You know you want to start a business, but what do you do next? Here’s how to find the perfect idea for your business.

Many people believe starting a business is a mysterious process. They know they want to start a business, but they don’t know the first steps to take. In this chapter, you’re going to find out how to get an idea for a business–how you figure out exactly what it is you want to do and then how to take action on it.

But before we get started, let’s clear up one point: People always wonder if this is a good time to start their business idea. The fact is, there’s really never a bad time to launch a business. It’s obvious why it’s smart to launch in strong economic times. People have money and are looking for ways to spend it. But launching in tough or uncertain economic times can be just as smart. If you do your homework, presumably there’s a need for the business you’re starting. Because many people are reluctant to launch in tough times, your new business has a better chance of getting noticed. And, depending on your idea, in a down economy there is often equipment (or even entire businesses!) for sale at bargain prices.

Estimates vary, but generally more than 600,000 businesses are started each year in the United States. Yet for every American who actually starts a business, there are likely millions more who begin each year saying “OK, this is the year I am going to start a business,” and then don’t.

Everyone has his or her own roadblock, something that prevents them from taking that crucial first step. Most people are afraid to start; they may fear the unknown or failure, or even success. Others find starting something overwhelming in the mistaken belief they have to start from scratch. They think they have to come up with something that no one has ever done before–a new invention, a unique service. In other words, they think they have to reinvent the wheel.

But unless you’re a technological genius–another Bill Gates or Steve Jobs–trying to reinvent the wheel is a big waste of time. For most people starting a business, the issue should not be coming up with something so unique that no one has ever heard of it but instead answering the questions: “How can I improve on this?” or “Can I do this better or differently from the other guy doing it over there?” Or simply, “Is there market share not being served that makes room for another business in this category?”

Get the Juices Flowing

How do you start the idea process? First, take out a sheet of paper and across the top write “Things About Me.” List five to seven things about yourself–things you like to do or that you’re really good at, personal things (we’ll get to your work life in a minute). Your list might include: “I’m really good with people, I love kids, I love to read, I love computers, I love numbers, I’m good at coming up with marketing concepts, I’m a problem solver.” Just write down whatever comes to your mind; it doesn’t need to make sense. Once you have your list, number the items down one side of the paper.

On the other side of the paper, list things that you don’t think you’re good at or you don’t like to do. Maybe you’re really good at marketing concepts, but you don’t like to meet people or you’re really not that fond of kids or you don’t like to do public speaking or you don’t want to travel. Don’t overthink it; just write down your thoughts. When you’re finished, ask yourself: “If there were three to five products or services that would make my personal life better, what would they be?” This is your personal life as a man, woman, father, husband, mother, wife, parent, grandparent–whatever your situation may be. Determine what products or services would make your life easier or happier, make you more productive or efficient, or simply give you more time.

Next, ask yourself the same question about your business life. Examine what you like and dislike about your work life as well as what traits people like and dislike about you. Finally, ask yourself why you’re seeking to start a business in the first place. Then, when you’re done, look for a pattern to emerge (i.e., whether there’s a need for a business doing one of the things you like or are good at).

They Delivered

Here’s a business startup story that’s a great example of seeing a need and filling it. Entrepreneur magazine is located in Irvine, California, a planned community. Many years ago, there weren’t many fast-food restaurants in the business area. Most were across town, where the neighborhoods were. Two young men in Irvine found this lunch situation very frustrating. There weren’t many affordable choices. Sure, there were some food courts located in strip centers, but the parking lots were really small and the wait was horrendous.

One day, as they were lamenting their lunch problem, one of them said, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could get some good food delivered?” The proverbial light bulb went on! Then they did what many people don’t do–they did something about their idea. Coincidentally, they purchased one of Entrepreneur’s business startup guides and started a restaurant delivery business.

To date, their business has served more than 15 million people! It’s neither a complicated business nor an original one. Their competition has gotten stiffer, and yet they’re doing phenomenally well. And it all began because they listened to their own frustrations and decided to do something about them. Little did they know that research cites the shrinking lunch hour as one of the biggest complaints by American workers. Some only get 30 minutes, making it nearly impossible to get out, get lunch and get back on time. So while these young entrepreneurs initially thought they were responding to a personal need in their local area, they actually struck a universal chord.

That is one way to get ideas–listening to your own (or your co-workers’, family’s or neighbors’) frustrations. The opportunities are all there; you just need to search them out. If your brain is always set in idea mode, then many ideas may come from just looking around or reading. For instance, if you had read an article about the shrinking lunch hour, and if you were thinking entrepreneurially, you would say “Wow, maybe there’s an opportunity there for me to do something. I should start researching it.”

Inspiring Moments

Inspiration can be anywhere. Here’s another classic startup story: Ever get charged a fee for returning a video late? Bet you didn’t do anything about it. Well, when Reed Hastings got a whopping $40 late charge, instead of getting mad, he got inspired. Hastings wondered “How come movie rentals don’t work like a health club, where, whether you use it a lot or a little, you get charged the same?” From this thought, Netflix.com, an online DVD rental service, was born. From its start in 1999, Netflix has grown into a big business with revenues topping $1.3 billion.

Getting an idea can be as simple as keeping your eyes peeled for the latest hot businesses; they crop up all the time. Many local entrepreneurs made tons of money bringing the Starbucks coffeehouse concept to their hometowns and then expanding from there. Take Minneapolis-based Caribou Coffee. The founders had what they describe as an “aha moment” in 1990, and two years later launched what is now the nation’s second-largest company-owned gourmet coffeehouse chain. Other coffee entrepreneurs have chosen to stay local.

And don’t overlook the tried and true. Hot businesses often go through cycles. Take gardening. For the last few years gardening products and supplies have been all the rage, but you wouldn’t consider gardening a 21st century business.

