All About StartUp

 WHAT IS A START-UP?

A Startup is a company that is started by a person or a group of persons for providing new and unique products and services. And those people are called Entrepreneurs. But not every business is considered as startup there are some criteria that must be fulfilled to call your business a Startup.

DOES STARTING ANY BUSINESS IS CALLED STARTUP?

No, not every business is called a Startup. There are some conditions which must be fulfilled in order to call your business a Startup, and they are:

• Its idea must be unique and innovative and should aim to solve a problem or provide a unique product or services in the market or improve the existing product and services

•  It must be registered as a private limited company or limited liability partnership or partnership firm in INDIA.

• It must have a high potential for employment generation and wealth creation.

• Business entity must not have been formed by splitting up of already existing business.

• Time of the existence of business must not have exceeded 10 years and turnover should be less than Rs.100 crore.

Now a question must have struck in your mind that whether a startup is called a startup for whole life or when it becomes a company? The answer is simple, a start-up becomes a company when it has completed its 10 years of incorporation or when its turnover crosses INR 100 crores.

PROBLEMS FACED BY STARTUPS

Starting a startup is not an easy task. During the initial days, the startup has to face many problems and one has to take care of a lot of things.

1. Government laws  

There are many government rules and regulation which must be taken into consideration before starting a startup. Failing to comply with any law can have legal problems for the startup and can even shut it down. Also, by taking care of government laws, one can take advantage of various government schemes and subsidies which are designed specially for startups.

2. Extreme competition

There is always competition going on in the market and everyone tries to win it. In this severe competition survival and growth of a startup is extremely critical. In order to survive in this competitive business environment, the startup needs to serve well and stand out among others to get recognition.

3.  Hiring a suitable team

The chances of the success of a startup go up when it is managed by a team rather than managed by a solo founder. You need a team with complementary skills. There is a huge number of aspiring candidates available who are willing to work but selecting the suitable one that fits the job well enough is a ticklish task.

4. Funding

The main problem that startups face is funding. Funding is very crucial for any business. In the initial day's funds are provided by entrepreneurs themselves or by their family and friends. But for running it for long time proper funding is needed which can be arranged from banks as loans, private finance firms, funds can be raised from angel investors or venture capitalists by convincing them about the idea and its growth potential but  convincing them is not an easy nut to crack.

Some tips that are useful for Startups

1. Start Small & Monopolize

Every Startup is small at the start. Every monopoly dominates a large share of its market, therefore every startup should start with a very small market. The large market will either lack a good starting point or will be open to competition which means profits will be cutthroat almost zero.

2. Scaling Up

Once you create and dominate a niche market, then you should gradually scale up into a related and slightly broader market. Exploring adjacent market will help in growth of startup. Sequencing a market correctly for exploration is complex, and it takes discipline to expand gradually - first dominate a specific niche market & then scale to an adjacent market.

3. Don't Disrupt

Avoid competition as much as possible if your company can be summed up by its opposition to already existing firms it can't be completely new and its probably not going to become a monopoly. It is advised that incumbent companies should not start with improvement of already existing products/ services but try to create a new one.