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Everything you need to know about the basic stages of a start-up. Step by step, from defining the idea to testing, scaling X10 and exit, going through the frequent challenges and how you can overcome them. With valuable insights from entrepreneurs, investors, consultants and experts.
Startup Edu | Guided learning on entrepreneurship. Step by step, from A to Z
How do you know it's for you:
How do you know it's for you:
Welcome! If you're here, you're probably pretty serious about starting your own business. Whether you already have an idea or haven't found the right one yet, this chapter will help you better understand what you need to get started, what knowledge you need, and how to set your expectations correctly.
You've decided you want to have your own business, but you still don't have an idea that seems right for you. In order to identify it you will need to study and learn. The important thing is to make a habit of exploring trends or changes in people's behavior and the products they use.
Resilience, creativity and discipline - we often hear these words used to describe the strengths of an entrepreneur. However, looking at them more closely, what do they actually mean? Mihai Moghior, partner of GRI (Silicon Valley company that offers a suite of management tools, based on behavioral assessment), was kind enough to explain it to us.
The decision to open your own business comes with a lot of changes: responsibilities multiply, work schedules and priorities are reorganized. Vlad Craioveanu, co-founder of Impact Hub Bucharest, talks about the important questions one needs to ask oneself.
A common confusion entrepreneurs tend to encounter in their earliest stages is considering that a business model canvas is in fact also a business plan. They are in fact different but they are also connected.
Have you decided how you will make money from your business? How you will monetize what you offer and the prices you will charge are decisions you need to think about ahead of time. Find out what options you have and how to make the right choices for you.
If you open a business or if you want to develop the company's activity, you need to pay attention to the investment that this entails: from options to costs to be covered in the future, related to the investment.
Figures are the best at reflecting your company's growth, and the metrics you track are important not only because they show you are going forward or backward, but also because they help you make reality-anchored decisions. But how can you determine which metrics can guide you best? You can find that out in the following material, written by Marius Ursache, entrepreneur, mentor and consultant for startups.
Where do you start when you want to navigate the legal technicalities of setting up and running a business? From this next material you will learn what the main things to consider are.
Congratulations, you're about to start your own company! In the following material you will find out what steps you must take if you want to establish a legal entity, what documents you need and what the procedures you have to take into account are.
You've just received your company papers, you got down to business and want to focus on growth. But, first and foremost, you should make sure that you are ready to do so from an administrative point of view and have all the documents up to date (mandatory in case of an inspection). Please find below a list of the essential documents.
Many entrepreneurs choose to partner up to start a business. Because the relationship between the shareholders or founders is very important for the proper operation of the business, it is important to give it the due attention, including from a legal point of view.
Sometimes the administrative side of a business can seem complicated or, at times, repetitive. In reality, however, it is fundamental to the success and growth of a business. In addition to the legal, tax and accounting aspects, contracts and their provisions are equally important.
You need a bank account to complete the company set-up process and to start doing business. Before choosing your banking services provider, you should understand in what situations you will need it, what facilities and services they offer and what differences exist between them.
Where do you start when you want to navigate the technicalities of the financial management of a business? A good first step is to familiarize yourself with the specific terms on the one hand and follow some basic principles on the other. You can learn all about it from this article.
You have set up your company, you have all the necessary documents and you are ready to get to work. But do not forget about the tax and accounting obligations you already have! Find out all about the first steps you need to take from Valentina Saygo, expert accountant and financial consultant.
That's it, it's not a problem, it's not a matter of time. It's talking to the possible uses, seeing what problems they have and how you can better answer them with what you offer. Discover the steps!
The product market fit shows you that there is a market for your product. This is how you ensure that you are developing a product that your target audience wants and is willing to pay for the value it brings. Find out how to get it.
As part of the widespread lean startup philosophy, the identification of a problem to solve for a specific customer segment and the validation of a need are fundamental to building a successful startup. Here's how this process works.
When you want to test your business idea, it's important to ask the right questions to the right people. It is important to formulate them as such, but only after you have established very clearly what you actually want to find out from them. In the following material you will learn how you can cover all these criteria:
Depending on the type of your product or service, you can choose from several solutions at hand to validate it in the market. But the best validation comes from customers who are willing to pay for what you offer. Here's what you need to know:
The value proposition describes the value you bring to your customers in a concise, relevant and simple way. Find out how to use a Canvas to make it clear
How do you know you've reached the product-market fit? How do you get back to it if the market changes? The founders of 6 local businesses, with different business models, from various industries, who have passed gone or are currently going through the validation process, talked to us about it.
That's it, it's not a problem, it's not a matter of time. It's talking to the possible uses, seeing what problems they have and how you can better answer them with what you offer. Discover the steps!
If you have a new business idea or a new business vertical, a thorough documentation will help you explore the potential of the market you are addressing, anticipate the competition and be able to objectively evaluate your differentiators.
