We get asked a lot by entrepreneurs what they need to do to start their business. While there isn’t one definitive path to starting a business but let’s try to list out some of what you may need to do. There are five major categories you need to include in a business startup checklist.
Business Development
- Come up with a business idea
- Ensure there is an idea/market fit
- Make sure that your business is sustainable
- Define what your goals and objectives are from the business
Marketing and Sales
- Define your ideal customers
- Find out everything possible about your ideal customer
- Review your competition
- Come up with a winning USP to beat your competition
- Come up with campaigns to promote your product/service to your ideal market
- Write your marketing plan
- Secure digital presence (the internet and social media)
Operational
- Find suppliers and negotiate best deals
- Find premises to operate
- Recruiting management team and staff
- Define roles and responsibilities
- Plan how you will make or deliver your product/service
- Plan how you will manage the performance of staff and business
Legal
- Make sure your intellectual property is protected
- Register business
- Prepare contracts for customers, partners and employees
Finance
- Define your pricing strategy
- Develop your sales assumptions based on marketing
- Prepare financial forecast
- Work out your Break-Even Point
- Calculate how much money you need to start the business
- Find the most suitable funding options
- Apply for funding
As you can see it’s quite a big list, but don’t be scared of this. Everything does not have to be done all at once. Work out your priorities and stick with them.
Creating a business startup checklist will make the business startup proccess fatser and easier.
Our business startup checklist is part of the our Business Plan Template and Startup Toollkit. You can download this here.
Launch Your Business
We can help you start your business faster and easier than if you were to do it alone. Our Business Launcher service is the launchpad for startup success. We’ll provide you with all the tools and advice you need to become your own boss. Check it out here.
