Come to think of it.
There is nothing about running a business that you don't know.
Yes, there will always be some startup hiccups.
And lots of questions, whose numbers are overwhelming initially.
You will need one friend - a good chartered accountant who is willing to spend sometime answering your questions.
Do you need to register your firm?
No - if you have a proprietary firm, where you are the single owner, you don't need to register your firm with the local registrar of firms (the CA will know). However, if you are in the products or services business, you will need a sales tax or service tax registration at some point. Products are generally taxable so you will need sales tax registration right at the outset. Service tax registration can wait until your annual revenue crosses eight lakhs. But check with your CA.
Other types of firms are: Partnerships (two or more partners); limited liability partnerships (LLC), a new form which gives you the privileges of a company in terms of limiting your personal liability to the extent of your capital invested in the business; and companies (private limited or public) that need to be registered with the Registrar of Companies and comes with a lot of statutory and regulatory baggage.
If you go to the GOI website, there is a section on Business covering the following aspects:
The section on Starting a Business for instance, has the following details:
Of course. They are all over the web.
Well, who said you can startup only in India?
It is much more information than you will need at the outset when your attention should be on growing and stabilizing the business.
When you plan your cash flows, plan for at least 3 years to breakeven. So if that means you cannot afford a fancy office in a fancy business district, so be it. A garage or a corner of your own house will be a good place to start. The point is that there is a lot of preliminary work to be done that does not entail having a fancy office. Market research, for example, takes anywhere from 3-6 months or more, if you plan to do this yourself. The questions you need answered are:
The 2nd question above is called Prospecting. It starts with identifying potential clients (usually from an industry directory, online business portals, business publications, et al), creating a preliminary list and then going out to meet them one by one.
The 3rd question above is called Trial Marketing. Whether you are in products or services, it is the only way you can gauge market response for your offerings. You will have to chalk up some preliminary wins to understand the competition and your pricing power.
Your answers go into what is called your Business Plan.
It's nothing but a variant of your Tactical Appreciation.
It does not matter if you don't have the resources to deliver initially. Go for it as if you have all the resources you need at your beck and call. In the software industry, we used to call it selling "vapourware" (instead of software).
Why do I need more than one win?
Well, besides the ability to gauge market reponse and pricing, you also need to understand your win rate. If you win one today, and the next does not materialize before 6 months, you may need to revisit question 1 above, again! If you hire and don't win adequate business to keep them immersed in work, you will run out of cash sooner than you can imagine. On the other hand, if you have too many quick wins, you may not be able to deliver and will loose some of your credibility in the market.
There are a number of other preliminaries, most of which entail some cash outflows:
You have done this in a different context a thousand times in your career in the military. You have analyzed, planned, created your team and executed missions successfully. The procedure is the same. The principles are the same. You might say that you din't have to put your own money on the line. Really? How much of ammo did you carry? How many second lines did you have quick access to? Here, you and your small team are your 'F' and 'A' echelons. Your investors (which includes yourself) and well wishers are your 'B' echelon. Nothing has really changed, except some terminology and that is something that you will pick up on the way. In business, your money is your firepower.
And just like you started your career with small, self-contained missions, this is another small, self contained mission. If you don't have the appetite for small missions any longer (and I mean this literally), maybe you should consider retiring or taking up a job. We have already covered this ground in a fair amount of detail.
The intent should be to launch at the earliest instance, once you have factored in most of the information available. You will again never have all the information you need right at the outset. Uncertainty is the big cloud into which you will always launch. But then you are a trained leader and uncertainty is the environment in which you perform best. Take in all the information available, train hard for the mission, and once launched, go with your gut.
There is nothing about running a business that you don't know.
Yes, there will always be some startup hiccups.
And lots of questions, whose numbers are overwhelming initially.
You will need one friend - a good chartered accountant who is willing to spend sometime answering your questions.
Do you need to register your firm?
No - if you have a proprietary firm, where you are the single owner, you don't need to register your firm with the local registrar of firms (the CA will know). However, if you are in the products or services business, you will need a sales tax or service tax registration at some point. Products are generally taxable so you will need sales tax registration right at the outset. Service tax registration can wait until your annual revenue crosses eight lakhs. But check with your CA.
Other types of firms are: Partnerships (two or more partners); limited liability partnerships (LLC), a new form which gives you the privileges of a company in terms of limiting your personal liability to the extent of your capital invested in the business; and companies (private limited or public) that need to be registered with the Registrar of Companies and comes with a lot of statutory and regulatory baggage.
