6 tips for founders
If you are bubbling with ideas, living hands-on mentality and are burning for your business idea, you have good prerequisites to become a successful founder. To get your own horsepower on the road, these 6 tips from our career strategy Ragnhild Struss help:
1. Check the idea thoroughly
First the work, then the pleasure: Before it comes to reason, the facts must be on the table. For that you should analyze the market, calculate costs and explore your chances. A business plan is not a nice-to-have, it's a duty. But just as important as the check on the outside is also the inside: How much do you really care about your idea? How much are you willing to invest for it? And not only materially. A foundation is only fulfilling and promising in the long run if the idea is connected to you, corresponds to your values and you are behind it with every fiber of your being. Indicators of personal connection are two questions: How convinced are you of your idea? And: Would you ask your family to invest their money with you?
2. One for all, all for the idea
Behind every successful business stands a team. To clarify who suits you best, you must first know your own strengths. To be honest with yourself, to name even blind spots and development fields is the basic requirement. Finally, competences should complement each other. It's best to create a mind map of your most important traits, talents, interests and motives. A glance at your inner map shows you not only your potential but also your needs and provides information on the optimal working environment. For example, if you're a communicative guy who talks to others quickly and needs sharing to develop ideas, a coworking space can be right for you. The goal is that you create the environment in which you can work best.
3. Know someone who knows someone
In the start-up phase it helps immensely to be accompanied by an experienced founder or mentor. The combination of know-how on the one hand and drive on the other hand often fertilizes each other. In addition, old hands know exactly when you need to reinvent the wheel, but can build on the existing. This maximizes effectiveness and efficiency. Your? Business Coach? can be the start of networking. At the beginning of a company's history, it is more important than ever to make the right contacts and convince potential customers, business partners and investors.
4. Mostly it will be different
Even if much is uncertain in the start-up phase, one thing is certain: the surprise effect. In the ongoing process, new, unforeseen challenges will always be waiting for you. Sometimes your team changes, sometimes the market. When testing your product or service, it's important to be flexible enough to meet the needs of your customers and not cling to the original idea. Routinely, you should dare to look the other way, check your goals and adjust if necessary. In order to survive such phases and overcome obstacles, you need an extra reserve for your power budget. So just think of yourself in between.
5. Spread the word
No matter how ingenious your idea is, the best product will be left unused if no one takes notice of it. So you have to drum for it. Marketing and PR activities should be an integral part of your start-up plan. Social media channels give you the opportunity to attract attention at low cost. But: Likes and followers are not in vain. You need a plan with which topics and content you can create added value and inspire users for your offer. If website design, content production and search engine optimization are not among your core competencies, you can also rely on freelancers or agencies. The main thing is, you think from the beginning, how your idea comes into the world.
6. Make the Inner Voice Authority
Being a founder is not just a matter of talent. Crucial is the courage to go outside, to criticize and to learn, which one should accept? and which not. In order for doubters, envious people, and meanmakers to have a hard time unsettling you, you need to build a good connection to your inner voice. She is the real authority in the house. This is best done by taking the time to pause regularly. Time and again redefining your own location gives you the security and power to defend and pursue your idea. Equipped with a positive self-esteem, your idea can be presented much better and above all, successfully.
