Talk by Ajit Joshi on 21.01.2017

www.startupdirexions.com

1. Should address a existing pain point

2. Make consumer aware of the existing pain point

3. Show him the simplest way of doing it there by creating a need

4. Create a convenient market place or technological solution to reduce

consumer efforts

KEY REQUIREMENTS OF AN IDEA OR CONCEPT

Idea addressing a existing pain point …..

The idea will meet the competitors early on

The idea of the product or service

should be a differentiator

The idea should compel the consumer to be able to identify

himself with the product or service.

MAKE HIM AWARE OF THE PAIN POINT AND CREATE A NEED FOR YOUR PRODUCT OR SERVICE.

Create a product or service which will show him a better

way to do it.

In absence of any solution consumer

will believe that there is no better

way to do it.

SHOW HIM THE SIMPLEST WAY OF DOING IT AND THERE BY CREATING A NEED

Ideate a product which would be

simple yet effective to use or avail it.

It should be easily available and

available for mass consumers.

Create a product or service which

is scalable.

CREATE A CONVENIENT MARKET PLACE OR TECHNOLOGY TO REDUCE HIS EFFORTS.

It should reduce his efforts and time and simple to source or

avail.

It should cut across

geographies to give him flexibility

of buying or availing from his

place.

It should give him access to compare,

experiment, try and decide.

PROOF OF CONCEPT.

POC is the first step to showcase the

product to outside world and should be

close to reality.

POC is the first step in the VC world and should be able to

evoke the best possible interest from the VC

world.

POC should make the prospective

investor to sit up and try to see the big picture around

it.

Conclusion : What ever the idea may be ,if it addresses the customers needs, pain points early on with a logical Proof of Concept can be a great winner !

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Golden rules of the execution in any

start up

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Life cycle of a start up

Seed capital to Series A

capital

Series A to growth capital

Growth capital to fully ripe start up

IPO or sale to strategic

partner

Idea to seed capital

Relatively easy period

Meets with the competition and starts facing resistance to product and revenue model

Most challenging period, time to build up team, put systems in place

Speed of growth will slow, business requires multi fold challenges and expertise, unexpected hurdles, may require a pivot, external market pressures

Company is ready for strategic sale or IPO. Corporate governance is in place, business in to black and adequately capitalized.

Idea to seed capital.

• This is the period wherein the idea gets converted to the POC.

• This period is crucial since it translates the idea in to reality.

• This is the period when the initial team is being put in place and all theefforts are being diverted to convert the POC in to commercially deployableproduct.

• Most ideal situation would be when the product is out in the market andthe initial traction and testing has happened within seed capital.

• This time frame is available for doing all sort of refinements to productbased on the feedback and traction and acceptability from the market.

Seed capital to series A capital.

This is most challenging period for any start up since company starts facing thereal issues like

• acceptability of products,• awareness of company and product,• creating the reach within a short period of time,• Fixing up issues in pricing• Logistics• Building up the required team• Creating marketing buzz

This is the period when 360 degree action is required with great speed.This will certainly help to remain ahead of the competition.

This phase requires A class core team to be in place connected withcommon goal. They are not just executioners but also leaders who willbuild their B team.

Series A capital to growth capital.

This is the phase where the business is poised towards growth and the productis well established. This phase typically will denote the consolidation phasewhen most of the aspects have fallen in place and team is ready to acceleratethe growth.

The cautious approach would be draw up the growth plan after carefullyconsidering the potential and capacity of the market. Any wrong informationwould often lead to wrong paths and would destroy the momentum.

The growth plan on the drawing board should be thought over and challengedmultiple times before it is being put out in the market for raising the growthcapital.

Robust MIS dash board and careful market analysis is a prerequisite for thegrowth plan. Series B and C investors would be looking at the plans carefully.

Growth capital to fully ripe start up.

This phase suddenly slows down the pace of the growth and most unknownhurdles crop up during the phase.

By this time the competition would have been in action and posing a seriousthreat to your business.

Unknown factors would have started effecting the model and it becomesimperative that all the decisions are weighed carefully.

This is the phase where CEO starts spending more time wondering about thetop line growth and bottom line.

Entrepreneur should evaluate every decision since all of them would have farreaching consequences. He should be bold enough to make a pivot to thebusiness model in order to achieve sustainability.

This is the longest phase of the entire life cycle of the start up and CFO playsextremely important role here.

Every start up needs a dynamic CFO, in fact this is a must for a success of thestart up. He should be on board immediately post the seed capital.

CFO should not be mistaken as accountant since he would point out what notto do rather than what has been done wrong.

He plays a crucial role of keeping the company and entrepreneur grounded. Heis the one who asks most uncomfortable questions and who plays a devil’sadvocate.

He helps to shape up the vision and strategy of the company. CFO plays acrucial role in building up the sound systems, solid foundation, keep thecompany compliant all the time, helps to evaluate the future opportunities.

In fact CFO is a back bone of a successful start up and companies should nevershy away from roping a seasoned CFO.

We at startupdirexions help the start ups to build , grow and create value for the stakeholders.

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