Should You Start A Company

“What Is Your Start Up Company’s Special Ingredient?”

This is one of the key questions I ask my consulting clients who are starting a new business. What would your answer be to this question? Exactly why WILL prospective customers buy from you instead of continuing to do whatever it is they are currently doing?

Amazingly, most entrepreneurs have not even considered this issue - they rarely even have an answer after they’ve thought about it for a while.   Marginal “me too” improvements over existing solutions will rarely drive sales for a start up company.  This is true even in areas of interest and focus for your prospects.  Even great innovative improvements in areas that are not of interest and focus to your prospects will also rarely drive sales.

I call this your YSI:  Your Special Ingredient.  Sometimes this is called your USP - Your Unique Selling Proposition - a concept and theory that goes back to the 1940s.  Others refer to it with a variety of terms, like KSP - Key Selling Point.  No matter what the acronym, it is still the same basic question:  Why you and your company? (more…)

As an entrepreneur with your business plan in hand, what are the two top priorities you have on every day’s action list as you start up your start up company?

Starting and running a company can be overwhelming. Endless new action items seem to appear magically on your To Do List as you day develops - with all of them either whispering or screaming to be your top priority. And, when the day is done, it often seems that one or more of those unanticipated priorities won - and the most important action items you originally had on your list when you walked into your office this morning did not get done - again.

So, how is an entrepreneur to decide on their priorities - especially when there is so much that needs to be done? The answer is surprisingly easy. (more…)

This one mistake is so critical that it jeopardizes the immediate survivability of your start up company - even before you get started.

What is the second biggest mistake?

Many cost-sensitive entrepreneurs depend on number crunchers, bean counters and newly minted MBAs for their projections - just to save a few dollars.

New start up CEOs doom their new company by pinching pennies in the wrong place. Instead, what they need are pivotal insights from experienced consultants who can provide the guidance the entrepreneur needs for producing a realistic, genuinely implementable business plan.

Your business plan is not some academic document - instead, it is your crucial road map to successful implementation of your vision for your new company.

The most important part of any business plan is the detailed financial projections that are the basis for the entire business model of every new start up company. There are four sets of underlying assumptions that drive all the projections: (more…)

This post will give you some idea of the very extensive range of start up industries in which I have consulted and provided business plans, business planning, consulting and mentoring.

One of the many great things about my profession is working with so many bright entrepreneurs and CEOs in so many interesting businesses - and providing them with pivotal help to accelerate the success of their vision. (more…)

As I get questions from readers from my Ask The Chief Dragon Slayer Campaign, I will take some of the questions that I think might have a broad audience and post them here on the blog.

This one is filed under “Dragons - Sales: How Do You Forecast Revenues For A Start Up Company?”

Question:

I am working on a quickie Excel spreadsheet I developed for a business plan for my internet startup company and am clueless how to even start getting a handle on my guessing my revenues for the first year, let alone the second and third years of my new company. I obviously need to hire you for a lot of what I’m doing since I am also clueless about a lot of things and how to implement them - and it looks like you really have already done it all! But I want to at least have a guess on revenues before I take the next step and start spending money. Help!

Dennis

Answer:

I haven’t done it “all”…but in three decades, I have done a LOT when it comes to start up companies! Working with 2,000 start up companies can do that for you!

In answer to your question, projecting future sales for ANY company can be challenging - but it can be especially difficult for a start up company with no history for guidance.

Without spending time, effort and money with validated market research, it will be hard knowing the real size of both your addressed market and your target market. For most small, start-up companies, their target market is substantially larger than the amount that will be actually captured in the first few years. That having been said, you are still faced with the challenge most start up companies have: predicting a realistic sales forecast.

Your sales forecast numbers are probably one of the most important assumptions you make in developing a business model for your new company. Your sales numbers will have an interrelationship on many of the other numbers in your plan: start up costs, personnel needs, advertising and marketing, support costs, how much space you lease, etc.

An excellent way to forecast sales is to (more…)