Startup Business - Checklist for success!

Your startup business needs to be given every opportunity it can for success. Most startups that fail, fail because they dont implement a rigorous plan and stick to their plan. The best thing you can do is start with a checklist. You should try and keep this as simple as possible. As you tick one off then continue to the next.

The major areas you need to plan will be

1-Marketing
2-Finance
3-Operations

Marketing

1-Do you have a customer
2-Do you have enough customers
3-Do you have a product or a service that your customers want
4-Do you have competitors
5-Do you have a product that is different from your competitors
6-Do you have a way of telling your customers about your product

Finance

1-Do you have capital
2-Do you have a sales ledger
3-Do you have an expenses ledger
4-Do you have a cash flow spreadsheet
5-Do you have a profit and loss spreadsheet
6-Do you have credit terms
7-Do you have an accountant
8-Do you have a bank account

Operations

1-Do you have premises or a way of storing your product
2-Do you have a way of getting your product to your premises
3-Do you have a way to add value to your product
4-Do you have a way of getting your product to your customer
5-Do you have a way of collecting money from your customer
6-Do you have a way of paying your suppliers

This may be a simplification of what is involved but it will give you a good idea of the areas that you need to plan. You might have noticed that I have asked the question "do you have a way" in the operations many times. If you are able to plan a system for each of these tasks then you are well on your way to making a startup business success.