Prepping Your Startup for 2025

It's essential to anticipate the challenges and opportunities ahead of the new year as a founder. 

Economic uncertainty, technological advancements and stakeholder expectations are all factors that will shape the startup landscape in 2025. 

Let's dive into four key areas to focus on next year and ensure your continuous growth for your startup.

1. Understand how stakeholders view your startup’s growth

There’s three stages of business development when launching in a new territory: 

1. Proof of business model 
2. Proof of scaling 
3. Proof of profitability

Think about where you are now within these stages. 

Where are you going to be at the start and end of 2025? 

Have a think about how your startup is going to develop through this cycle. The ability to show this to your equity partners will prove to them that you have a clear framework and potential to expand to other territories. This is the level of business acumen investors want to see!

2. Building and managing a high performance hybrid team

Hybrid teams are everything in the world of working.

With so many tools for remote collaboration, it’s so much easier these days to attract and retain even more top talent. 

But of course before this, you need to get the best talent through the door first. Typically, there’s three phases startups go through when it comes to recruitment:

Generalist

In the early days, you’re going to need individuals who can wear multiple hats as you’ll be SUPER tight for cash and will want to focus as much as possible on increasing revenue and creating traction within your industry. 

You also have no idea what you’re really looking to hire for in terms of those specialist skills. This is purely the territory of grit, determination and belief (read: delusion)

Specialist 

After you’ve gained some momentum and proven MoM growth for a solid 12-18 months, you need to start bringing in those who have relevant experience with specific skills. This will give much needed breathing space to the generalists who have been acting as Sales, Marketing, Operations etc all in one!

Remember - be transparent with your generalists about refining into specialists. Help them understand that they will need to focus their skills into a few points, and then into a singular point, to keep growing with your start-up. Don’t screw people over - this is a key part of that.

Experience

People who have been there, done that and worn the t-shirt. 

These team members tend to be very experienced and the driving force behind a startup that has gone from bootstrapping all the way to Series C, or even public. 

Have a look at these again and think about what stage you’re at. 

It’s important not to jump the gun as the wrong step here could put you 10 steps back. Recruit smart, not fast ☝🏻

3. Advances in Tech - Integrating AI

There hasn’t been a game changing technology like AI for years.

More solo founders have been birthed, teams are even leaner now and mundane processes can now be done in half the time. 

For me, it’s been incredible in helping to optimise myself and my team’s productivity. Thanks to tools like Notion and Miro, we can automate repetitive tasks, streamline workflows AND identify inefficiencies. 

I recommend reading this awesome article on ‘The AI Revolution: How to Leverage AI for Your Startup’ which highlights the potential of AI in significantly improving operational efficiency. 

It’s also worth exploring how this technology can enhance your customers’ experiences using AI-powered chatbots, analysing user data (such as behavioural analysis) to make personalised recommendations.

Here’s a tech stack ALL founders should have:

Slack - Great for team comms and integrates with other tools like Google Drive, Asana etc

Notion - All-in-one workspace/productivity tool 

Figma/Canva - Design tools that are super easy to use (especially for those who can’t afford a designer yet!)

Hubspot - By far the best CRM tool for managing and nurturing leads

Google Drive/Dropbox - Cloud storage for all your files including password protection

Stripe/Capchase Pay - Payment solutions that are perfect for managing subscriptions

Zendesk - Customer service support tool with built in AI capabilities

…just to name a few!

4. How to navigate economic uncertainty

I've seen firsthand how economic uncertainty can impact a startup. It's a constant balancing act between growth and survival. 

One of the most important lessons I've learned is the value of diversification when it comes to funding and revenue generation. Bootstrapping is one way but it’s super tough, so I’ve always encouraged founders to start speaking to revenue based financing from companies like Karmen and Capchase as early  possible to understand parameters and dynamics.

You also need to prioritise discovering new markets you can distribute your product to. For sure, each market needs to be approached differently and thoroughly planned for, but finding a pocket of 10-100k new potential customers can be the difference between growing 1x or 4x in a year.

You also need to optimise your costs via thorough reviews of your expenses to identify areas for cost reduction. Negotiate better deals with suppliers, streamline 

By understanding economic trends, leveraging AI, aligning with stakeholder expectations, and building a strong hybrid team, your startup can navigate the challenges of 2025 and emerge stronger. 

Remember, agility, innovation and a clear vision & plan are key to achieving long-term success as a founder.