Startup Checklist
You have a viable business idea which you are passionate about and believe you could grow into a successful company. How do you proceed? What are the steps needed to launch a startup company and become a business owner? Just contemplating the time and effort required can sometimes be overwhelming, however a well-structured plan is key to the successful implementation of a profitable idea whose time has come.
Here’s a checklist to guide you through the process of establishing your startup, broken down into manageable tasks:
1. Incorporation
Incorporating a business means taking an idea from theory to reality, by creating an entity to implement that idea in the business world. This dictates turning your sole proprietorship or partnership into a formally recognized company with its very own legal business structure, independent from the people who founded it. Selecting the type of incorporation that fits your goals is a crucial first step in determining what the future of your company holds. Various categories of incorporated business structures have defined sets of advantages & disadvantages that pertain to all parties involved in that company. The different types of incorporations include Limited Liability Company (LLC), Limited Partnership (LP), Joint Venture, C Corporation, S Corporation, Professional Corporation and Non-Profit Corporation. Once the idea is incorporated, the company is seen as a legitimate business entity and consequently obtains more credibility with potential customers, vendors and employees.
The next step is to outline ownership stakes by clearly defining the percentages that each stakeholder owns in your company. The more significant the equity stake, the higher the influence, control and participation of stakeholders will be in the company’s activities and decision-making processes.
Following the incorporation of your business and outlining ownership stakes comes the gathering of your founding team. A founder typically recruits co-founders and/or employees to form the core team that will handle day-to-day company operations at this early stage. Here, it is vital to build a team with its own checklist that adheres to certain criteria and principles; the fundamentals of every successful business venture.
First and foremost is trust; the core value of any founding team that no business can succeed without. Whether technically, financially or emotionally, the normal progression of a young startup involves many ups & downs, making trust a critical factor among the founders. You need to make sure that you can depend on fellow team members to support each other through the good times and the bad while eliminating any doubt from the very beginning, considering that you will likely face many internal & external challenges that will need the complete trust and cooperation of all your founding members.
Another pivotal factor in your founding team is the alignment of priorities & outcomes. Creating a team of trustees is one thing, but you also have to ensure that all members’ priorities are perfectly aligned to avoid any conflicts as your business moves forward. Founders come from different backgrounds and have different personalities, and as such might have different ideas of what a successful company looks like. As an example, the financial situation of your team members could be a defining factor when critical financial decisions are involved, such as selling the company. As the saying goes, everyone must be on the same page; especially at that point in time. Further complications down the line can easily be avoided by taking the time at this young stage to refine the team’s vision.
The third vital factor to consider when forming your core team is filling all gaps. Your team’s diverse skill sets are the fundamental pillars on which your business will be built, so it is of the utmost importance to verify that all main areas & functions of the company are covered by a relevant skill set. If a skill set is identified as lacking or missing, the founders’ priority should be to either find someone trustworthy who possesses that skill set or have one of the team members actively learn these skills and work on filling that gap.
2. Elevator Pitch
The term “Elevator Pitch” originates from the idea of having to impress a senior executive during a brief elevator ride, symbolizing the ability to clearly describe your idea in a maximum of two to three short sentences to spark interest in what you do. Elevator pitches should be persuasive, interesting and memorable, emphasizing on what makes you or your idea unique. To create an elevator pitch, you should identify the objective behind it, briefly explain what you do and communicate your unique selling proposition (USP). After that, integrate these steps together in one significant speech, typically no longer than 30 seconds. Set a goal to practice your elevator pitch regularly in order to perfect it.
3. Executive Summary
Creating an executive summary yields benefits as both a summarized sales pitch of your startup, and a vessel for you to identify your company’s clearest selling points. As an entrepreneur, being compelled to compress the essence of your business in one or two pages forces you to decide what is critical and what can be discarded when communicating your idea. Simultaneously, you are grabbing your readers’ attention and sparking their interest to know more about your company. An executive summary acts as a prelude to your sales pitch, and it should include one or two paragraphs per key area. It is considered a gateway to the rest of your business and, in many cases, determines whether the reader will consider proceeding with the rest of the sales pitch or not. An executive summary also helps you to develop a more focused approach and enables you to become better at telling your story.
4. Pitch Deck
Create a presentation using PowerPoint, Keynote or Prezi to provide your audience with a detailed overview of your startup company. Presentations are usually used during meetings with potential investors, clients, partners and any other parties interested in knowing more about what you do.
Slides on a pitch deck typically include an introduction, the team behind the company, problems you are trying to solve and their corresponding solutions, details about your product or service, a summary of your target market, the company’s business model, financial information such as investment requirements and finally a contact slide with information on how to connect with the team members.
