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A startup nation – the new kid on the block

by on 27 September 2016in Business, Entrepreneurship, Market Research, Marketing Communication, Start ups, Strategy No comment

http://www.prayag.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/1.png Ideas are buzzing and start-ups are abounding – India today has over 4200 startups. Consider this significant statistic – the year 2015 saw $9 billion infused into startups, which is the same as what was invested during the entire period between 2010-2014. Clearly, India is riding high on startup fever and the ball has been set rolling. We will see many dramas, bloodbaths, tragedies, flops and happy endings every year. If you think you have a great idea that you want to take to market, do consider these points before you take the plunge – it can save you some tense moments. As Guy Kawasaki, the Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist rightly said, “Ideas are easy. Implementation is hard.”

http://www.prayag.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/2.png1.    Validate the idea – while the likes of Steve Jobs defined the marked need, we should gracefully accept that not all of us can deliver that kind of a performance. Instead a budding entrepreneur should read up, talk to experts and not just rely on your close circle of contacts. You may end up hearing what you want to hear and not get an honest view. You should try and talk to potential users and unbiased contacts to assess if there is a genuine demand.

2.  http://www.prayag.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/3.png  Figure out the key proposition – Be clear about what value your idea will deliver and to whom. Will you be able to give a crisp explanation of your idea to both a business stakeholder as well as a layperson? Talking to more and more people will help refine the message you need to convey.  This will also help you figure out if your idea is making sense to your audience or if you need to articulate it in a different way.

 

http://www.prayag.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/4.png3.    Pin down the business model – What is your business model going to look like? How will you monetize your idea? Do you need to rope in partners to execute this model? Draw up a business and financial plan and test out various scenarios. Also, don’t forget to state your expectations. What are your aspirations from this venture? Is it to do with money or is it about the satisfaction gained in delivering something of value or is it about fulfilling a gap in the market? Your answer to this question will determine how you run the business.

http://www.prayag.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/5.png4.    Be clear about your commitment to this venture - Entrepreneurship is not a part-time venture for sure. You have to give it your 100% and do whatever it takes to get it going. Borrowing a quote from Jedi Master Yoda that was just apt – “Do. Or do not. There is no try”. You have to be hands-on. It may also mean relinquishing some of the control to others. A successful leader is one who knows that he cannot be a jack-of-all-trades. Are you willing to take the help of experts and more experienced people to run the show and stick to what you are best at?  You will need to make several difficult choices and stay true to them. All in all having an idea is great. However, do understand that to make the idea successful, a lot of thinking, planning, and hard work is required.  Are you ready for it? If you are mentally prepared, it can surely be an exhilarating journey.

 

(This post was originally published in LinkedIn )

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Market Strategy is not an exercise only for the big boys

by on 14 March 2016in Business, Market Research, Marketing, Strategy No comment

It’s that time of the year when many companies are in their planning mode preparing for the next fiscal year. This involves zeroing in on the markets to address, the offerings to take to market and from there arriving at a target to pursue. Once this target is finalized for the different business segments, it is broken down into segmental plans, which leads to marketing plans.

This is an involved and significant exercise in larger companies occupying strategy and marketing teams for a few weeks. Obviously, the targets are huge and a considered approach is needed before fixing them.

Most businesses assume that such exercises need to be carried out only by larger companies. By staying away from a detailed planning exercise, small and medium-sized businesses end up making a huge mistake. Here’s why.

1. Business planning and developing a market strategy gives clarity. It is easy to get carried away by the size of markets portrayed in research reports. A planning exercise forces you to take a more grounded approach and consider the markets from different perspectives. Which segments of the market make the most sense for you and how can you go after them? Understanding your addressable market is important to decide on your execution strategy.

2. Planning helps you narrow down your options. For instance, your offering may be relevant for multiple industries. As an SME, do you have the bandwidth to go after all of them or is it more prudent to tackle 3 or 4 industries at a time? Sometimes businesses in their enthusiasm for growth bite off more than they can chew leading to disastrous results. Strategy planning compels you to raise important questions and find answers for them too!

3. Investing time and effort in a plan for the year also help you understand your target audience. You need to figure out who the high-potential prospects, the must-haves and what should be the size of deals you need to chase. By pinning down the profile and characteristics of the potential buyer, you are starting at a more advantageous position. In addition, it gives you pointers on what messages you need to share with your buyers.

4. Adopt a bottoms-up approach and arrive at an overall target for your business. This will also tell you what kind of resources you need internally to support this growth. Do you need to hire more developers or more mid-level managers and so on? Will you run out of space midway through the year? What kind of budgets do you need to set aside for training? In this way, you are identifying the expenses that will come up during the year and give you an indication of profit levels, cash required and so on.

5. Now is a good time to understand what your competition is up to, their plans, successes, market presence and so on. Your competitor’s moves would surely influence yours too and so take the time to get to know them.

A strategy exercise in this way brings clarity of through and that helps immensely during execution. Don’t hesitate to invest effort and time in this.

By embarking on this exercise before the financial year and action begin, you have a better chance of success.

How to become a Successful Entrepreneur

5 questions you need to ask yourself to be successful in business

by on 12 June 2014in Business, Customer Relationship, Entrepreneurship, Organization development, Start ups, Strategy, Uncategorized No comment


 
The business climate today is tough – no two ways about it. What was taken for granted a few years back is no longer valid and companies have to expend a good amount of effort to retain existing business, grow and remain profitable.

What has triggered this change ? The usual reasons are applicable here too – tighter global market leading to increased pressures on margins and hence budgets. Plus business functions are being expected to demonstrate value to the business at every stage which was not such a common ask earlier. And this is not restricted to only the biggies – we are seeing an increasing number of smaller companies adopting rigorous metrics too. All for the good I guess!

What does this mean to companies that sell products and services? One thing for sure – more effort to sell the same. I would treat this as an opportunity to take a hard look at what you are offering and use this chance to reinvent yourself and what you deliver to the client. While thinking on this, I came up with 5 questions you need to ask yourself:

1. Is your offer relevant to the market today? Examine it closely. Do companies have a need for what you are doing today or are they looking for something beyond? For example, selling a product that does not have a cloud alternative no longer makes sense.

2. Is someone doing a better job than you? Are they using better technologies to deliver a superior outcome? Or is there a smarter way of doing things so that time and money can be saved? Examine how you work and see if you can improve on that significantly.

3. Are you adding value to your customer’s business ? As you deliver consistent outcomes, that soon becomes the expected level for your customer. Soon they will want something more and better. This can be in the form of value added services or advice – something that the customer will find useful and will value.

4. Are you thinking ahead? What you are doing today will hold good for only a short while. To stay in the game, you need to be thinking about what’s next and what you will take to market in the next 6 – 12 months.

5. Are you being human? In a frenzied rush to grow and be successful, we often forget to do the simple things right. Meet your customers without any agenda in mind – just a simple conversation to inquire how they are doing can go a long way in growing a relationship. Or treat your team to an impromptu outing. These informal sessions can help forge bonds and help you connect better with one another – key ingredients for a successful venture.