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Strategies for growing your business without VC funding – Part 2

By Editor
12 August 2016   |   1:00 am
Here are some bootstrapping to success strategies that you don’t need more money for; applying them will enable you avoid the fantasy of funding.Starting Small - I wish I could skip this fundamental business principle; think big, start small.

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Here are some bootstrapping to success strategies that you don’t need more money for; applying them will enable you avoid the fantasy of funding.

Starting Small – I wish I could skip this fundamental business principle; think big, start small. All great things start small; I know you knew that already. But why aren’t most startups doing so? Why do new businesses without any form of validations for their ideas just want to raise money without any substantial track record of success or traction? I know you do need money to start, but do you really need that much money that you can’t raise internally through your family and friends? If your startup idea is too big that you can’t start small, then perhaps you need an interim startup idea that will allow you make enough money to startup your big idea.

My point here is simple; don’t let the lack of money hold you down from starting. See your startup in bits and pieces rather than a completed whole. Then start with the smallest bit and piece bearing in mind that where you are starting from is not your destination. The more traction you gain as you grow the idea from its smallest bits and pieces, the more tangible bootstrapping to success gets.

Generating Revenue – Don’t go into any business you haven’t first figured out how to make money from. Not knowing how the business is going to generate revenue is a warning sign you have a fundamental business problem. Your business model is how you structure your business to enable it make money through the products/services it offers. When starting small, your task is to find a way to start with the very first bit and piece that can win you a paying customer. Your greatest startup success story is a paying customer.

If you can get the first one, strive for the second and the third and so on until you have fully understood how your new business makes money. Your primary drive should be to see your startup idea being embraced by paying customers. They are the best sources of finance any business can have. Always start with them first, they are great bootstrapping to success enablers. Because you need the money to keep ploughing back into the business to sustain your bootstrapping to success strategy. “Get a customer before you start your business, if you can. So many people say to me, “I have an idea. Can you introduce me to VCs?” There is a HUGE gap between “idea” and “professional venture capital”. In the middle of that gap is “customer”. – James Altucher, Investor and serial entrepreneur

Strategic Partnership
Most of the things you may need more money for are being done by others and it wouldn’t hurt to just collaborate with them. I realize that strategic partnerships mean giving up some sizable piece of the pie, but that’s permissible as long as it’s a high impact partner. Remember that you are just starting out and money is not a luxury you have to get the things you need, so you’ve got to focus on gaining some traction and less about money. Bootstrapping to success through strategic partnerships is about giving up some piece of the pie today in order to secure a bigger pie tomorrow. The involvement of high impact partners intrinsically increases the size of the pie than what you alone initially had. One form of strategic partnership you should explore for bootstrapping to success is joint venture. Rather than create a product/service all by yourself, partner with others through a joint venture relationship.

Providing a Service – I’m sure you are aware of this, most service businesses are usually less capital intensive than the manufacturing businesses. This is another bootstrapping to success strategy you can adopt to avoid the fantasy of funding. This is equally applicable to manufacturing businesses; you just need to widen your scope a little bit. If you are a manufacturer and need money for production, find a way to provide a service with your professional expertise. That you want to manufacture a product means you have some deep level knowledge and expertise can be sold. While this might not seem encouraging at first, remember my point about starting small, this is only temporary until you can raise the money you need to start initial production.

Becoming Resourceful – Knowledge is one thing bootstrapping to success cannot do without. Not having money to toss around means you will have to gain mastery of some critical aspects of your startups survival. And this will require you to invest the only resource you have – time, to acquire the knowledge and skills you need to navigate the business during her infancy. Bootstrapping to success by becoming resourceful is how most startup entrepreneurs grow personally and professionally. Through this, they are much equipped to execute strategically better than just the entrepreneur who has more money to throw around. As a result of being resourceful, the same results people spend money to get, they achieve through strategic execution at much lower costs.

Disciplined Focus – You don’t have the money to waste, so you dare not be trying stupid things. Bootstrapping to success is about focusing on the things you do best and letting go of all other things that may distract the startup. You can’t serve the whole market obviously; you lack the capacity and resources. So your best bet is to focus on a profitable niche and being the king of that niche. As you capture your niche market, you can extend your focus into another niche market. The strategy is to fight one battle per time and only fight the ones you are most equipped to win.
CONCLUDED
Tito Philips Jnr is a young Nigerian that is M.A.D – Making A Difference

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