Creating your own startup can be a truly rewarding mission. A path that allows you to unleash your creativity, make your own contribution to society and develop your personal and professional growth.
However, according to Cambridge Associates, a global investment firm specializing in startup investment research, 79% of startups do not survive their first five years. In most cases due to lack of training, research or mismatches between supply and demand.
And this is the reason we have decided to write this post, to show you how to create a startup with future expectations.
Will you join us?
Skills you need to create a startup
Before diving into the world of startups, it is essential to know the skills that will allow you to become an entrepreneur.
Studying a business degree can be a good starting point, because it will train your business vision and you will learn to evaluate the risks and opportunities of each project.
But the skills that will really allow you to create a successful startup go far beyond what you learn at university.
Would you like to take a look at them? Here are the indispensable skills to create a startup that will last over time.
1 – Resilience
On the road to entrepreneurship, you will face many challenges and setbacks. Resilience will allow you to overcome these obstacles and move forward despite the difficulties.
2 – Creativity
Creativity is essential to generate innovative ideas and find new solutions to existing problems. In addition, having the ability to “think outside the box” can be very beneficial to pivot your business as many times as necessary until you hit the right key.
3 – Decision-Making
When you are at the helm of a startup, you are faced with a myriad of important decisions that will affect the future of your business. That’s why you must be able to make decisions under pressure and take calculated risks when the situation calls for it.
4 – Negotiation skills
To get a startup off the ground, you will need to sharpen your negotiation skills. For you will have to negotiate agreements with suppliers, contracts with employees and, in most cases, look for investors who trust the project.
5 – Time management
It is often said that entrepreneurs are like a one-man band. This means that, as an entrepreneur, you will have to handle multiple tasks at the same time. So knowing how to manage your time efficiently is essential to be able to get everything done.
If you think you meet these requirements, we encourage you to take the next step towards a new future full of opportunities. How? We will tell you in the following section.
7 steps to create a startup
Shall we get down to work? To create a startup with fundamentals, you need to follow these seven basic steps:
1 – Research and validation
Before investing time and resources in your idea, you must make sure there is a market for it. Conduct a thorough market research and validate your idea with potential customers.
Once you have done this initial research, you can get ready to create the business plan.
2 – Business plan
To know the direction to follow and study the feasibility of a startup, it is necessary to define a business plan that allows you to estimate the probability of success.
It will contain the executive summary, the resources you will need (whether human, technological or economic), the business model, the market analysis, the marketing strategy and the financial projections to be achieved.
It is important that the information we collect in the business plan is as specific and reliable as possible, since it is the document that will act as the map of our new startup.
3 – Financing
Once we have estimated the resources we need to move forward with a startup, it is time to look for funding. There are different forms of financing, such as venture capital funds, crowdfunding or loans for small businesses. Find out more about each of them and choose the most suitable for you.
4 – Legal considerations
Next, you will need to register your company, obtain the necessary licenses and protect your intellectual property as a startup. Before taking this step, however, it is critical to learn about the different types of companies that exist and the advantages and disadvantages that each of them offers.
5 – Development of the product or service
Developing your product or service can be one of the biggest challenges in the process of creating a startup. Do not forget to ask for feedback from users in order to improve and adapt your product to consumers. Remember that one of the maxims of startups is iteration.
6 – Marketing and launch
Plan a marketing strategy and establish KPIs (key performance indicators) that, like the indicators in a pilot’s cockpit, allow you to quickly detect if you are on the right track. Only then will you be able to rectify in time in case you are not achieving the expected result.
7 – Growth and scaling
Once your startup is up and running, the next step is to think about how you can grow and scale it. Although, in reality, the scalability of the business is something you should have in mind from the very beginning.
Would you like to expand your knowledge on how to create a successful startup?
At CIS University, not only will you find university degrees to broaden your knowledge about marketing and business, but we have also created an entrepreneurship program to accompany our students in this exciting adventure.
Are you ready to take the first step?
