9 things start up must know but no one tells you so!

From my working experience with small & medium size companies, these are the 9 key things that most are unaware.. especially for new startups..

1. Sustained earnings within 3 months. It is tempting to spent plenty of time looking for money and developing products.. and unintentionally loose focus on earning money in the beginning months. People wanted to improve & perfect their products first before rolling out to the market. But that may be a mistake. Learn from Google in this business era. Roll out fast. Improve later. Fail early. Fail fast. Early revenue will boost confidence & morale in the company.

2. Receivable management. Cash flow is the name of the game in recession. But actually it is a day to day operation imperative. Issuing invoice is not the end. You must monitor the process & progress. You may even need to call the client's accounts dept. Make friends with them. Understand their process. Who's signature required. Timing of their invoice processing. Active receivable mgmt is needed. Dont just sit there and expect people will write you a cheque.

3. Be close to the customer. Never, never leave your clients to your sales folks! You must go out and meet them. Get to know them. Get close to them. Know their needs and wants. No matter how busy with other operations activities you must never make this mistake.

4. Public relation. People thinks PR is expensive. But Internet is reducing the cost and you can do it for free by doing it yourself! Do your own press release. Write your own blog. Submit your release to news agency. Do it consistently overtime it will bear fruits.

5. Brand is not just a logo! It is everything! From people, process, product, company.. all represent the brand. Learn key elements of branding and protect it no matter what.

6. IT as an enabler. IT is not the business unless you are one tech firm. But leverage on IT to improve your efficiency & effectiveness.. especially customer experience.

7. Know your IP. Intellectual property is very important today since everything we do is in the form of intangibles. Tangibles such as hardware, equipment & building values are not as high as the intangible assets in today's context. Therefore, learn about the most common forms of IP and how you can protect & exploit them eg. copyright, patent, trademark, design,..

8. Competitors' response to your moves. If you play chess, you will know you need to think a few steps ahead and predict the opponent's moves and respond accordingly. But surprisingly, few does this mental exercise in real business world. Many have this great idea and implement it without considering how competitors will react and how you would need to respond.

9. Exit strategy. Most people hate to think about business failure. But over 90% of businesses failed in the first few years due to various reasons. Also, exit strategy doesnt cover only failures. It also include selling the firm at a good profit or go IPO at a right time, or exit the market you serve.

If you have more ideas to add or comments, please let me know. I love to learn from you too.

Comments/Input from others:

- Good Partner. Having a good partner is a must. It's really tough to do everything on your own. That's not running a business. That's self-employed! yes, many people have told me that good partner is hard to find.. thus, many gave up.. They dont trust any partner anymore! But how can anything progress without trust in business? We just have to be vigilant, have check & balance and lookout for good people.

- Auto-pilot. Build systems. I was reminded and remembered that i always challenge myself to auto-pilot my team or dept within the shortest amount of time, say 9 months. To achieve that, you need to develop systems, processes & procedure, simple guidelines or principles. Most people prefer to made the decision themselves. Maybe they like to feel like boss. Maybe they just like to make all the decisions! But that's not the way forward. I prefer to empower my staff and set boundaries and markers. They still come to me for urgent & important matters. But most will be handled by them.

Cheers!