In other words, you can take any idea and customize it to the times and your community. Add your own creativity to any concept. In fact, customizing a concept isn’t a choice; it’s a necessity if you want your business to be successful. You can’t just take an idea, plop it down and say “OK, this is it.” Outside of a McDonald’s, Subway or other major franchise concept, there are very few businesses that work with a one-size-fits-all approach.

One of the best ways to determine whether your idea will succeed in your community is to talk to people you know. If it’s a business idea, talk to co-workers and colleagues. Run personal ideas by your family or neighbors. Don’t be afraid of people stealing your idea. It’s just not likely. Just discuss the general concept; you don’t need to spill all the details.

Just Do It!

Hopefully by now, the process of determining what business is right for you has at least been somewhat demystified. Understand that business startup isn’t rocket science. No, it isn’t easy to begin a business, but it’s not as complicated or as scary as many people think, either. It’s a step-by-step, common-sense procedure. So take it a step at a time. First step: Figure out what you want to do. Once you have the idea, talk to people to find out what they think. Ask “Would you buy and/or use this, and how much would you pay?”

Understand that many people around you won’t encourage you (some will even discourage you) to pursue your entrepreneurial journey. Some will tell you they have your best interests at heart; they just want you to see the reality of the situation. Some will envy your courage; others will resent you for having the guts to actually do something. You can’t allow these naysayers to dissuade you, to stop your journey before it even begins.

In fact, once you get an idea for a business, what’s the most important trait you need as an entrepreneur? Perseverance. When you set out to launch your business, you’ll be told “no” more times than you’ve ever been told before. You can’t take it personally; you’ve got to get beyond the “no” and move on to the next person–because eventually, you’re going to get to a “yes.”

One of the most common warnings you’ll hear is about the risk. Everyone will tell you it’s risky to start your own business. Sure, starting a business is risky, but what in life isn’t? Plus, there’s a difference between foolish risks and calculated ones. If you carefully consider what you’re doing, get help when you need it, and never stop asking questions, you can mitigate your risk.

You can’t allow the specter of risk to stop you from going forward. Ask yourself “What am I really risking?” And assess the risk. What are you giving up? What will you lose if things don’t work out? Don’t risk what you can’t afford. Don’t risk your home, your family or your health. Ask yourself “If this doesn’t work, will I be worse off than I am now?” If all you have to lose is some time, energy and money, then the risk is likely worth it.

Determining what you want to do is only the first step. You’ve still got a lot of homework to do, a lot of research in front of you. Buying this book is a smart first step. Most important: Do something. Don’t sit back year after year and say “This is the year I’m going to start my business.” Make this the year you really do it!

Source: This article is an edited excerpt from “Start Your Own Business, Fifth Edition”, published by Entrepreneur Press.

In an age where we track and measure so many aspects of our lives, and with technology becoming increasingly infused with our experience, the smart office is set to make a huge impact.

Smart offices herald significant changes not only for our careers and success, but for our health and personal wellness. What could be more of a priority, given so many of us are spending over one third of our waking lives at the workplace?

Human first design, bio-hacking and an emphasis on user experience have each come to define how new products are built, as well as how we live. Increasingly we all look for the best technology charged solutions to optimize our time, efficiency, health and happiness. You only have to look to the popularity of personal fitness trackers, apps for mindfulness and meditation, and even online dating to see how quickly innovation is changing our daily lifestyle.

The smart office revolution is the next frontier of innovation and optimised human experience.

Sitting is the new smoking

First came the standing desk – championed by software developers in Silicon Valley – reported to fight disease, while adding two years to the life of workers who give up sitting sedentary. It had early adopters in the tech industry, before the output benefits such as increased levels of concentration, reduced and higher energy levels became more widely known in other sectors.

Backed by research from the Mayo Clinic, it seems spending more of your day standing reduces the risks of obesity, cardiovascular disease and even cancer. Perhaps a little overstated, but the cumulative effects of a sedentary work day have led some to suggest, ‘sitting is the new smoking’. So now that we know that standing desks are likely to be prominent in the future generation of workspaces, what else can we expect?

3D printing

Rapidly emerging next is the 3D printer, effectively meaning that almost anything a worker needs within a high technology office could be materialized the same day. The implications are enormous, as industries will be transformed by the ability to obtain needed resources quickly. Shipping, packaging and courier services are all set to be disrupted by the increasing popularity and efficiency of 3D printing.

Imagine you need to demo a working prototype to a client and find that just before your presentation one crucial component is missing. In the past, this would have likely equalled a fail, or at very least an assistant frantically running to suppliers to find the missing piece. Offices that have already adopted 3D printing are finding themselves to be increasingly self-sufficient and fully resourced in a way that has previously been impossible.

Google’s New York office leads the way in fusing technology and design by featuring a virtual bookshelf where employees can peruse a screen before picking out any book to read inside the company’s “library”. A recurring theme in workspace innovation is collaborative space and again Google is not surprisingly a forerunner in quirky design, with the intention of fostering communication between disparate teams. The office has rooms in the themes of different Manhattan neighbourhoods, including one resembling a tiny New York rail road apartment, and hallways that feature real subway grates and fire hydrants. All in order to create ‘accidental conversation’ between engineering, design and product teams.

Internet of Things and DNA profiles

Sophie Hackford, Director of WIRED Consulting, has the latest insights to come out of MIT, and suggests that smart data will be one of the biggest innovations in the offices of the future.

“The future of work will be transformed by a step change in computing power, as we move beyond the problem-solving constraints of classical computers and harness the peculiarities of the quantum world to build quantum computers,” explains Hackford. “These should radically change the kinds of questions we can ask of machines, as they will have almost unlimited computational power relative to even the fastest supercomputers today.”

Smart data will mean that sales teams will be linking their own consumer and client databases to larger trends in the market, effectively creating what are now being called DNA profiles of customers.

To put the landscape in true perspective, by 2020, the Internet of Things will have given us 35 billion connected devices, and our workspaces will be at the forefront of this change. Access to data on everything from your team’s performance to your own cortisol levels will be available at literally the push of a button. Looking forward, could smart offices not only make us all more effective professionals, but increase our wellbeing and happiness? The answer is a resounding yes.

