Things To Keep In Mind Before Starting a Venture Can an entrepreneur know it all before starting out a venture? Well, if not all, he can certainly understand a few things that should be kept in mind
By Kabir Siddiq •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.
Starting a new venture requires research, customer insights and above all, product knowledge. The journey of a start-up venture is the biggest teacher but it is imperative to keep a few things in mind before entering the market.
Can an entrepreneur know it all before starting out a venture? Well, if not all, he can certainly understand a few things that should be kept in mind. When I was starting out in the industry, I was overwhelmed with the market and its uncertainties but a few pointers kept me on track and helped me go along.
Know what your customer really needs
Having product knowledge is one thing but thoroughly understanding what the customer is in need of can change the entire dimension. This is as basic as identifying a gap in the market and providing a well-sought solution to the problem faced by the people. Once the need is established, it is advisable to get as much information possible about the product industry with a quantitative analysis of the past and current trends. Focus on your customers buying habits and do an in-depth research on the demographics of your potential customer.
Focus on the right resources
Business is all about people, you can't do it all by yourself. While beginning with a venture, understanding the resource requirement is very important. Having a few core members who understand the vision and have the desired level of competency are crucial to the venture. A plan to acquire the financial and material resources is fundamental at core.
People form the core of an organization and until you don't have the right human resources, it will get difficult to go ahead with a one man army.
Don't be afraid to fail
While it is advisable to aim high and dream to succeed, it is also very important to have a realistic picture in mind. After all "the greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure" and an entrepreneur must be prepared to fall down and should be ready with a plan B. This keeps you grounded while aiming for the stars. Failure is important for an entrepreneur as it teaches him to come back with a bang!
Risk it out and time it right
Well, isn't starting a new venture a risk in itself? Keeping all sorts of uncertainties in mind an entrepreneur needs to be well prepared of the risk involved at every stage of the venture. Along with this, the timing of going live should be impeccable, there is nothing terrible than a good idea with a bad timing. The people should really require the product and should be equipped enough to welcome the change. This can be achieved with thorough research and development.
Start small and grow big
Initially when you start the venture, try to use your savings or self acquired funds rather than starting a venture on debt. Once you begin using your own funds, you can eventually acquire funding from venture capitalists or angel investors. This is a very important phenomenon that needs to be kept in mind because a venture is a risky affair and the lower the debt in the initial phase, the better.
India has the highest amount of budding entrepreneurs and most of them don't make it to the top because of multiple reasons but the least we can do is start right so the probability to succeed nearly doubles up. These are some of the many important factors that I considered while starting out in the industry, I kept it mind certain values and fundamentals that made my start-up journey a smooth one.
