By Joel Harris
Nearly all the entrepreneurs I’ve met initially haven’t thought of themselves as entrepreneurs. Perhaps after their third or fourth start-up they finally come to terms and would associate as a serial entrepreneur. Whether you’re a proven entrepreneur, looking to re-energize your career, or finally ready to go after the dream of starting your own business, there are three perspectives to consider before launching your product or service.
Problem Solving
You’ve identified a problem to solve. Although most think problem solving is a skill acquired through education, it is really a lost art which has been overshadowed by memorization and the limitless (correct or incorrect) resources of the internet. It takes grit to solve a problem. It takes passion. It takes overcoming adversity. But if a product, strategy, or service is uniquely crafted to solve a problem you’re on your way to begin generating revenue or raising capital to start your business.
Market Demand
Problem solving can only go far if others share your view point that there is a problem to solve. It can be broad within a specific market, let’s say automotive and transportation. The spectrum can range from small, niche and underserved markets like Wheelz On Time, which offers financing for tires for your car through a lease to purchase program. On the other side is Über which is not only synonymous with leading the “sharing economy” and changing the way people commute and get from A to B, but it has expanded the taxi driver market by creating more jobs. For riders it has created, in some estimates, $7 billion in consumer surplus. Basically, once you’ve identified how to solve a problem, is anyone going to purchase your solution? If a handful of people will buy, then the likelihood of a larger customer base increases dramatically.
Social Capital
Most founders, when asked what the biggest challenge they faced when starting their company, may answer with “funding.” At the end of the day, the opportunity to tap into seed funding has increased. But the transparency and access is probably as difficult as it was 20 years ago. With the advent of crowdfunding, there are certainly lesser restrictions on who your investors can be, but I would argue that traditional stages of funding rounds are still the best initial routes. With low interest rates and a volatile stock market, there is money out there and those with excess may have just as much difficulty finding where to invest it as you have trying to raise seed capital. But it is all about who you know and what networks you can tap into along the way. Friends and family, angel investors, and/or prize money from Startup Pitch competitions can get some capital together. You’ll need this to bring the initial awareness of the solution and potential market size and take it to the next level of launching your idea to the masses. As my father, and founder of Harrisvaccines would quote often (because he didn’t come up with this phrase), “Cash is King.” Just because you’ve reached your Series A capital fund goals, don’t think as Founder or CEO you’ll be taking home a paycheck.