Source: www.virgin.com (by Khuram Hussain)

When launching a start-up, it’s important to think about what people are saying about your business. As part of the Virgin Media Business VOOM Tour, LondonMedia is offering entrepreneurs some free PR advice, we caught up with one of their team Katie Kilburn, to find out her tips for start-ups…

What is PR and why is it important for start-ups?

In a nutshell, public relations (PR) is the way organisations, companies and individuals communicate with the public and media.

Businesses can succeed or fail depending on what people say about them. The impact of an influencer comment, an article or even an online review can have a huge effect on everything from sales to raising investment.

What are the biggest mistakes start-ups make with PR?

1. Not distilling their story.

Number one on your PR to-do list should be to distil your narrative and key messages. It’s essential that you can succinctly outline your business in a way that instantly grabs people’s attention and can be easily understood. Think about pulling together an ‘elevator pitch’ which perfectly sums up who you are in less than sixty seconds.
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2. Not defining clear objectives

Secondly, ensure your communications objectives are aligned with your business objectives. If your PR efforts don’t help your business do better – what’s the point?

The best PR objectives start from knowing your audience. Who do you want to get your business in front of? How do they consume their news and information? What channels are they on? How can you best reach them?

Remember, the media landscape is constantly evolving. Traditional media is important, but less so than it used to be. Try to think about other ways of getting your information out there – whether that’s engaging with customers directly on social media, working with influencers (those with the right social following for your audience), or creating your own interesting content (visual or written).

How can start-ups create an engaging story and get journalists interested?

Think about it from two angles – the business audience and the end-user audience.

1. For a business audience

Is your business doing something disruptive? What will this mean for the future of your industry? Is your team made up of people with a strong reputation within the industry?

2. For a consumer/ end-user audience

What are you doing that’s innovative or different? How will you change people’s lives? Why are you doing it? Is there a story behind what you want to achieve?

Focus on your key points of difference and remember the human-interest angle. The media love people stories.

What if a start-up doesn’t have a story?

There’s always a story! If you’re immersed in your business every day, it can be hard to find that hook that makes you stand out – but it is there… Try talking to people outside your business to spark ideas.

What are your top tips for start-ups when approaching journalists?

1. Identify the right journalists or influencers and be relevant

Blanket emails are rarely effective so it’s best to identify one person at a time – ideally a journalist or influencer who has written something similar before – and then take a personal approach.

2. Think visually

Newspapers – particularly their online versions – are hungry for high quality images and well shot video content. Good visual collateral can help push your story over the line from interest to coverage.

Source: www.virgin.com (by Natalie Clarkson)

When everybody is watching or talking about the same thing, tweet your way into the action.
Injecting your content into trending news can be a great tool to increase your exposure and following, but be careful – it can make or break your strategy. Learn how to “newsjack” properly before setting out on this risky, yet rewarding way of promotion.

What is newsjacking?
Newsjacking is taking advantage of the next big story or breaking news by incorporating it in to your content. It’s pretty popular and it’s clear why: whenever there is a trending hashtag on social media or a spike in searches for articles about the next big story, your content has a chance of getting in front of the people who otherwise wouldn’t see your messages.

The most frequent examples of this technique are things like snack recipes around Super Bowl that have a title along the lines of “Tailgating snacks before the Big Game” or wardrobe tips along the lines of “How to Watch Oscars in Style.”

Savvy content creators know that there is an obvious interest in these big events and that they can boost their exposure by simply aligning their knowledge with trending topics. Could they post these same snack recipes some other time and just call it “yummy snacks you can enjoy whenever?” Absolutely; but that would not get as much interest.

Oreo Super Bowl Tweet
Perhaps the biggest awakening to the power of social media newsjacking was the brilliant Oreo tweet when the power went out during the 2013 Super Bowl between the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens. The cookie company jumped on this seemingly unrelated opportunity to create one of the most memorable social media moments.

The tweet was retweeted 10,000 times in one hour, according to AdAge. During that same game, Oreo had their traditional 30-second commercial, which cost an estimated $2 million. Arguably, the tweet was much more meaningful, memorable and way cheaper.

Arby’s Grammy Hit
Arby’s huge move during the Grammy’s was with its joke about Pharrell Williams’ hat. The tweet received nearly nine times the number of retweets and favorites of Oreo’s well-played social game.

You can do this too.
You don’t need to own a multi-million corporation to win big at the Super Bowl or any other major TV event. Be sure you are ready to create and send out your message fast, using a good sense of humor, and a good graphic to go along with it.

Let’s examine these two instances as a fine example of successful and effective “newsjacking.” What does your content need in order to succeed at this undertaking?

Activity
Keep time constraints in mind when creating such content. It might be relevant only for a short period of time. If you’re not invested in this experiment actively, don’t bother. You have just a little bit of time to juice this story out and promote your content on social media aggressively. If you’re just going to write a post and leave it hanging there hoping that page rank algorithms will magically bring it up on the first page, chances are, it won’t happen; you need to create the traffic by heating up the interest.

Timeliness
This is the most important thing. You have to come up with, create, and package your content faster than everyone else. This is the most difficult part, because it pays well. You need to be blogging, tweeting, or broadcasting video in live mode. Not only will your content reap the most initial exposure, live blogging will also get you in a habit of creating content fast.

If you take days to create content about the Oscars, everyone will have already discussed the outfits, the acceptance speeches, the host jokes, the nominees, the winners, everything. Unless, you have a completely unique perspective that may be shocking or truly in-depth, even three days afterwards is late.

Oreo reacted to an event within 15 minutes of its happening; this is why it was so edgy and ingenious.

Cleverness
You can create “meh” content and get that initial exposure, but readers will leave your content as soon as they start reading. Other content creators will get on the trending topic and only the best content will win.

