Growing your startup is a skill and not everyone is crafted to do a great job at that. Crazy working hours, disgruntled employees, fluctuating revenue charts, and many more hurdles might make you wonder if you should still continue with your dream of building and nurturing your startup. But hey, failures are indeed stepping stones to success and one needs patience to withstand difficult times. Patience may not necessarily lead you to success. Hence, here are a few tips on what it takes to grow your startup by 500% a month.
Define the type of your business really well. More than anything else, it matters the most what your vision is, of your own company. What do you perceive your organisation to be like? What would you want to sell through your company? Whom do you want to sell your services to? What problem in the current system do you want your brand to solve? If you have definite answers to the above question, then you have the most important ingredient of success already in your bag. Make sure that you have a very clear picture of your brand and product in your head. A confused concept can never win the trust of your audience. So avoid making that error while building your startup and transforming it into an enterprise.
Involve trustworthy and talented people in converting your idea into something ingenious. You may have all the skills that are necessary to run your company, but it may not be physically and practically possible for you to manage every single task all by yourself. Identify good talent and delegate work to dedicated teams. Convince your teams to work towards making your dream their own and seeing success together. Be a visionary and take like-minded people along with you on your journey. Success never tastes sweet when you see it alone from the top, but only if it is enjoyed together with your lot. Segregate work into different categories and assign teams to work on each of them in a constructive manner. WHile your team focusses on completing their tasks, you may channelise your energies into bringing more business for your company and increasing the revenue for your brand.
Listening is an extremely important attribute of success. Consider sharing your experiences and issues with people who may be senior or experienced, or simply trustworthy enough to confide in. Get to know what they think of your ideas/issues, and listen to their feedback. Their opinions may be really valuable for your business. These people may be your relatives, friends, employees, or even customers. Just pay heed to what they have to say about your brand and service offerings. You may want to incorporate their thoughts into your business strategies for better performance.
Lack of resources, cash crunch, delayed payments from clients, unsatisfied customers, dip in business, failed concept, whatever may be the issue, it is always good to communicate the same with your team. You know how hard your team is working to make your dream come true. The least that they deserve is to know what exactly is happening behind the scenes. Sharing your struggles and success with your people make them feel involved and accountable too. Many founders have been perceived as rude and unfriendly to work with for the sole reason that they are not transparent and clear in communicating matters with their teams. Avoid doing that with your employees. Be clear and loud when you talk to them and expect the same from them in case of concerns.
The famous dialogue from award-winning TV series ‘Game of Thrones’ - “Chaos is a ladder” is very deep in meaning. It is indeed true even in case of your startup. Do not let chaos and haphazard management disrupt everything in your company. Plan even the smallest detail and ensure everything is documented. It may be a simple YES to a proposal within your team. But you need to have record of that as well. Keep track of every form of communication and organise everything meticulously. Half your hassles are avoided if you stay organised and informed. Chart out strategies and communicate them well to respective people.
How do you decide if a campaign is successful or not? Well, you have metrics to measure performances of individual campaigns and then tie them together to assess your success rate. However, platforms like Google Analytics, Crazy Egg and others offer a pool of metrics. It is your smartness that will translate into success for you. Not all metrics may be applicable to your campaigns. Just track the ones that provide a good deal of insights into your campaign performance. Break down the metrics so that they make sense to your business and translate your performance into sales and eventually revenue. Tracking and analysing vital parameters are imperative for you to monitor success rate.
Make knowledge-sharing sessions mandatory in your organisation. Dedicate at least one day per week to share experiences of team members with each other. This way, the entire team learns through the mistakes of one another and productivity improves in the company. You may simply take a new trend that’s been the talk-of-the-town in your industry and have an open discussion to figure out the applications and implications of that trend in your business. For all you know, this may turn your boring Fridays into Fun Fridays that all your employees will look forward to.
These were some interesting things to remember while growing your startup into a big brand in the industry. While there may be exhaustive case studies to demonstrate the above points, we believe in simplicity. We’re just providing a guideline for you to maintain discipline and nurture your startup with utmost care. How about sharing your thoughts on the above points? Write to us if you have some interesting additions to the above list or simply leave your feedback in the Comments below.