If you go to the GOI website, there is a section on Business covering the following aspects:
- Starting a Business
- Managing a Business
- Growing Business
- Business Financing
- Indian Economy
- Outsoourcing Industry
- Legal Aspects
- Taxation
- ...
- etc
The section on Starting a Business for instance, has the following details:
- Creating a Business Plan
- Making a Product Choice
- Setting up Infrastructure
- Naming and Registering a Business
- Choosing a form of Business (that we discussed earlier)
- Choosing he Location of the Industry
- PRicing your Product
- Regulatory Requirements
- Financing a startup Business
- Sourcing Process, Raw Materials, Machinery and Equipment
- Hiring Human Resources
Of course. They are all over the web.
- Small business Blogs, News, Tips and Tricks at the ZDNet Small Business Centre
- Check out the Business Advisor Startup Document Centre for a selection of business and legal documents.
- The US Small Business Administration website is a great resource for startup information. You can also join its local chapters for news and information for small businesses that are specific to a state.
- The UK Federation of Small Business website is another great resource. It has a full sectioon of Business Support that speaks a lot on various topics of interests to entrepreneurs, for example:
- A guide to business planning
- Your seven-step, one-day marketing plan
- How to research your market
- How to find eco-friendly business ideas
- ...and so on
Well, who said you can startup only in India?
It is much more information than you will need at the outset when your attention should be on growing and stabilizing the business.
When you plan your cash flows, plan for at least 3 years to breakeven. So if that means you cannot afford a fancy office in a fancy business district, so be it. A garage or a corner of your own house will be a good place to start. The point is that there is a lot of preliminary work to be done that does not entail having a fancy office. Market research, for example, takes anywhere from 3-6 months or more, if you plan to do this yourself. The questions you need answered are:
- What business should I be in?
- Who are my potential clients?
- What is their level of interest in the product/services I am planning to offer?
The 2nd question above is called Prospecting. It starts with identifying potential clients (usually from an industry directory, online business portals, business publications, et al), creating a preliminary list and then going out to meet them one by one.
The 3rd question above is called Trial Marketing. Whether you are in products or services, it is the only way you can gauge market response for your offerings. You will have to chalk up some preliminary wins to understand the competition and your pricing power.
Your answers go into what is called your Business Plan.
It's nothing but a variant of your Tactical Appreciation.
It does not matter if you don't have the resources to deliver initially. Go for it as if you have all the resources you need at your beck and call. In the software industry, we used to call it selling "vapourware" (instead of software).
Why do I need more than one win?
Well, besides the ability to gauge market reponse and pricing, you also need to understand your win rate. If you win one today, and the next does not materialize before 6 months, you may need to revisit question 1 above, again! If you hire and don't win adequate business to keep them immersed in work, you will run out of cash sooner than you can imagine. On the other hand, if you have too many quick wins, you may not be able to deliver and will loose some of your credibility in the market.
There are a number of other preliminaries, most of which entail some cash outflows:
- How do I promote the business?
- What channels will I use?
- What marketing collateral will I need?
- Where will I advertise?
- What initial business processes are mandated?
- What organizational assets do I need to build up to enable these preliminary processes?
- What systems do I need to support the process?
- Do I need a web presence? What should that look like?
- What level of funding would I require to enable all these preliminaries?
- What are my sources of funds?
- What constraints do I keep in mind before I set out?
- What is my exit strategy?
You have done this in a different context a thousand times in your career in the military. You have analyzed, planned, created your team and executed missions successfully. The procedure is the same. The principles are the same. You might say that you din't have to put your own money on the line. Really? How much of ammo did you carry? How many second lines did you have quick access to? Here, you and your small team are your 'F' and 'A' echelons. Your investors (which includes yourself) and well wishers are your 'B' echelon. Nothing has really changed, except some terminology and that is something that you will pick up on the way. In business, your money is your firepower.
And just like you started your career with small, self-contained missions, this is another small, self contained mission. If you don't have the appetite for small missions any longer (and I mean this literally), maybe you should consider retiring or taking up a job. We have already covered this ground in a fair amount of detail.
The intent should be to launch at the earliest instance, once you have factored in most of the information available. You will again never have all the information you need right at the outset. Uncertainty is the big cloud into which you will always launch. But then you are a trained leader and uncertainty is the environment in which you perform best. Take in all the information available, train hard for the mission, and once launched, go with your gut.
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