Average content will be lost in the sea of other average content; only outstanding content will stick with readers. Your content doesn’t have to hilarious, but it needs to be interesting and unique enough to be remembered.

Good-spirited
Make sure that the event you’re touching upon is positive, or at least neutral. Don’t try to exploit a negative situation that has bad consequences.

You want people to connect with your message and your brand, not posting angry comments underneath it. If you decide to make a joke, ensure it’s not too edgy and offensive for some. Don’t cross that line, because this is where newsjacking can break you.

There are multiple stories of companies that had to apologize after their unsuccessful attempts at humor. Again, if you can’t come up with a clever joke fast (I don’t judge), stick to a smart content that informs or expands on the event.

Relevance
While Oreo has nothing to do with football (or power outages, or light bulbs) and Arby’s has nothing to do with music awards, they made the best out of situation. The reason for that might be that about 30 people on a team put their heads together. If you’re doing this alone, or with one other person, practice on events that are more relevant to your industry and are less urgent.

A good example of that would be a big car show for automotive industry, where you can inform readers on new vehicle reveals while inserting your messages into the story. Or, if you’re in a food business, you can talk about a cooking TV competition show and bring it back to your own culinary creations.

It’s always great to have a plan, so check the calendar and see what celebrations, events, and anticipated news might come your way. Draft it in your calendar and start thinking what you want to say before you say it. What is the anticipated moment or outcome of the event? Will there be losers and winners? If so, how can you incorporate that without making anyone mad?

Overall, this is a great strategy to use once in a while. Just be mindful of the timing, the overall mood, and the relevancy. Practice on smaller, less controversial events first to get a feel for what it’s like to align your brand with breaking news.

www.entrepreneur.com (by LESYA LIU)

Rebranding is an incredible challenge for any company, and the uniqueness of the task guarantees there will always be new things to learn.
Rebranding is an incredible challenge for any company, and the uniqueness of the task guarantees there will always be new things to learn. You might say that some of the lessons are well-known, but how they apply – and how they impact you – can offer refreshing insight.
As a company president who is currently leading an organization through a rebrand, I’m hoping to pass on a few tips for how entrepreneurs, business leaders and managers can navigate similar waters without fear of capsizing.
The company, which was founded with the name Allied Trade Group, started as several websites that all rolled in to the same business, originally branded as ATGStores.com. But, as the home furnishings industry changed, it became clear to us that “ATG” would have to change, too. Here are 10 things we learned in becoming The Mine – now a premier online destination for unique fine furnishings and décor.

1. Changing your company name isn’t going to solve all your problems.
When we first started to talk about rebranding the company, we knew our name wasn’t our only issue, but it was part of the puzzle. We knew the ATG acronym was confusing and hard for customers to remember; however, a new name wasn’t going to be a magic Band-Aid that resulted in instant organic traffic and a sticky brand.

Before you rebrand your company, you need to reevaluate your overall strategy and offering.

We used data and customer insights to accomplish several things: We redefined our target audience, established a new strategy for our products and services, and created a plan to overhaul the look and feel of the website. It took us two years to take our offering from 4 million to 1 million items, and refine the selection with a focus on high-quality, design-forward brands.

We also added and improved services to support those brands. We now offer one-on-one service through our personal concierge team, professional installation and assembly services, more robust pro services and access to design partners who provide original content and design inspiration. Once we had that in place, we felt confident we were ready to reintroduce ourselves as The Mine.

2. Finding the perfect name requires a process of exploration and elimination.
It’s best to know what names aren’t available for sale or aren’t within your budget before you start planning. Brainstorming is great, but it’s also good to focus that effort in ways that will result in a usable concept.

I think people probably imagine a very creative process, and it is, but it’s also very methodical. Or, it probably should be to make sure you’ve uncovered and considered every available option.

3. Don’t put too many cooks in the kitchen.
Choosing a new name isn’t easy. It’s important to have a team involved in the selection process, but you have to be strategic about it. Having both internal and external players helps gain perspective, but less is often more in this kind of situation.

4. Give your team as much info as you can, as soon as you can.
Once you’re ready to share with your team, be sure to explain why, how and when you’re rebranding, and maybe do it sooner rather than later.

We announced our rebranding as The Mine to the team about two months prior to launch, and we learned right away that we should’ve given them more time with the concept. The rebranding team felt very familiar with it because they’d been working on it for so long, but the extended team was surprised by the news. They had a lot of questions, and we learned we needed to more thoroughly explain the “why’s” moving forward.

5. It’s important to realize you’ll never be 100 percent ready.
There are always going to be more projects and ongoing improvements, and you’ll keep thinking, Let’s just check one more box before we rebrand. It’s important to draw a clear line in the sand and to go for it, knowing there will always be more items you’ll want to complete. If you wait until you’re 100 percent ready to rebrand, you’ll end up waiting forever.

6. Getting team buy-in is critical to the success of a rebrand.
Every rebrand has an internal and external component, and they’re both equally important. We received a lot of feedback from team members who were unsure about the rebrand; they liked ATG, and they were proud to be a part of that.

Of course, loved hearing that, and we realized we needed to find a way to let people know that they were a part of it, and that – at the end of the day – we weren’t changing as a family. So, we call ourselves The Minds Behind The Mine. We all have a part, and each is as valued as the next.

7. When you’re trying to establish name recognition, sometimes it helps to partner with someone who already has a recognizable name.
We invited Alexa Hampton, design icon and owner of the Manhattan-based design firm Mark Hampton LLC, to be our creative director early on in the rebrand, and she has been an invaluable resource.

She participated directly in the creative process, which helped give her some ownership in that. And so, when it came time to promote it, she was ready with plenty of stories to tell. It was great for us, because she’s a respected member of the design community, and it was good for her because she got to help shape the destiny of a company — kind of a big deal.

8. You should be willing to let the process take you in unexpected directions.
We hired a branding firm to make sure we didn’t get stuck in a rut with our thinking, and they helped us decide on a look for the logo and lettering by creating three different buckets: “bold,” “unexpected” and “traditional.”