A well-told story inspires, mobilizes and sticks in the minds of those who hear it. The same goes for your company – the story becomes a way to connect with those who might use your product, but also with those who are part of your team.
“I don't have funds to invest in marketing, the product is not promoted, so I don't have enough sales, and the circle closes with me still not having funds." - does that sound familiar? The good news is that there are marketing techniques you can apply to gain traction.
Facebook Ads is one of the handiest tools you can use to promote your business or test your idea. In order for it to be effective and bring you the desired results, you have to consider some very important things first.
For startups, media promotion is a free way to reach a potential audience, but also to connect with potential business partners or even investors. But how do you get into publications of interest for your industry?
When you want your product to reach the target community, influencer campaigns can be a good promotional tool. In order for them to have the desired impact, it is good to plan them in detail. Here are the recommendations of Cristian China Birta, blogger and entrepreneur.
If you have a business, you should always have a crisis communication plan ready to guide you in such situations. This is especially important for start-ups, because they have much more to lose from such an incident than a big brand.
The value of the first sales can be seen from several perspectives: in addition to the income they bring, they can be an opportunity to receive relevant feedback: both about the behavior of your customers and about the benefits that the product or service brings. Here's what you need to know about sales:
On your way to having a healthy and solid business that helps customers and makes their lives better or easier, you will also need money for its development. While in the beginning your own funds will be enough to start the activity, you will need substantial funding as you grow.
The right funding at the right time - this should be the "compass" that guides you when you need funds to accelerate your business growth. Every funding tool has its own advantages and disadvantages - go through them all before making a choice!
Understand the logic behind the crowdfunding process and create your own campaign according to the template: with budget templates, communication strategy and concrete campaign materials.
If you think that a bank loan could be a funding option for your business, it is important to first analyze what such a short or long-term funding instrument entails, but also what specific needs you would like to finance with it.
One of the important concerns you will have as an entrepreneur will be getting the funds to help you grow and develop your business. In addition to choosing the right funding sources for the stage your business is in, it is also important for you to prepare for them. And this is what you will learn about from this material.
In order to grow rapidly, you need a healthy business, resource people to support and guide you, and investments to support your growth. Depending on the stage you are in, there are specific investment rounds, which you can learn about in this article.
When you're just starting out, you'll find yourself in many situations where you'll need to pitch your business - and not just when it's about getting funding. That's why it's important to always be prepared. This material will teach you how to be as persuasive as possible.
In order for a business to grow rapidly, it also needs supporters who provide the necessary funds and contribute to the development of the company with their own experience. Investors are an important resource in the development of a business. Here's what you need to know about the relationship with them:
The road from an idea to a successful business is often sinuous and full of challenges - that is why it helps to be surrounded by the right people, both in terms of professional experience, but also in terms of mindset and values.
We all need to find meaning in what we do – to know what the impact of our work is and that it is aligned with our own values. Here's how you find the "compass" you'll need during the difficult moments you'll go through as an entrepreneur and how resilience is built.
Entrepreneurship is more than the ability to run a business, it is also very much about leading people and teams that revolve around similar values. As you could see in the previous material, shared values are what fuel the motivation and engagement of the people in a team.
In working with people, you have probably noticed that motivation stems from various sources, depending on the individual. Find out more about the particularities of motivation from Rareș Manolescu, coach and trainer, in the following material.
A common goal is what unites the team and brings in efficiency, positive energy, focus and responsibility. It is essential for collaboration, innovation and results. Viorel Panaite, founder of Human Invest, will tell you how you can gather people around the same goal to build together things that last.
For startups, finding the right people to complete the teams is a challenging process, and in the context of the pandemic, team dynamics and human resource management seem even more complicated. Here's how you can get the people you need on your team.
When you're looking for a new person for your team, you're looking for more than just an employee: yes, you need someone with a certain experience, but some jobs sometimes require rarer skills as well. In order to find this person, you have to make full use of 3 personal skills
Once you've found the right people, who are now part of your team, it's time to get down to business. And since a business grows together with the people who build it, it is important to allocate resources for the development of your team.
You already know how important it is to have the right person in the right place. If you want to make sure that this happens in your team as well, pay attention to the interviews - if you structure and hold them correctly, they will help you make good choices.
