficult journey, making it very important to know WHY you want to do this. On several days, it'll be easier to quit. - Have a strong sense of commitment - Show up everyday, even on the tough ones - Be ready to make changes to your life - Learn and iterate fast - Have your feedback loops in place - And be ready to spend endless hours building something meaningful.

I think the most important thing to know when you're starting your own business would be: Know if location will allow your business to thrive because just like other natural resources, location plays a vital role in the survival of any business. Take for instance, a good seed will not grow on a tiled or concrete floor. Additionally, you might need to consider the needs of your host community too.

In my experience the most important consideration in starting a business is to be clear what problem you’re solving. Making sure it is a problem with enough demand willing and ready to pay money for your solution is the bottom line. Additionally, it is critical that the demand be sustainable to have a viable business. These are the factors that often get overlooked in considering business start up.

Knowing your "what" is essential when starting a business. Clearly define your products or services, target market, and unique selling proposition. Understanding what you offer and how it meets customer needs is crucial for crafting a compelling business strategy and attracting clients.

Here are top 3 callouts when picking your WHAT (that I learnt through mistakes!) 1. Pick a hair-on-fire problem. 2. For a specific customer (it's VERY difficult to build a generic product for a broad customer segment). 3. Where you can deliver a 10x better solution. I've found several useful models out there - including the Business Model Canvas and Steve Blank's Customer Development framework, to assist in these steps.

Key word here is "differentiation". You must have this "secret sauce", making you positively different from your competition in a sustainable way. Competing on a price is rarely successful as it is inherently unsustainable. More often than not it leads you through a downward spiral, until you sell at cost or below. A good example of a differentiation-based strategy is iPhone. Apple enjoyed many years of virtual monopoly in hi-end smartphone market because nobody else could do what they did. A path to follow.

What you offer is important. For me, it means understanding the value you bring to your customer in terms of your value proposition. This includes the unique benefits and solutions your products or services provide, how they address your customers' pain points, and the ways they enhance their lives.

The "Who" question is indeed two-faced, relating both to your team and to your target audience. The team you begin your entrepreneurial journey with must be engaged enough to be ready to walk an extra mile (or two) and diverse enough to cover all the key competences required. Engagement stems from performance-related reward models, meaning profit sharing and stock options schemes. Your target audience needs to be identified and verified before your commit yourself to this new venture. Do your desk research, speak with your potential customers to understand their pain and how your solution alleviates it, how they solve it now and if your solution is different and better. Co-create your product with them. Your assumptions must be validated.

Researching and understanding the target audience will also help you determine the optimal communication channels, the right tone and style of communication, which will increase the effectiveness of your marketing and communication efforts.

I think the most important thing to understand here is your customer/ICP (Ideal Customer Profile): - Gets refined over time - Might be different from what you initially thought As a business owner / founder, it's critical to talk to 3-5 customers/prospectives every day and keep iterating the problem, solution, and target segment based on what you are hearing.

For me, this is very important. Honestly, I think starting a business should begin with understanding who you want to serve. Creating a product without knowing who will buy into it or understanding the market can lead to wasted effort and missed opportunities. Knowing your audience helps ensure that your product truly meets their needs and stands out in the market.

Understanding your "who" is crucial in starting a business. Identify your target audience – their demographics, preferences, and pain points. Tailoring your products or services to meet their specific needs enhances customer satisfaction and loyalty. Knowing your "who" guides marketing efforts and fosters meaningful connections with your audience.

Probably, the most important in answering "How?" is to keep an open mind, or, as they call it, have a growth mindset. It all comes down to critical thinking - test your assumptions, verify your data, speak with stakeholders, both internal and external. It may be difficult to stay laser-focused on achieving your business goals at the same time receiving and processing critical input about both your goals and your roadmap - it looks a bit like juggling on the rope :) - but managing to do so is key to succeeding in your entrepreneurial journey. Your mentor may play a key supporting role, functioning as a sounding board, a trusted advisor, and, in certain cases, a role model.

Your "how" is all about strategy. It’s how you plan to align all the different parts of your business to work together effectively. This means figuring out the steps, processes, and resources needed to turn your vision into reality and achieve your goals.

Every entrepreneur knows that behind every action there is a result. Responsibility for these results is not just a duty, but also an opportunity to grow and develop. Even if negative results may seem disappointing, they contain lessons and opportunities for improvement. Negative results can serve as a powerful stimulus for change and improvement. Instead of getting discouraged, it is important to analyze the reasons for failure and learn from each experience. This approach will help you use negative results to your advantage and turn them into valuable lessons for future actions.

Knowing your "how" is vital when starting a business. Define your operational processes, resources, and strategies for delivering value to customers efficiently. This includes outlining production methods, distribution channels, and customer service approaches. Having a clear understanding of your "how" ensures effective execution and scalability of your business model.

As the saying goes, "the best plans crumble when the first shot is fired". It is the same for business - life forces you to continously change and adapt. It doesn't mean though that you don't need to plan - you do. You can plan your costs quite well and precisely enough, and this is what needs to be done. You need to know your fixed and variable costs, set up marketing and sales plans, training and support programs, and do many other things. This is exactly when a mentor can make a big difference by steering the company in a proper direction and helping the owners and the management to govern effectively.

A good mentor will certainly ask you: "Why now"? And this is not such a simple question. Start too early when market is not educated yet and not ready for your product - and you may waste several years doing something nobody really needs. Consider AR companies launched around 2015. None of them did especially well. Start late, and you will fight for leftovers after market leaders split most of the pie between themselves. So this is the question of utmost importance, and you better choose the right time. Mentoring conversation may help with it a lot.

"Why is this the right time?" Different strategies will need different timelines because there are various factors to consider before diving in. Understanding the timing helps you plan better and ensure you’re ready to tackle each stage effectively.

Knowing your "when" is crucial in business. It involves understanding the timing of your market entry, product launches, and strategic initiatives. Assess market trends, customer demand, and internal capabilities to determine the optimal timing for various actions. Being mindful of the "when" ensures opportunities are maximised and risks are minimised.

Everything said in the previous topics is much true and needed, but also keep in mind these ‘soft factors’: Say what you do and do what you say. Be transparent, flexible and continuously pay attention to your customer’s experience. Act with integrity as this will be appreciated and valued, even if it sometimes means you need to say “no” to an opportunity. Doing the above right builds your brand loyalty, naturally bringing more customers to your company based on positive experiences and mouth to mouth reviews.

Mindset and the people you surround yourself with are essential. Venturing into a business brings challenges, and we have to know it will not be smooth sailing. Another thing I learned is to ignore the naysayers and have a team and people who support you, no matter what.

Do you have the right people around you to support you. Others that inspire you, can share their insight with you, with whom you can have discussions about your business and help you navigate choices.

Know your limiting beliefs and then: 1. Keep them in check 2. Keep questioning them 3. Keep rediscovering them 4. Keep reframing them

A few years ago, I started my own clothing business. At the time, I thought it would be a great way to make money and have a successful business. But looking back now, I realize that I didn't have a real passion for fashion or anything related to it. And that lack of passion made it so easy for me to lose focus and get distracted. So, based on my own experience, I believe that having passion is crucial when starting a new venture. It keeps you motivated and helps you stay on track.