Why start…
I’ve had two different occasions over the last couple of weeks that reminded me about how difficult it is to start a company… especially with a great idea.
On the first occasion, I was talking to an associate that has successfully been the #2 in a number of startups. For a number of years I think he looked at the founders and thought how easy it was for them and probably a hint of resentment for their equity stake vs. that of the #2. He has since started his own company and learned some of the challenges first hand. Especially communicating a crisp summary of the what the business does. Over lunch he was talking about how much harder it was then he expected.
The other project was working on what is called a visioning project for a company. In this case I’m looking at the adjacent markets for expansion as well as what I have called upstream and downstream market opportunities.
- Upstream opportunities are those services or products that are required for your customers to purchase before they buy your product or service.
- Downstream are those products and services that customers acquire after they buy from you. These are the products that you could bundle with your customer or client service.
When you’re looking to grow your business past the current market – where do you start???