Did you know that 90% of startups fail within their first year? But it’s not all because of bad ideas.
Most of the time, it’s simply because the right structures aren’t in place. I’ve seen a lot of friends and other businesses launch and succeed, and there are definitely patterns in what made them work. So today I want to talk about some of those things and how they managed to get off the ground.
1. Having a clear business plan and market research
Firstly, having a business plan and doing proper market research is essential. A lot of companies just jump in without actually examining the market or even writing a plan.
Start by looking at your target audience. Talk to friends, family, colleagues – even a small inner circle if you don’t want to share it too widely at first. Ask them questions like: Have you heard of this idea before? Do you know anyone doing something similar? Then do research online. You’d be surprised how much you can find.
If someone’s already doing it, don’t panic – just figure out your unique selling point. What’s different about you? What problem are you solving?
2. Financial planning
Next, look at your finances. Think about what you want to achieve over the next five years. Break it down year by year. Will you bootstrap, look for funding, or apply for grants? When will you break even? Are you taking a salary in year one, or holding off for a while? These are all important questions.
Accounting systems
From the start, separate your business and personal finances. Set up a proper accounting system – Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks – don’t rely on spreadsheets. You’ll already be wearing many hats, so automate as much as possible. A good system shows you where your cash is coming from, what your profit and loss looks like, and helps with tax deductions.
Funding
Also, research funding options: angel investors, venture capital, crowdfunding, or government grants. But whatever you do, talk to an accountant. Starting a business is hard enough – you want experts helping you, especially early on.
3. Establishing a digital foundation
Then there’s your marketing and digital foundation. You’ll need a website. You can build it yourself if you’re tech-savvy or hire an agency if you’ve got the budget. If you do go with an agency, get referrals or go local.
Once the website’s up, how do you get people to it?
- Social media is one way to build your brand over time.
- Paid ads can get you seen quickly, but they can also be expensive. If your idea is unique, you might save money on ads, but generally expect to spend at least $1,000 per month.
- SEO is another route – and it’s one I really recommend. It takes 6–12 months to see results, but once you’re ranking, it can be a game-changer.
SEO agencies often cost $2–5k a month, so around $30k a year. One option instead is SEO coaching. Like having an accountant to guide you financially, you can have an SEO coach show you how to do it yourself. It’s usually a few thousand upfront, and then you’ve got the skills forever.
4. Brand identity
Tying into the last section, is your brand identity. So when you’re building your website, creating a professional brand, your logo design, the different typography choices and your brand colors. What’s going to look appealing, not just black and white on your website. You want something that pops, something that people engage with.
Getting those brand guidelines for all your documents and materials, getting that all uniform, your business card, letterheads, your email signatures, designs, because you don’t want to look all over the place.
On your website, having a compelling about us page, services pages, sales sheets, branded graphics, presentation templates, you want everything to be uniform. It shows that you’re professional.
5. Streamline operations
Streamlining your business processes. You’re going to be super busy, wearing many hats
CRM
So one could be CRMs – customer relationship management software. I’ve seen friends who don’t have one, and they’re just using emails, they forget to follow up with queries. They don’t put their notes on there. When you think about it, six months later, that query has probably already bought from someone else, because they weren’t followed up. Or you can’t remember what you’ve actually said, so you look unprofessional.
Project Management Tools
Also your project management tools. Once you actually get a project, you’re tracking it along. Again, I know friends that use Excel for this, but it’s very, very difficult. There is a lot of free software out there, so do research. Try and sign up for some freemium software and have a look if there’s any integration capabilities between all these different software that you may choose.
6. HR strategy & hiring
Contractors or employees?
Eventually, one of the biggest growing pains that I faced, is hiring the first employee or whether to go the contractor route and depending where you are in the world, there’s different legislation everywhere. So I’d advise speaking to someone in your toolkit like an HR consultant to actually discuss these options with you.
You have to think about the finances, advertising, how much you’re going to pay someone. You can speak to an HR consultant, start having a look at other blogs and start researching what the best route is.
Traditionally, contractors may be a safer route, whereas employees are going to be more engaged within the business.
Building Culture
From there, you need to build a strong culture and structure, potentially investing in HR software. Remember, if it’s your first employee, it’s exciting, but you need to give them learning and development. Why are they going to work for you?
Building professional development, training journeys, feedback, performance review systems, it might just be you and that one person for a long time. You’ve got to make sure that they’re in it with you. So again, speak to that HR consultant who will be able to guide you in that way.
7. Getting your first sale
This is a very important part of the foundations but also one of the funnest. Finding your first customers. One of the first things that I’ve done in previous businesses before is speaking to my network, speaking to friends and family, getting name out there, going on social media, making yourself a thought leader, talking about partnerships.
Partnership
So, for instance, a lawyer may refer business to an accountant, and an accountant might refer business to a lawyer. Think about those partnerships. Who could you potentially partner with?
Networking
Networking, going to small business events, potentially getting your name out there, making your own networking groups, and adding people on LinkedIn. You could also have referral programs for partnerships, or it may be just an informal referral partnership.
SEO & Paid Ads
You can also think about, like I said, that SEO and Google ads route as well.
Retention & Upselling
You also have to think that retention is cheaper than acquisition. Retaining a client, making them happy. Service service service. Asking for referrals from those customers, potentially offering repeat customer incentives. And also gain feedback from them. People that actually get feedback and implement it gives long term, happy customers.
Upsells are the easier form of revenue generation. A happy customer will most likely buy from you again.
Wrapping it up:
- Have a clear business plan.
- Get your financial foundation right.
- Build your digital presence.
- Develop a strong brand.
- Streamline operations.
- Plan your HR strategy.
- Focus on acquiring and retaining customers.
Every business is different, but these are fundamentals I’ve seen again and again in successful startups. Use every tool, every expert, every bit of support you can.
