This section is focused on startups ranching from pre-revenue to beginning to scale. Additional relevant articles are in the sections “Avoiding business failure” and “Creating business value”. The section “Investor Management” includes:
The purpose of this article. To illustrate the major milestones in the growth of a software startup focused on the general public as customers. The startup journey will vary, depending upon the type of startup and customers. You can download a PDF of this article from: What does the startup journey look like V3 How … Continue reading What does the startup journey look like? V3
Purpose of this article. Help founders, their potential team members, and potential investors begin to understand whether or not they are planning to fail. The article is not intended to be comprehensive in breadth or depth. You may download a PDF of this article from: https://koorandassociates.files.wordpress.com/2021/03/is-your-early-stage-startup-planning-to-fail-v2.pdf What are the 3 greatest contributors to startup failure?1 … Continue reading Is your early stage startup planning to fail? V2
The three-fold purpose of this article: Help startup CEOs and founders understand themselves and identify potential fatal flaws. Help investors, and others, assess startup CEOs and founders. Help assess the CEO’s of traditional established companies. The following is focused on software and high-tech startups. Many of the concepts apply to other situations. CEO failure results … Continue reading Why do startup CEOs fail? V4
There is some debate regarding the relative importance of the idea vs talent. Talent is the most critical. It is the talent which: comes up with the idea, changes the idea as learning more about the customers, and successfully grows a profitable company. Lots of people have ideas. Few people can successfully achieve results. Founders … Continue reading Leadership talent is the underlying cause of startup failure.
Startups often fail in the transition from product/market fit to successful scaling, because the talent requirements are different. The problems faced by leaders in those two situations are very different. Many leaders are not able to transition. Getting to product/market fit requires a small team making constant changes to build a product which delightfully solves … Continue reading Startups often fail in the transition to scaling.
I observe major differences between long established public companies and successfully scaling startups. The two major things that strike me are: the startups have an in depth understanding of the customer; and the startups are incredibly focused on having the right talent: talent in management, on the board, on the advisory board, as well as … Continue reading Successfully scaling startups are different from public companies. V2
The management team relationships, and roles of the CEO/founder(s), shareholders, investors, and board of directors rapidly change in a successfully scaling startup. Who makes what decisions is rapidly changing. A lack of clarity and common understanding of who makes what decisions and is accountable for what results can cause confusion, and slow down or prevent … Continue reading Why is governance essential for successfully scaling startups?
You can use this framework to enable startup stakeholders establish a common understanding of the current status of the startup, which stage it is in (pre-seed, seed, or Series-A), and the next milestones in its evolution. This framework is not intended to be a cast-in-concrete structure for every single situation. The start-up stakeholders may adapt … Continue reading What is the status of your startup? (V2)
The critical metrics are focused on the customer. If you don’t understand your customer, you cannot succeed. The second set of metrics is your monthly cash flow forecast and tracking. Your business will shut down without cash. These two sets of metrics depend upon your financial processes and General Ledger structure as well as your … Continue reading How do you measure the success of your startup?
How do you know you have product/market fit? You have product/market fit if: Your customers are so delighted that they are recommending it to others. Your customers would be extremely disappointed if your solution disappeared. Your customers can describe the big problem they had and the big benefit they achieved from your solution. There is … Continue reading Do you have product/market fit? (V2)
Purpose of this document This document outlines the business framework of a successfully scaling startup. When a company is first launched, some components may not exist, or may be very simple. Successful growth results in the evolution of the framework, with components being added and changing. The 10 components of the business framework are all … Continue reading The startup business framework has 10 sets of components.
What is a Business Model Canvas? V2 You can download a PDF of this article from: What is a business model canvas V2 The purpose of this article: This article outlines what should be in your BMC (Business Model Canvas). The BMC is the story of who your customer is, why they buy from you, … Continue reading What is a business model canvas? V2
The advisory board provides value in two ways: Helps the founders focus on what is important i.e. what are the future milestones. Helps the founders deal with the challenges and issues associated with critical milestones. The advisors draw upon their experience, skills, knowledge, and network. The advisers act as coach, mentor, or instructor. The base … Continue reading How can a startup benefit from an advisory board?
What is the purpose of this article? Help participants of the Toronto Startup Ecosystem understand the broad scope and many components. This document focuses on the high-tech and software startup ecosystem, and outlines the different types of members comprising the ecosystem. You can download a PDF of this article from: What does the Toronto startup … Continue reading What does the Toronto startup ecosystem look like? (V6)
The purpose of this article. Outline what an early stage startup requires to understand the potential customers, users and the competition. Too many startups fail because: They start to build something (e.g. “a cattle ranch”) and then discover there is no significant market demand (e.g. discover that the potential customers are “vegetarians” and will not … Continue reading Education, skills, and tools for an early stage startup. V1
Purpose of this article To help you decide if you’re the type of person who should launch a startup. Outline what you should do in the first two weeks if you are thinking of launching a startup. Recommend some learning you should undertake, to help you make your decision. You may download a PDF of … Continue reading Who launches a successful startup?
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