A presentation should tell a story and engage people while keeping a consistent, branded design. First impressions are always important, and showing the people behind the company creates a personal connection with the attendees. But above all, know your metrics because traction speaks louder than words at the end of the day.
5. Online Biographies
Publishing detailed online biographies of yourself and the management team is always beneficial, increasing exposure and awareness about the company while promoting the team’s experience and industry expertise. A thorough, well-written biography reflects on a startup’s values, while also making a good impression on its quality and professionalism. Biographies should also be written along the brand’s persona and offering, such as having a casual tone of voice if the product/service is targeted to a younger crowd or having a formal approach if it’s targeted to a more mature audience. Linking to social media profiles is optional yet delivers a more personal experience with readers if included.
6. Website
At the early stage of any startup, it is always advisable to create a landing page with a brief overview about the company, communicating your general offering and highlighting your strong selling points. The landing page should also include biographies of the founders and management team, their contact information and presentations such as the company profile as well. The page should be designed to appeal to first-time visitors by delivering valuable information through a trendy design, resulting in a professional and memorable experience that encourages users to visit your full website once it is ready.
7. Business Collateral
Business collateral represents the collection of media that can help promote a product or service through supporting sales & marketing efforts. These tactical aids are designed to complement and increase the effective presence of a company while making it easier to communicate the brand’s strategy. Collateral includes everything from logos, color schemes, branded presentations and websites to business cards, printed or digital brochures and advertising. These are critical for young startups, and their impact should not be underestimated; they are all about first impressions and sometimes a first impression is the defining factor that delivers the most impact.
8. Financial Documents
Establishing a professional presence that appeals to your audience is important for your brand to stand out from an advertising & marketing point of view, however creating detailed financial documents for your company is just as crucial for potential investors and similar entities. Be sure to prepare documents such as detailed balance sheets, revenue projections, operational expenses, sources of funding statements, startup costs worksheets, break-even analysis and cash flow statements. No business plan is complete without financial documents; they reflect your ability to execute your company’s vision in the present as well as the future.
9. Business Plan
The final stage of the startup checklist is generating your full business plan; the document that defines your business and acts as the company’s backbone along your journey. A business plan’s sections can vary from one type of business to another, however there are core components that must be present.
A business plan must always start off with an executive summary, highlighting core information like what the business expects to accomplish, its mission, a brief description of the product or service being offered and more. Following the executive summary is the company description, which includes key information about the startup as well as its objectives, target audience, competitive advantage and how the product or service can appeal to customers.
After that comes the market analysis section, where you provide a breakdown of the industry you are entering and a further breakdown of the specific market being targeted. An analysis of the market’s past, as well as a projection of its future performance, greatly helps to communicate how your business fits in this particular position. This section should also include an overview of the consumers being targeted and provide information such as demographics and income level.
A thorough competitive analysis is an important part of any business plan, as it establishes your knowledge and understanding of your direct & indirect competitors in the target market. Conducting a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) on these competitors can further assert how you aim to accomplish your goals and showcase your competitive advantage in the designated industry.
An outline of your management and organization follows, displaying your company’s current setup. A brief introduction of founders, partners and management provides insight into how the company operates, and you can also include an organizational chart of the team structure to clarify the chain of command. Identifying the type of incorporation you chose (sole proprietorship, partnership or otherwise) is essential for readers to understand this section as well.
A detailed breakdown of your product or service should be included next, to ensure that no information was left out from previous sections (such as the company description). Make sure to elaborate on what you are creating, how it will meet the needs of consumers, what the time frame is, who your suppliers or external business partners are and any information related to patents and copyrights as well.
The upcoming section of your business plan is sales strategies, where you will clarify in detail how you intend to sell the product or service to your target market, make money and turn projected profits into a reality. This section might be the most important one of all. Current selling strategies should be highlighted and the implementation of future ones should be discussed. This section should include price strategies, sales targets, details about sales representatives and the different platforms that will see marketing efforts; they could be physical locations such as outlets or digital platforms like social media, search engines and websites.
Following sales strategies is the funding requirements section. This part should only be included if you do not have the funds required for your project and so you are submitting requests to raise money by contacting potential investors. Being as realistic as possible here is important, and numbers could be communicated in ranges if you are uncertain of the exact amounts. Potential funders of your startup will need to see a timeline for the whole project in order to know what to expect. It is also recommended to add worst-case and best-case scenarios in order to manage their expectations.
The final section to be added in your business plan is financial projections, where you reveal your financial goals & expectations based on your market research. Projections should be based on market trends coupled with your revenue growth during your operating period, in order to generate realistic scenarios for the future. Summarizing and highlighting your success up to this point is greatly beneficial if you are looking to expand and secure funding for your startup’s future plans.
