Launching a Startup: 4 Tips to Achieve More in the First Year
Launching a startup involves working many hours and staying flexible about what needs your attention the most. Keeping personal expenses lower in the early months allows you to draw a smaller salary too. This helps to keep more income in the business where it’s needed.
Getting a startup off the ground and prospering in the first year is a big ask. It’ll be a struggle, but there are ways to make it likelier.
Here are 4 tips to achieving more in the first year of your startup.
Keep Personal Expenses Lower
Moving to a city like London where talent is plentiful makes recruitment easier. However, living large at the same time will work against you.
Instead, a single room for rent will be ideal because it’s all you need when spending your days toiling in the office.
Focus on What Moves the Needle
Look dispassionately at what tasks will grow the startup. Avoid spending time on low-return ones.
Whether this means liaising with developers on the new version of the app or meeting suppliers to hammer out deals, maximize your effectiveness.
Keep yourself honest by tracking what you’re doing. If this is marketing, then track the number of forum posts, email approaches, or phone calls made each week. For completed projects, keep a spreadsheet updated with what was achieved.
Outsource Unpleasant or Less Critical Tasks
Low-return tasks do not deliver much – if any – ROI to your business. They must get done, but little net benefit is derived from them. Also, many of these won’t require your skillset or much input from you. Put simply, your skills are best utilized elsewhere.
Look to outsource smaller tasks to others. This might be a virtual assistant paid by the hour or several freelancers who complete piecemeal tasks. If you can generate more from your freed-up time than they cost to outsource too, it’s a win-win for the startup.
Remove Distractions to Work Fewer Hours
Many startup ventures see people working longer hours yet fail to grow. Partly this is due to a lack of funds for expansion, but it also comes down to inefficiencies too.
One of the key inefficiencies is caused by letting distractions into your business world. Some interruptions like an email from an early adopter should be responded to in a timely fashion. However, most notifications and other interruptions can be avoided or delayed.
When cutting down on distractions, deeper work is possible. As a result, it won’t extend the working hours to an unsustainable level. Growing a startup is more of a marathon than a sprint. By operating this way, it stops you from getting worn down by work and losing the desire to push through the obstacles.
Startups are enjoyable to launch but require a high amount of devotion early on. When trying to be innovative or beat your competitors to the punch, it pays to work smarter and to run a lean operation. This makes it more probable that the startup will survive to year two and prosper from there.
