Starting a business is often a life-changing event. For some, it is an entry into the real world, while for others it is “the next logical step”, having worked and gained a level of expertise in specific business functions or domains. Irrespective of your background, the experience for an entrepreneur while launching a business is nothing short of shaping one’s own destiny. Therefore, proper business planning and financial forecasting are essential activities. At BPlanExperts we work closely with clients, through a structured mechanism and help transform your idea into a realistic business venture.
Starting a Business
Ideation
Every business opportunity starts with an idea. This is an intuitive process and for an entrepreneur, potentially the “eureka” moment of their professional lives. However, at BPlanExperts we support entrepreneurs to step back a bit and take a rational view of their idea from a business perspective. In doing so, we offer the following pointers which can help validate a great idea.
Analyze your idea – Think and rethink your idea. At this stage, you need to analyze if your idea is something that is implementable at a larger scale or is it just a great thought. Get the thinking cap on.
Business Value – This is when you need to start setting expectations around your idea. Try and assess the market failure that your idea can address and the commercial opportunity that it may present. At the end of the day, you need to implement the idea and generate revenues out of it.
Demand – People often speak about certain businesses being nothing more than a “me –to” of a more successful and similar venture. There is nothing wrong with that, but it is very important for you to identify business reasons as to why consumers will transact with you and not with the existing more established players existing in the industry. It could be because there is a demand-supply mismatch, an uniqueness in your delivery model, existing players do not meet consumer expectations or simply put, you just have a great idea. Irrespective of your USP, nail it down.
Skills and dependencies – This is a critical component of your ideation phase. Do you have the skills to implement your idea and transform it into a successful business? If you believe fundamental gaps exist, look for co-founders who have complementary skills. Get a strong team together and leverage each other’s capabilities. Ensure that compliance issues are addressed and if appropriate, a legal entity is established. Brainstorm and start to document your idea. It is here that most entrepreneur’s struggle, as transferring a thought into a structured document, more popularly known as a business plan can prove to be challenging.
All Rights Reserved
