Scaling is something most startups want to achieve but often don’t have a workable game plan towards this goal.
We’ve spoken to technical founders and have identified 3 important steps you need in order to scale while having a clear sales mindset :
Step 1: Establish Market Fit and Confirm Your Concept Solid
It’s easy to think you’ve stumbled upon the best product or service ever. It’s scary to know that 42% of startups fail because of “no market need“. Understanding the market need from the get-go is crucial. Build your ideal customer profile, do market research and ask as many questions as you can afford. Then research the competitors available. What are they doing? What’s working? What’s not? Where can you come in with a different offering and at what cost? This should set you on the right first step.
Step 2: Be Prepared For a Long Journey
Lets’ face it, the road is long and bumpy. Not to put you off the journey, but stating the facts that in order to go far, you’re going to have to be ready for a long ride. One that involves the risk of running out of cash fast. For a good 29% of startups, this is the sad reality.
Bearing that in mind, a good solid strategy is key to longevity. This includes, understanding that your startup will need to navigate and negotiate the Technology Adoption Lifecycle model. Your sales model will need to take into account different customer segments like innovators, early adopters, majority and laggards.
The ultimate goal would be to create a minimum viable product where you and your team can put out a functioning product, great enough for your audience to use and provide data on, which can then be immediately implemented to improve on the next cycle. Yes, as we said earlier, delivering a truly innovative product is trickier than it seems.
Step 3: Scale Can Only Happen After Traction
Having a good pool of foundation customers is very important in achieving good traction. This would be your initial fans, your loyal customers, the ones that spread the good word about you and your product / service. These would mean executing steps 1 and 2 well, in order to create and maintain a good ‘fan base’.
Remember, it’s not about immediate sales, but instead it’s a long term game in creating trustworthy advocates for your business. Accumulating a good pool of loyal customers will build trust with your potential investors and give them the necessary, real-time data to make better informative decisions.
These 3 steps, while easy enough to understand will take a lot more diligence and effort to execute well. But once done right, it will afford your business with a more solid foundation and a better long term, resilient offering that is able to pivot with the times.
Get your basics done right to avoid being in that 42% statistic where there is no market need for your product but you’re already knee deep in the business. The diagram below should give you a clearer picture of your projected journey. However, for a more detailed understanding, get in touch with us, sooner rather than later.
