As any entrepreneur will tell you, launching a successful startup is an incredibly difficult challenge with many hurdles to overcome. It can be daunting and especially when you hear so many stories of startups falling flat before even having a chance to succeed, but if you are well prepared and you know what these hurdles are then it gives you the opportunity to overcome them and grow the business. These are the main hurdles that you will need to overcome:
1. Brand name recognition & reputation
First, it is hard to make people aware of your company and to build a good reputation when first starting out. The internet is an excellent platform for this, but it is also highly competitive and difficult to stand out from the crowd – this is particularly true if operating in an industry with larger, more established household name brands. The best way to boost brand awareness and reputation is through search engine optimization, pay per click advertising and with social media. This will create a strong online presence and make you more visible to your target audience.
2. Cash flow
Cash flow is a huge obstacle when first starting out as there will be a lot of inevitable expenses without much coming in to start with. This will balance out once you establish your brand and increase recognition and awareness, but you could also benefit from financial products like Confidential Invoice Discounting (CID) from specialists like Touch Financial. CID allows you to access to cash tied up in unpaid invoices so that you do not have to wait 30-120 days to receive customer payments. This can help to cover wages, materials, transportation etc to improve your cash flow situation.
3. Recruiting experience & talent
It is vital that you hire the right people to help grow your business, but this is much easier said than done. It can be challenging to attract the top talent to a startup as there is no guarantee that it will be a secure job and you need brand recognition to appeal to the experienced and talented workers. Good wages is one way but this is also a challenge for a startup, so the best way to hire the right people is to work on the job pitch and description and use job boards to advertise the vacant positions. Try to hire those with a different skill set to your own and make sure that they understand the goals of the company and will be a good fit.
These are the main hurdles that a startup needs to overcome in the early stages. It takes a lot more than a great business idea to succeed when launching a company, but when you are well prepared and understand the challenges it can help you to overcome these hurdles to find stability. Once you find stability, you can then take steps to grow the company and take it to the next level. This will help to develop brand awareness and improve your reputation which should lead to greater profits and success.
