Startup is the buzz word. But do startups really have started up? Having a great innovative product and an investor or incubator is not sufficient. Startups need complete support from inception and conceptualisation of the business to actually establishing, sustaining and growth.
The entire ecosystem for startups is being driven by technology, government initiatives and private intervention.
What seems to be the missing piece is that startup entrepreneurs need significant mentoring and and guidance of first making business sense out of the innovative product or service that they wish to offer.
Many startups shut shop within few months of commencing business. The primary reasons for such failure are:
- Ineffective planning of business for resources ( Human as well as material and assets) and investors funds
- Impulsive marketing decisions without proper cost benefit analysis leading to significant funds going waste
- Lack of clear identification of roles and responsibilities of human resources and their integration leading to silos style working. This creates tremendous pressure on the overall fund management.
- Doing it all by yourself. Startups are generally Techpreneurs ventures who tend to have very myopic view of financial planning and management. The entity is always at a financial risk due to these reasons.
The need for a mentor:
- Support in planning and structuring every operation and the team working therein
- Planning of sources of finance and its regulated application in business
- Strategizing and implementing processes for achieving optimum efficiency
- Regular monitoring of performance and immediate corrective action as necessary
- Support on strategies for market penetration pricing and cautious order intake
- Business and financial planning and a comparison of actual with the plan to facilitate necessary action
Cost of Mentoring:
The cost of not seeking mentoring is many times higher than seeking mentoring. This emanates from the fact that lack of planned and professional approach as suggested by a mentor leads to serious lapses at initial stages of business and causes irreparable damage.
Process of Mentoring:
- Assessment of :
- idea, product and go to market strategies
- Setting of standard operating procedures
- Review of resources requirement and its budgeting
- Recommendation for franchisee model as applicable
- Continuous monitoring and improvement
- Support on Joint venture
Fund Raising
- Incubation and seed funding
- Setting timeline for round 1 and subsequent rounds of funding
- Support on SME IPO after 5 years
