How to Become a Startup Entrepreneur?

How to become a startup entrepreneur?: This is an exciting dream to start and own your business. As exciting as it sounds, the startup journey has numerous challenges. But it can be extremely rewarding if a few things workout in your favour. In this article, we will talk about some of the steps to become a startup entrepreneur. A startup entrepreneur is different from running a small business. The biggest difference is in the size, scale and speed of development of a business in a startup.

Who is a startup entrepreneur?

The standard definition of an entrepreneur is someone who takes risks and starts a business. This risk can be financial, opportunity, reputation etc based on the type of entrepreneurship. However, a startup is different – it represents the ability of a business to grow and scale rapidly. This inherently attracts investors who aim for high growth potential thus realising them a large return on investment.

A startup entrepreneur creates a business for scale and growth. This field is normally supported by investors who don’t mind the risk since it offers them huge returns. Hence while trying to become a startup entrepreneur, you must ensure that you speak to the corresponding audience and use similar language. In the next section we will talk about some of the requirements in becoming a startup entrepreneur.

How to become a startup entrepreneur?

It all starts with an idea. This is not any idea, but a problem whose solution represents value. Based on the quality of this value, we can define the quality of entrepreneurship. The starting point of startup entrepreneurship is that this problem is prevalent in many places. Investors like the idea of a universal problem that can be solved by your solution. So, start and think big – a common problem with a large market potential is a great candidate for startup entrepreneurship.

Define the business problem

Start with the business challenge – this includes the type of people facing a challenge, importance and impact of the challenge. Think about urgency, cost of a problem and the relief your solution can bring. Also think about why your idea is special and well differentiated from the rest of the market. It needs to be unique, not easily repeatable by someone else. i.e people are looking for a magical bullet that only you can produce.

Identify the scale and size of the problem

This is the crux of becoming a startup entrepreneur. A small problem with average potential will only make you a founder. If you want to run a startup, it is all about scale and size of the business. Identify the grand vision for your product and define how big it can grow. The larger a business potential, the more attractive is your business idea. In fact this scale defines whether you have an idea that’s worth being called a startup entrepreneurship.

Validate your market and develop business plan

I’m compressing multiple steps in this. But the general idea is to start with an idea worthy of startup entrepreneurship. If you want to become a startup entrepreneur, think of an idea and make sure that it is supported by market research. Although desk research is a great starting point, you must ensure that you talk to some potential customers.

This shows the need for a solution that you’re thinking of or a representation of market knowledge about the problem. While doing this, make sure that you have an idea about how your solution is different or unique. Develop a business plan on how big your idea can grow, and what you need for this.

Once you have these answers, they give you a great opportunity to start on your journey of becoming a startup entrepreneur.

References:

What is a startup and how to get it off the ground: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/startup.asp

Guide for entrepreneurs to start a business: https://www.forbes.com/sites/allbusiness/2018/07/15/35-step-guide-entrepreneurs-starting-a-business/