It was incredibly helpful, because once we saw our options (and there were hundreds) we knew right away we weren’t going traditional. The firm pulled from several different industries, and our style definitely borrows from fashion and beauty, perhaps even more than furniture, but that’s what makes sense for The Mine.

9. Consider the possibility that less is more in your design.
In the beginning, there was a feeling that we had to include an image of some kind in our logo messaging, just to make sure people understood exactly what we were about. But, after much research and testing, we decided we didn’t want to oversell it, or make it look like we were trying too hard.

And, that ended up being a great call. Now, we have a name and logo with more versatility, and it invites our customers to explore a little bit. It’s also got a more exclusive feel, which can be hard to convey once you start using imagery.

10. Rebranding is hard work and it’s important to celebrate your victories.
Once it’s time to go public, be sure to celebrate as a team, internally, and as a brand, publicly. Go for it, own it and make sure your team has fun doing it!

The Minds Behind the Mine are so excited to announce our rebrand and hear what the world has to say. We want to welcome everyone to The Mine so we can share our hard work with our audience, and show them how we make it easy to get the home you crave.

Source: www.entrepreneur.com (By MICHELLE NEWBERY)

If these three elements of your business exist, then all the other details will fall into place.

What does it take to really start a business?

As a consultant and mentor to small businesses and entrepreneurs, a problem I too often find is many entrepreneurs get stuck in the mundane and unimportant details of setting up or developing a business and hence waste valuable time and resources before ever getting out of the gates.

Launching a business really comes down to three things. If your business meets these criteria, then the remaining details will fall into place.

Partnership Agreement
Starting and running a new business is a challenge, especially for one person. These days, it is almost a standard that new companies, especially disruptive or innovative companies, have two or more founders.

Before you throw yourself into a business, it is essential that all partners and founders of the business have a clear understanding of ownership and responsibilities. Nothing will unhinge a business like a misunderstanding or miscommunication from the onset.

Minimal Viable Product
Many entrepreneurs have grand ideas for their business, with short and long term iterations thereof and countless options to include. It is first and foremost important to understand, however, the true value delivered or the market problem solved, and how your base product or service, or minimal viable product (MVP), will deliver on this.

Once you understand this, you can research and determine whether market demand exists for your offering. This is important to do before you go about adding features and additional services.

Customer Number One
While an entrepreneur may develop a spectacular business plan and be able to effectively communicate the value of the business, all of it means nothing if nobody buys your offering.

In the past, developing and having intellectual property with no proof of concept often meant, at the least, success with investors. Paul Singh, a serial entrepreneur and founder of 500 Startups, rightly has pointed out that “traction (developing a strong customer base) is the new intellectual property,” meaning that having evidence of market demand has become far more important than just an idea.

Many entrepreneurs mistakenly think that lack of capital (money) is the main reason companies fail. Yes, lack of resources and cash flow planning can sink a company, but in reality, capital is a small problem if you have market demand.

Think about these two scenarios:

#1: I have a great idea but not enough capital to make it and get it to market.
#2: I have customers that want my product but not enough capital to deliver.

One of these two scenarios will have a much easier time finding the capital needed to successful move to the next stage (Hint: It’s #2).

Reid Hoffman once famously said, “If you’re not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late.” For certain, if you spend too much time developing and launching the business, you will never get a chance to be embarrassed by your first version.

Source: www.inc.com (by Peter Gasca)

The employees who will grow your company are the ones who see a future for themselves.
Business is dog-eat-dog. It’s about the pursuit of profits above everything else – a pitiless Darwinian exercise in which the strong survive by treating their workers like medieval serfs.

While few business owners would agree with this description, a recent Gallup Daily report suggests that many employees regard it as “spot on.” According to the study, only 30 percent of America’s full-time employees are happy and engaged with their work.

And the rest? They are “phoning it in.”

Sixteen percent are actively disengaged, infecting those around them with their negative attitudes and behaviors, while the remaining 51 percent are simply “not engaged.” These people do just enough to keep from getting fired – i.e., they “phone it in.”

If your response to this news is, “Why should I care? I’m running a business, not a playground,” consider these additional survey findings. “A record 54 percent of the workforce says now is a good time to find a quality job, and more than half of employees (51 percent) are searching for new jobs or watching for openings.”

If business owners and managers don’t care about the happiness of employees, it’s likely that a substantial percentage of their most talented workers will leave. That’s one reason to care. The other is that happy, engaged workers are more likely to be creative, productive and customer-centric — ready and eager to contribute to your bottom line.

How do you promote happiness and engagement? In my experience, a greater focus on the following four areas will produce the best results:

1. Demonstrate that you care.
Treat employees with respect to show that you value them as human beings. Too many companies treat their workers as fungible assets that can be divested at a moment’s notice. If you truly care about employees, interact with them frequently. Show that you care about each individual. This will inspire employees, engage or re-engage them and demonstrate that they have value to the organization. If you treat your employees well, they will treat your customers well and, in turn, the customers will be happier and buy more from your company, helping to drive a cycle of success. If workers are apathetic or angry, those emotions will spill over into their customer-service efforts.

2. Offer better pay and security.
Given today’s pace of change, no company can guarantee job security. But companies can offer a greater sense of security and above-average pay to attract — and retain — the best talent. Experience has taught me that it pays to pay wages that are five to 10 percent above the market average, assuming the applicant is qualified. At the same time, you can generate a heightened sense of security among workers by stressing that “we are all in this together.” Spread the message that if everyone delivers superior products and stays one step ahead of the competition, everyone will have a good job tomorrow. It’s important that everyone understand that job security isn’t somebody else’s concern. Each employee either contributes to, or diminishes, their own job security by helping the company succeed or not. Workers must recognize that they own their individual and collective future.

