10 Things Most Start-Ups Maintain that Large Companies Normally Forget…
If you have ever been bootstrapped, working on a shoe-string budget just to try and take your ‘start-up’ idea to the next level… of ultimately becoming a viable business concern with solid growth.
Well, these 10 things may seem obvious, but often larger companies forget the real primal values that endorsed the pathway that created the business in the 1st place.
1 – Being Nimble
Being Nimble couldn’t be more relevant than in today’s marketplace, with the ever changing environment of the ‘digital age’, constant innovation and adjustment is required to be/remain/contest the marketplace for business dominance.
The times of making carefully weighted decisions over a long period of time are gone; these days they can be damaging to the business, because that time spent, may be all that is needed to enable the market to become exposed/exploited by ‘left field’ and ‘unusual’ disruptive undertakings.
“Being nimble is often the key to a start-up businesses success, and often in retrospect, it can become the key ingredient to a large corporations downfall.”
2 – Minimal Waste
Start-ups are successful when they make smart decisions, trying not to “overcook” the effort by wasting money, time and resources as they grow. Normally the trajectory for success is further fuelled by taking a determined approach when making decisions – ‘what remains in’ and ‘what is best left out’. Commonly, unless if things are absolutely required (critical path active), it should be left until it becomes absolutely required (critical path passive).
The downfall for larger businesses though is the uncontrolled introduction of waste; waste of money, time and resources…. the decisions for introducing tools, processes, systems, supply chains, services, products and stock can easily open the door to ‘new waste’. Larger business will make decisions based upon potential ‘up lift’ that it decides is worthwhile.
“Having the ability to know your business is (1) operating efficient and free from waste means that a base line nett cost for product can be determined, (2) operating lean, helps the business know where it greatest costs and forecast costs are; often a mistake made by large companies.”
3 – Market Responsive
The start-up is driven by market opportunity, generally finding a market ‘gap’ that the start-up has witnessed, they feel that by finding the ‘gap’ it enables them to make/create a business which can grow.
Being market responsive means that the start-up can consider changing the ‘goal posts’ at any moment to help it reach a better outcome for the business. That may mean scrapping a service or product and adding new focus to an alternative product, or, it may mean adjusting time/effort put towards a particular objective or target because there is greater reward (compared to the existing risk) if another opportunity was taken.
“Larger companies become slow moving giants because they are controlled with a time lagging organisation structure; however, even though they are slow the wheels do keep turning.”
4 – Nurture Orientated
Maintaining a strong focus on success, building start-ups that can grow often requires the business to nurture its ability to make the smaller things count, making the ‘best effort’ worthwhile; and with limited money, time and resources, the start-up has to remain orientated around nurturing the start-ups success.
Larger Company’s often take their ‘eye off the ball’ when it comes to offering the opportunity for nurturing a product or service, they are driven to become market ready at the shortest possible time and this often leads to product or service mismanagement; adding waste and missing opportunities.
“Nurturing a product or service is about caring for a product or service enough that opportunities around that item are fully realised. Just by being market ready doesn’t necessarily mean that all available opportunities have been discovered.”
5 – Solution Driven
The reason that start-ups thinks they can succeed is because they feels they have an answer to somebody’s (the customer’s) problem… so start-ups are completely focussed on finding solutions. Usually the customer remains in close contact with the start-up until it’s time to launch as a product or service and is market ready/suited.
Where larger companies can come unstuck is that those ‘solution drive’ issues are overlooked by budgets, bottom line, profits, sales margins and product lines as being the primal business success. It may be true as a financial tracker, but without maintaining control over the ‘solution’ and how it is best delivered, the business will eventually see reduced margins and disarray when trying to find the answer.
“Maintaining focus on being solution driven is about always knowing what the customer is asking for and giving the customer exactly what they want.”
6 – High Level Customer Contact
Normally start-ups are very personable, having constant interaction, detailing at length what path it should take to be successful, those interactions are often about customers wants, needs, desires and drivers.
Once the business is proven and the company grows, that level of customer persuasiveness can be misguided or overtaken by company focussed demands. Those demands take the focus away from key executives, and from that point, the company loses understanding of the nature of its customer relationship.
“Maintaining contact with customers, knowing what makes them tick, knowing what reason they choose to use your service or product, means you are best placed to deliver.”
7 – Lean Management
The most common start-ups are either 1 or 2 people who have a vested interest in the business growth and success. They are able to pin point exactly what the business needs and how things will play out to reach growth and sustainability targets.
Larger businesses are overshadowed by complex organisation structures, those levels of authority make connectivity within the organisation an ‘at arms length’ affair, with an array of complex stakeholder interests, vested interests and business affairs which are either conveyed through management or forgotten and lost.
“Building a lean management structure enables businesses to connect with its employees, it encourages united growth and prosperity while preserving its ability to identify and control risks and remain closely connected with its customers.”
8 – Making Every Dollar ($) Count
The most common start-ups are focussed on ‘making every $ count’, because if they were to spend money in areas that were not critically important, then they would be hindering their opportunity for success. It is because of the organic nature of their strict spending protocol that enables the business to grow and become successful. Over spending is a ‘no go’ zone for successful start-up businesses.
This is one area that most larger companies forget about, and they will spend a huge amount of money, time and effort trying to stimulate concepts that provide a reduced ‘bang for their buck’ to anything remotely close to what a start-up inherently administers.
“watch your penny’s and the pounds will look after them selves”
9 – Competition Hungry (want to be the best)
With every passionate person who has created a start-up business, they are very hungry for success, they want to be the best. In most cases that hunger is fuelled by the ‘god’ of business, who is the biggest and best at producing the target service or product. What do start-ups need to do to become as successful as the best competitor? That hunger to be the best is where start-ups will focus their attention.
For larger businesses, the ones that have made it to the top, they need to stay at the top or they will lose their place. It is for them to lose and for others to gain. Often larger business forget how it feels to be competition hungry, and they forget what it takes to chase being the best. They forget that they need to be continually ‘raising the bar’ on their competition.
“Wanting to be the best is about passion, persistence, determination and willpower, it is never giving up while understanding what competitors do well that you can do better.”
10 – Fresh and Dynamic
Commonly people who begin start-ups have been connected in some way with the business that they start themselves; that gives them a personable connection with the start-up. Successful start-ups bring a fresh start, a unique culture, a vibrant energy to the business, a dynamic of changed perspectives, a hunger for success and an overall DNA that helps them grow and flourish.
Unfortunately for larger businesses, often they don’t have that same connection that start-ups do on the basis that their own judgements are pre-set, they maintain a company regulated brand and business system, they have preset business objectives, they maintain the perspective for growth that executive management feels is best.
“Start-ups have the ability to bring new and creative ideas to a business because they are in control of their own destiny.”
Written by Geoff Pike, Entrepreneur, Speaker & Business Mentor
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoff-pike-australia
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ABOUT GEOFF
Geoff founded a sole trader plumbing business in a remotely located and vastly underpopulated location in outback Australia. Starting business with only enough money to pay 4 weeks wages, Geoff persisted by growing the business into a multi-disciplined trade services company. Over a period of 12 years, the company Geoff established grew to employ a workforce of over 300 personnel covering an area almost half the size of Europe, receiving international award recognition with an annual revenue of over $30mil. Geoff knows what it takes to overcome adversity.