Success Mantra for a Startup

Date: 26 Jul, 2021

Ditching the conventional norms and building a startup is always a difficult road to take. Who doesn’t want to build something from scratch and take it to heights that the world shall talk about?In a country like India where almost 80–90% of startups fail within the first five years of operations, it’s tough to evade the negativity and work towards your vision. But by following a series of well-defined steps, you can give it the best possible shot to go big and avoid the mistakes that prove fatal for your new venture.

Market research to find a problem
The market is a gold mine of opportunities. Research extensively and find a problem that people are facing and how you can go about solving it. Always keep in mind to have a plan to adapt as and when those needs of the customers change.  

Analyse the competition and develop your USP
When you look for a problem and find it, there’s a big chance that someone else might already be working on it or solving that problem. Dive in the details of every competitor in the market and see how they function, find loopholes and see if the market is already saturated. Bring your unique selling proposition to the table and evaluate if the customer is willing to pay for it.

A solid business plan
Stats out there clearly shows that startups that begin operations with a completed business plan have a higher chance of receiving investment capital and growing their business as compared to companies that start with a vague or incomplete plan. Your business plan depicts the road map of how and what steps are to be taken to get the desired outcomes. A detailed plan gives your startup an edge over other competitors.

Decide a name for your startup
A good name for your startup should resonate well with the niche that it lies in and should be what your target customer likes. Conducting small scale surveys and tweaking the names according to them certainly helps.  

Build a great team
Hire and surround yourself with people that believe in your vision. Have a strategic team that can help the startup grow initially. Surround yourself with people who critic something they don’t find going in the right way.

Start networking
Networking might seem a tough job especially for a startup in its initial phase, but the array of benefits that it brings can simply not be disregarded. Networking helps you connect with businesses that can provide your startup with a much-needed initial boost. It brings partnership opportunities that can be leveraged for the financing and development of your startup.  

Understand the risks
There’s no startup idea in the world that can be labelled as risk-free. When you decide to enter the unpredictability of the startup scene, you sign up for the complimentary risks pack.From pre-taction and business model risks to execution and scale risks, a startup is surrounded by all in the different phases it goes through. Understanding them and navigating through the risks with proper planning and implementation guarantees a better chance for your startup to grow.

Secure appropriate funding
In a world where scale plays a huge role, strong vision and hard work are just not enough for your startup to stay ahead of the curve. Securing a good amount of funding not only gives your startup a solid base that helps you build a better and bigger team but also helps it expand its reach in the shortest time possible. Investors that can see the value you provide, can help your startup get other benefits like deals with their other clients which can help in scaling up your startup.  

Believe in your vision
When you take the road less taken with huge uncertainty and risks, things do get bad at some point and a crisis situation may arise, like the ongoing pandemic for example. There are some things we have control over and there are things that we don’t. But a strong belief in your vision can help you find ways to fight back and create a path for your startup amidst all the uncertainty. 

Zerodha and Byju’s; Two startups that conquered the unachievable

The two of the most talked-about unicorns in the Indian startup space are undoubtedly Zerodha and Byju’s and all so for the right reasons. Zerodha was started in 2010 by the Kamath brothers and they started breaking all the barriers that traders and investors face in India in terms of cost, support and technology. Putting its focus on millennials during the pandemic, Zerodha doubled its valuation to $2 billion within a year.

Byju’s was founded in the year 2011 by Byju Raveendran, who saw the opportunity in the growing Ed-tech sector and went all-in with a vision to provide the best e-learning experience to students all around the nation. With its unique approach to teaching and building a solid team, Byju’s saw enormous growth making it the highest valued Indian startup.

Stories of startups like Byju’s and Zerodha might look different but have a lot in common.The founders of these companies dived in with a plan, a great team and adapted to the changing needs of the customers. This is what made them reach extraordinary heights, which seems too far for anyone thinking to build a startup today.

Remember that there is no magic pill to your startup’s success but there always is a process that guarantees you a better shot at it!

Visit www.rockstudcap.com to set a path of success for your startup.