3. Foster a sense of shared mission.
Millennials are famous for demanding work that helps provide meaning and purpose for their lives, but this attitude is hardly unique to that generation. The most actively engaged workers are those who are goal-driven – people who show up for work on Mondays to accomplish something of personal value, beyond collecting a paycheck. By setting tangible and inspired goals for your employees, you can create a workforce of professionals who are fanatically committed to achieving a mission that’s larger than themselves. In turn, this promotes a unified culture dedicated to delivering great products/services. If everyone shares this sense of camaraderie, then everyone will be more inspired and more energized.

4. Provide growth opportunities.
Whether it’s the opportunity to develop new skills or advance within the organization, workers must believe that the company is helping them grow their careers and better themselves as individuals. Few employees will be satisfied – much less enthusiastic – about a dead end job. But if they are convinced that your company offers a path to a more fulfilling life, they will be more likely to be loyal and engaged members of your corporate family.

HR professionals have long touted the advice above, but frankly, not enough executives have listened. As the competition for skilled and talented workers intensifies, however, it’s vital for employers to expand their recruitment and retention efforts beyond pay and benefits. It’s important to put more thought and effort into “soft” strategies, including employee recognition, awards and other incentive programs that will facilitate higher levels of engagement and job satisfaction.

Source: www.entrepreneur.com (by ERNIE BRAY)

The importance of having a mentor is often stressed to entrepreneurs who are just starting out, but what do mentors really teach you? Entrepreneur Nick Smoot shares what he’s learnt from the people who shaped his life…

There isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t read about an inventor or entrepreneur who is hellbent on being the best in the world at what they do and is making strides towards accomplishing their mission. It is all over my news feed, in the books I read and in the documentaries I watch. As I ponder their life and progress, my pulse quickens and my mind begins to race wondering what areas I can improve upon in my life. It is inspiring to learn about these people who are making a real difference in the world.

However, it is easy for us to forget that the journey to becoming a difference maker is a long and often a multi-generational effort. It is rare, if ever, that anyone who makes a significant impact on the world hasn’t had a large group of mentors, teachers, family members and friends educating them, inspiring them and cheering them on.

I have always been fascinated with the story of media mogul William Randolph Hearst. During his life and career he defined modern day media and created “Hearst Castle” in San Simeon. The castle is nestled in the hills along the California coast line. It was where he ran his media empire from the latter part of his career.

By day his HQ and by night it became a hot spot for celebrity parties and even attracted United States Presidents. It is said that during a trip, one of the presidents commented that the Hearst Castle was better equipped technologically to run the United States of America than the White House. A true visionary that nearly everyone knows, Hearst is someone who made a massive impact on the world.
But how did he become someone on this trajectory? His mother was very involved in his life and education while she looked for opportunities to expose him to the vastness of the world. His father displayed a hard work ethic and taught him how to have a vision and execute upon it. The education, access and opportunity Hearst had was the foundation of his success and evident throughout his career. Even the Castle has design features that he attributed directly to his childhood and life lessons he learned.

So, do you have to come from wealth to change the world? No, but you do have to have a wealth of knowledge and encouragement around you as you are set upon your path. I have friends who are great business men that were abandoned by their parents, but were nurtured by a teacher who looked out for them. No one just comes out of the shadows and changes the world.

I think it is best said by a mentor of mine, Aaron Couch, “Nick, my desire is for you to stand upon my shoulders and see things I’ve never seen and to reach heights I’ve never reached.”
Aaron gave me books to read, he would sit me down for important talks that would last hours; greatness is something we achieve in a process with many people contributing to the individual.

My own father and mother sacrificed to put me through a private school when I was young. My wife has encouraged me countless times to keep on going when I’m disappointed that something didn’t go as planned in one of my start-ups. It truly takes a team and many years to achieve anything great.

As we are on our mission to be the best in the world at something, remember those who have helped us get to where we are as entrepreneurs. Possibly more important, we need to take a moment and evaluate our lives to make sure we are encouraging others around us.

Maybe if you are lucky enough, you will mentor someone and be able to look them in the eye and say, “My desire is for you to stand on my shoulders and see things I’ve never seen and to reach heights I’ve never reached.”

Source: www.virgin.com (by Nick Smoot)

How BCG is rethinking the workplace at New York’s Hudson Yards. How do you make a space inviting? How do you encourage BCG alumni in the area to stop by? To get nonprofit clients to hold board meetings at the new location? To encourage existing consultants on different projects to share ideas? Here’s how BCG did it:

#1: Make a good first impression

When you enter their new Hudson Yards location, one thing’s for certain: it’s a very open space. A concierge in the building offers all the same benefits as a hotel concierge, from assistance with getting a laptop table to advice on what restaurant to take a client. And the views are spectacular, overlooking both downtown and midtown Manhattan.

#2: Make it social

BCG’s headquarters are more than just clusters of offices – they’re also places to network and socialize. To that end, the café has become an important space for employees to work and network. During the week, there are anywhere between 450 and 550 employees spending time in the café area – in a business where consultants typically spend most of their time at the client’s office.

#3: Make it collaborative

The collaborative aspect is especially important in an environment like BCG, particularly since people are coming in from all over: roughly two-thirds of the workforce is mobile. During the week, from Monday to Thursday, people come in from different offices to “replace” all the people who have left . The design was intentionally built with the goal of making it a magnet for consultants, alumni, clients, and other constituents, bringing people together in the name of greater collaboration.

#4: Make it unpredictable

Every floor of the new BCG office building is different. The traffic patterns are different, the furniture is different, even the feel is different, giving the space a kind of unpredictability. Each floor has a different theme that is reflected in the conference rooms. The 43rd floor, for example, is art-themed; there are different manifestations of art throughout the space, including street art. A street artist that used to sneak into the rail yards years ago to create art illegally was now commissioned to produce a massive piece for BCG, bringing things full circle.

#5: Make it functional

At the end of the day, however, it has to be a functional office that works for everyone. It’s clear that a lot of thought has gone into the design, as well as the functionality. Take the music-themed room, for example. Everything in this room reflects music in some way, from the record player in the corner to the acoustic panels lining the walls.