There are few responsibilities an entrepreneur has that have as much impact as choosing the team. Well-prepared interviews are an important part of this endeavor. Structuring the interview HR professionals often use a STRUCTURED INTERVIEW. It strictly follows a set of questions to be able to gather similar information about all the candidates entering the interview. This clear structure will help you compare apples to apples when making the hiring decision. My recommendation is to set a common set of criteria for all candidates -> draft a few questions for every criterion. We'll cover the manner in which you have to word the questions later on. That doesn't mean you can't customize the interview according to the candidate sitting in front of you. Defining the competence we are looking for Competences consist of knowledge - abilities - attitudes. They translate into behaviors that you see with the naked eye: what the candidate does - these behaviors can be explored in the interview. It sets a uniform level for the whole team to be able to build the organizational culture. You can choose a series of knowledge - skills - attitudes that you want every member of the team to have. This will provide you with a common ground on which you can build your organizational culture. The entrepreneur is a "curator" of the organizational culture, and at the beginning, every new colleague has a big impact on the culture of your startup. Identify the knowledge - skills - attitudes specific to the role you are recruiting for Relevance increases if we track behaviors that have been repeatedly displayed by the candidate in the past, and not just hypothetical behaviors they would or could display. In the latter case it is much easier for the candidate to give the answers that we want to hear. What questions should you ask? Behavioral questions start from the premise that past performance is the best predictor of future performance. The Behavioral Interview gathers relevant information about the candidate's competencies by identifying how they acted in certain real situations in the past. STAR method In order to create behavioral questions, you can use a simple method – STAR: SITUATION - "Give me an example of a situation where you worked on two projects at once." TASK - "What were your responsibilities?" ACTION - "How did you prioritize your tasks on the two projects?" RESULT - "What results did you get?" If you are unclear or in doubt about one of the points mentioned above, dig deeper - ask additional questions, ask for more details. For example: What were your responsibilities, how were they allocated in time and what role did your colleagues have in that task? For every criterion you evaluate, you must have 2-3 questions with the STAR structure (Situation, Task, Action, Result). Sometimes candidates give superficial answers. Your role is to push to identify relevant examples. Additional recommendations – what to do and what to avoid Focus the interview on positive aspects of the candidate's experience. Give candidates an opportunity to talk about their achievements. You will create an open atmosphere where you can also discuss about the areas where the candidate needs to improve. Make sure you get answers about the candidate's tasks, actions and results, not just about the team's. Look for answers that start with I, not just WE, because what you are interested in is the contribution of the candidate that is sitting in front of you. Don't settle for unclear answers to your questions. If the first questions are not answered clearly, insist to make sure that at the end of the interview you have covered all the competencies. Don't put the candidate in a stressful situation. You must also pay attention to the employer brand. A candidate you put in uncomfortable situations will not have nice things to say about you. If you are careful about how you structure the interview, what questions you ask, the do's and don'ts, then the interview should not cause you problems in recruiting the right person for your startup.
Now that you're up and running, have a growing team, and offer a product or service that others need, you're ready to take it to the next level. And this stage brings about a lot of options and possible paths to follow. All you have to do is identify the ones that offer what you think is best for you.
For any business, regardless of the stage it is in, customer experience can become a solid advantage over the competition.
A price is not just a number on the label, it includes all the elements of your business model, which in influences in its turn.
The entrepreneurs’ challenges do not vanish when the profit appears, on the contrary, they even return sometimes, stronger than ever, because challenges multiply as stakes grow higher. Find out what they are from Sergiu Neguț (FintechOS & Business Angel) and Mihai Cepoi (Jobful co-founder).
Before expanding to other markets, you need to do your research. Even if your product is very popular in our country, things may work differently on another market. Find out from the following material what the most important points to reach before taking any other steps.
When you have control over your cash flow, you are better prepared to handle potential crises (like the pandemic, for example).
As you grow, your business challenges diversify — luckily, so do your options when you want to scale up. At this stage, it's good to know that you can access financial-banking tools that were not available up to this point.
Every start-up can access different accelerated growth opportunities and tools: from resorting to experienced resource-people, to learning about business or dedicated programs. In this chapter we will explain in detail how to choose them and how to get more clarity in your own strategy.
The direction you want to take in business can sometimes seem unclear - you don't know what steps to take or what resources you need. Entrepreneur programs can help you get the clarity you need for this process. Find out how from the following material, prepared by Lucian Grămescu.
The most important resource you have, no matter what stage your business is in, is clarity. It helps you get closer to your goal, one step at a time.
When difficult decisions or dilemmas arise, entrepreneurs and managers can turn to 3 types of support: mentoring, consulting or coaching. Since there are similarities between them, you should identify the right solution for your situation. Find out how to identify it!
A mentoring relationship can help you better understand another entrepreneur's mindset, learn from their mistakes, or discover resources you hadn't thought of. Before applying for mentoring, you should set your expectations correctly and understand what the process entails.
How can you make your startup grow faster? There are several options - their effectiveness varies depending on a process-related factor: the clarity you have learned about in the previous materials. Explore the tools that bring you closer to your goals!
Corporate governance is often overlooked in Romanian organizations. This topic should concern you because it can influence the investments you want to make and your business development strategies. Find out how from the following material, signed by Sergiu Neguț, Business Angel and co-founder of FintechOS.
What your business would see if it were to see itself in the mirror today. A snapshot meant for discussions with your team and your partners.
The presentation that investors want to receive on email.
