5 Tips for Startup Success in 2021

So much has been written about how to build a startup. But not so much has been written about what to do if you have one. How do you make it grow? How do you keep growing once it's grown? How do you get to be the very big fish in the very small pond you started in? I've started six companies of my own, and I've also worked as an executive or advisor at several other startups. I've seen many different kinds of startups that are all successful and how they become successful.

It's pretty easy to fail at a startup. If you launch something that no one wants, it will fail. And if you run out of money, it will also fail. Making something people want and then running out of money is the normal progression of the successful startup.

So why are so many startups unsuccessful? Most of these failures were in the growth stage. If they hadn't grown fast enough, they would never have found a product/market fit. And without that, no amount of ingenuity could make them succeed. Ideas aren't enough. What makes a startup successful at growth is the same thing that makes them successful at making money: repeatable ideas executed with talent and energy and maintained by systems and smart people."

Here are 5 tips to grow your startup:

1. Be passionate

All the effort in the world won't matter if you aren't passionate about your startup. Passion is a prerequisite for success.

It's important to try to make a company that you love. For one thing, as a startup CEO, there are going to be a lot of long hours. If you're not passionate about your startup, it's hard to stick with it for the duration. But more than that, passion keeps you honest.

Passion is a startup's rocket fuel. The way you get it is by experiencing joy in hard work. Joy in hard work comes from knowing that you are making a difference in the world, and when you are making a difference, the hours don't matter.

2. Test your concept

You already have the core idea so it's time for the next level of thinking. Develop a quick-and-dirty MVP that you can use to test your concept. Don't worry about things like A/B testing or analytics or creating version 1.0 of your product. Find a way to demonstrate your concept as quickly as possible.

Testing is a very useful technique, and you can use it at many stages of your venture. As a matter of fact, you should test market demand for the essential features even before you start designing them.

The first thing to do in starting a startup is to make sure people want what you're planning to sell. No amount of engineering will save you if no one wants your product; and even if you get customers, they won't stick around very long without good technology. Talk to potential customers, find out their problems and whether they think your company could help them solve those problems.

3. Create a business plan

Business plans are usually put together with the expectation of getting outside funding. A few startup companies actually need venture financing at some point in their growth, but for most companies, it's a choice and not a necessity. For these companies, business plans are essentially financial projections. This is not all they are for a startup, however. They're also a way to think through the details of an idea and to give potential employees a sense of what work will be like.

A business plan is a crucial tool for getting traction and financing, but most of all it's a plan. As such, it tells us how to turn an idea into an operating company, real stuff that makes real money. It's the most important document you can write, and the first step of any startup worthy of the name.

4. Hire wisely

Hiring well is so important, it can cause some founders to make bad decisions about other parts of their business. If you are going to build a company, you really should learn to hire people better than yourself.

Your first hires will determine how your company culture develops. You will need to find people with the right balance of skills, personality and values. Try to anticipate the issues of the future and look for people who can help avoid them. Hiring is about thinking long term, not just short term. Don't hire according to talent or skill alone, but also look for integrity, passion and intelligence.

One of the biggest mistakes a startup can make is to hire too fast. Not only does this waste time (in screening and training) but it also slows you down. Hiring is a major bottleneck at most startups: there is only so much one brain can do, no matter how good, and at some point you're going to have to outsource decisions.

5. Nurture customer relationships

Getting a customer to buy your product is just the first step in a long relationship that you are trying to build. If sales are the ultimate goal, then marketing is the way you get there. Nurture that relationship by never forgetting who your customers are and what they want, and you will succeed.

Nurturing customers is essential even for a one-person business. That's because it builds creditability and customer loyalty, and thereby reduces your marketing costs. If you're running a big company, fostering a sense of community can create valuable word-of-mouth advertising.

Nurturing your customers takes patience and the ability to tolerate ambiguities, but it pays off in spades because the rewards are so asymmetrical. Your customer wants you, just not as much as they want what you can bring them. By targeting and obtaining that small window of opportunity, you offer a service they have been waiting for without knowing it.

Takeaways:

1. Be passionate
2. Test your concept
3. Create a business plan
4. Hire wisely
5. Nurture customer relationships

Thanks for reading :)