BCG also put plenty of soundproofing throughout the building, so people can’t hear from one room into another and meetings aren’t interrupted by noisy phone conversations. Screens outside each room show you who has each room booked – minimizing the risk of conflict. And the furniture is movable, allowing tables and chairs to be moved around to suit people’s needs. Wireless presenting, another hallmark of the new space, means no need for messy cables.

#6: Make it inviting

“For a lot of consultants, Friday is their home base time,” says BCG’s Senior Partner & Managing Director for New York Ross Love. He believes it’s important that these consultants feel at home. The desks devoted to mobile employees each have a tablet, so when you check into a desk for the day, people can track you down. Once you’re checked in, the tablet becomes a photo frame, displaying some of that employee’s photos. It’s a nice way to personalize the space, especially for those employees who are always on the go and aren’t able to bring personal mementos with them.

#7: Make it convenient

Rather than rely on anecdotal data, BCG did a thorough zip code cluster analysis and discovered something interesting: unlike what they’d assumed, their senior partners weren’t typically on the Upper East Side (a Manhattan neighborhood quite far from the Hudson Yards site) and far out in the suburbs. Instead, they found that they were more likely to live in neighborhoods in Brooklyn.

But the company wasn’t just interested in looking at where their employees live now. They were also looking to the future and making an investment in the long term. It’s not enough to know where people are living in 2017; you also have to think about where people will live 15 years from now.

#8: Question Everything

While the Hudson Yards site was on BCG’s shortlist, when all was said and done, BCG had less than a year to complete the design. What’s clear is that BCG had the foresight to determine that Hudson Yards was a viable option, despite being so far away (relatively speaking) from where most corporate offices are based in Manhattan.

It helps that the office was run by someone who was not a native New Yorker. Despite being a visitor to the city for years, Love arrived in January 2015 with a relatively unbiased perspective of the city and its neighborhoods. Native New Yorkers tend to have a preference for their own neighborhoods over others, which makes it difficult for them to see the merits of other areas – so having an outsider’s perspective made all the difference.

What does the new space say about BCG as a firm? “It was a deliberate and authentic statement of our brand. We often say in the consulting world, our competitors roll out world’s best practices to our clients,” explains Love. “We’re not happy with world’s best practice, because everyone’s going to do that, so you’ve got to think about how you competitive differentiate yourself beyond that instead of just following the herd.”

#9: Plan for the Long Haul

Employees know that short-term distractions, like the construction, will go away. “The goal was to make a place that was a destination in and of itself so it didn’t matter where it was,” says Love. “Even though we were in early, you could tell the developers had a vision for the space, and there weren’t new commercial spaces going up.”

Source: www.incarabia.com (by Jeremy Goldman)

Take time to ensure that your earliest hires fit your company culture.

Even in the biggest, most stable corporations, putting together a small team can be a perilous process fraught with personality clashes, hierarchical imbalances, and conflicting visions.

But in a startup, the challenge of assembling a solid team — and then keeping its members inspired and focused — carries the added stress of being potentially fatal. When a company consists of a half-dozen people, a single recruiting misstep can topple the house.

Stanford Graduate School of Business professor Lindred Greer has been studying and teaching the art of team-building for 12 years, with an ever-increasing focus on startups. In Greer’s course The Psychology of Startup Teams, students spend time outside of class analyzing the interpersonal dynamics at a nascent business, report their findings to the class and visiting experts, and then return to the startup to offer advice.

Much of this course-related fieldwork has made its way into Greer’s scholastic studies and even directed her future research. “It’s a nice feedback loop, because there isn’t a lot of good research on the people side of startups,” she says. “There’s a lot on product and strategy and structure and funding, but not a lot looking into the social interactions.”

Here she shares how startup founders can assemble strong, motivated teams.

What are the key differences between creating a team for a startup versus creating a team for an ongoing business?

First, there’s the intensity of interaction. If you’re on a project team at a big existing company like, say, Google, you’re not really married to the people on your team. But if you’re starting a business and choosing co-founders and making your first hires, you’re looking at one of the most intense relationships you’re going to have in your life. It’s similar to marriage.

At Google, there’d be more room for error, because the team is more likely to be a small cog in a huge machine.

Yes. But with a startup, it’s more of a life-or-death situation. Issues around power and fairness are bigger, because your entire life is probably vested in the business. You might be living hand-to-mouth while waiting to get funded. With so much at stake, little obstacles are harder to navigate.

It’s essentially a hiring challenge?

It’s hiring decisions, and it’s having a clear culture and clear statement of values even before you go looking for a co-founder. And then when you start the first phase of hiring, it’s making sure that you and your founding team have an aligned vision, so it’s clear who’s going to be a cultural fit. One of the things that can really break an early-stage team is bringing in the wrong person and then not having any idea how to fire them. That can be a train wreck, especially if there’s equity involved.

You might not even have an HR team in place.

You usually don’t, so you’re doing it on your own. And that’s rough because most people aren’t trained in this.

Would you go so far as to actually sketch out a dream team and then go find them?

Definitely. You don’t want to just be grateful for the first decent coder you find. You want to be intentional about it. That’s the main takeaway from my course: Be as intentional about your people as you are about your product.

Does that mean looking beyond personality and experience?

It means looking at everything. Make a list of your own competencies. What are you great at? What are the skill sets you need to have in other people? And, just as important, what common values are you looking for?

Can you define values in this context?

Things that you hold dear to your heart. Things that you’re not willing to compromise on if you get into a conflict over them.

So that’s a squishy, ethereal thing?

Not necessarily. The best value systems for startups are directly tied to the product. One startup that I know, they have a 3-D printing company, and their value system is, “We love to build things, and we love sharing what we build.” So there’s a passion for building things, but also some gregariousness and intellectual playfulness.

You should also ask, “Am I in it just for myself, to make a million bucks, or am I in it to make the world a better place?” That’s a fairly big, basic value decision.

