Start-ups are unique businesses. They offer unique advantages, but they also come with unique challenges. In the early days at least, they are lean, agile organisations, with a tunnel vision on getting a minimum viable product ready for the market, and for potential investors.
The most important thing is to use the tricks and shortcuts that are second nature to serial entrepreneurs to make sure you can get ahead, stretch your resources further and make sure you reach success without falling into one of the many pitfalls along the way.
Today we’re going to educate you about some of the Lifehacks that can help your start-up go the distance!
Rent What You Need
If you have only a small team of specialists, working in a small office or even out of someone’s house, that allows you to stretch your initial funds much further, but it doesn’t give you many options when you need to present your product to investors, consumers or the press. It’s vital to put a professional gloss on your operation, especially if you’re a small band of specialists who are focussed on nothing but turning a killer idea into the next Uber or Deliveroo.
It doesn’t make sense to hire a big office with a conference room if you rarely use it: this will burn through your funding too quickly, and it might worry initial investors to see you wasting a large sum on plush facilities.
Instead, look into renting meeting room space when you need it. There are companies, like VenueScanner, that specialise in finding venues to meet your corporate needs so if, for example you search for Manchester meeting room hire, you’ll find a wide to choice that will let you select the perfect one for you, and present your business in the best possible light for your audience.
Prioritise
When you’re running a start-up you need to keep a lot of plates spinning: as well as focussing on your unique product, which you’re an expert on by nature, you also have to be a lawyer, accountant, manager, HR Specialist and any other odd job that needs doing.
Making sure you know what your priorities are is key to keeping your business headed in the right direction. Experts suggest using a three stage to do list that focuses you down from brought, overarching strategy to the concrete targets you need to achieve each day.
Use a white board to note big tasks and ambitions for your business, then each day write a traditional to do list derived from those overarching aims, with tasks you can complete that day and tick off. Finally, use a post it to list your three most important jobs, the things that have to be done that day if nothing else is.
A small size of a post-it helps you focus your thoughts, and you can carry it with you wherever you go to ensure you’re serving your immediate aims, your longer term goals and your overall ambitions for the company without being bogged down.