That would seem to be one core value where you’d definitely want people aligned.

You need to find people who are excited by the company’s mission statement. Like Disney makes families happy. Adidas is competitive.

Would you consider that a primary filter?

I would apply an ability filter first and then choose between my top five candidates based on who is the closest fit in terms of values. It’s easier to siphon out people based on ability — you can do that with their resumes. And then once you have them in for interviews, that’s when you start thinking about values and culture. Is this person going to be happy here? Are they going to fit in with you?

So maybe you’ll end up selecting someone who’s a slightly less talented coder.

If they’re a cultural fit, absolutely. But there’s a caveat. You want them to have similar values, but they don’t need to be your best friend. Too often, founders think, “Oh, I need to get along with them.” We overrate that. It’s important to have a diversity of personalities. Risk aversion, for instance, is more of a personality preference than a value. And that’s actually a really good thing to have diversity on.

I know one founding team that has a CEO who’s extremely risk-prone. If it were only up to him, he would scale way before his company is ready. But he’s paired with a great CTO who’s very good at putting on the brakes. And together the two of them balance out. So it’s also knowing yourself and your personality. And then finding complementary teammates.

But when it comes to personality traits, how do you narrow it down? There are dozens of personality types.

Whatever is more salient to you. If you had to describe yourself in five words, what pops into your head? Like I said, risk aversion is a big one. Optimism and pessimism are also important.

Do you actually want a pessimist on your team?

Yes. There’s research on that, showing that too many optimists can be bad for startup performance. Having a contrarian can be a great thing, especially at startups, where people tend to have such rose-colored goggles about the future. Having someone who’s more realistic can help turn around some pretty bad decisions.

How do you make sure that you’re asking the right questions and doing the right research on someone so that you get to know their personality?

Take your time. My favorite advice I’ve heard from VCs to founders is, “Hire slow, fire fast.” That one rule alone could save a lot of startups, because people are often far too quick to jump into relationships. If you meet a new coder who’s a friend of a friend, a one-day interview isn’t sufficient to say, “OK, you’re hired.”

You need to go slow because it’s really hard to fire someone after you bring them on board and get to know them. Beyond the legal issues, it takes a lot of emotional gumption to make that decision, especially if you’re an early-stage founder and you haven’t done it before. Some startups will take six months to fire someone who doesn’t belong. But in six months, the wrong person can corrupt your culture.

Because, like you said, it’s a marriage.

And it’s really hard to end a marriage. Emotionally, financially. You just don’t want to go there. That’s why it’s so important to take your time before you hire. You want to engage with them in a lot of different contexts. If you’re hiring a CTO, give them a task similar to what they’d be doing in your company. Give them two weeks to work on it, and see how they do.

Also, spend time with them one on one and in groups. Look at them across a variety of social situations, and look for indicators in behavior and personality. Just asking someone questions doesn’t tell you everything you need to know. It’s very easy for smart people to appear socially desirable.

There’s a startup I know where they really value having a positive, kind culture. The CEO has arranged his office so that when he’s at his desk, he looks out at his secretary. When people come in for an interview, his big thing is to watch how they interact with his secretary. If they’re kind and courteous or dismissive and abrupt, that’s a strong yes or no indicator for him.

Taking your time must be especially important when choosing co-founders.

Definitely. You want to spend months with someone before you formally commit to a partnership. We’re actually doing new research now in the realm of close-relationship analysis, looking at the benefit of prenuptial agreements between founders.

With my students, one of the big things I ask before they commit is, “Have you had a fight yet? Do you know what this person is like when things get stressful and ugly?” And if you haven’t seen that yet, then you need to find ways to gently explore how this person will react if you disagree with them or stress goes up.

Really?

Yes. Push back on something much harder than you usually do, and see their reaction. That can reveal a lot. I’ve had students come back to me saying, “Oh, my gosh. I’m so happy I did that. That was terrifying.”

Have you ever heard any stories of people who feel like they’ve been falsely seduced during the founder-dating period?

Oh, yeah. It can happen.

Are there ways to guard against that?

References. Talk to people who’ve worked with the person before. See how they are with other people.

Once you’ve hired a new team, how do you keep them marching in the same direction?

You have to put more effort than many founders realize into communicating your mission and your vision

What’s your distinction between vision and mission?

It’s something that we talk a lot about in my class. Mission, to me, is a very brief statement of purpose. “What’s our reason for existence?” So, again, for Disney, it’s “we want to make families happy.” For Stanford, it’s “bring knowledge to the world.”

A vision, on the other hand, is, “Where are we going with that? How are we going to do it?” It’s action-oriented. The best ones usually also have a timeline and goals that you can benchmark against.

Richard Branson has a great saying: “A good mission statement should fit on a coat of arms.” And that mission statement should not only dictate your hiring decisions, it should also be embedded in your rituals. How you celebrate success. How you decorate your office. What you do with your off-sites. That mission should be everything. And the vision should be, “Where are we going?”

Do most of the companies you study succeed at that?

Actually, no. When my students go in to study startups, the single biggest problem they see is lack of alignment around the mission and vision. We usually look at companies with about 10 people. They’ve done their first round of hiring, and they’re often still in Series A funding. My students go through and ask people, “As a company do you know where you’re going? Do you know how to contribute?” And most employees say, “No, we really don’t.” And you tell that to the CEO, and he or she will say, “Well, I told them six months ago what the vision was.” It doesn’t work that way, especially in startups. Things change so much and so quickly. Six months is forever. You have to keep emphasizing in all your internal communications: “Who are we and what are we doing right now? What is our goal?”

Is building a team something that you can get better at with training?

Second-time entrepreneurs are astronomically better than first-time entrepreneurs in building teams and creating startups that succeed. The number one reason startups fail is people problems, and the second time around, entrepreneurs realize this.

This story first appeared at Insights by Stanford Business.
Source: www.incarabia.com