All great businesses start with a simple idea. Having an idea is important but is not the only thing that the entrepreneur should be concerned. There are also other aspects to be considered for start a startup and thus make this idea into a viable business.

In this article we identify the seven steps of journey of a startupExplaining in more detail each of them.

ideation

The first step start a startup is finding the right idea. This may sound too simple, but there are several factors to take into account.

Once the Business Opportunity have comeIt is necessary to raise the following questions: This idea solves a current problem? It is innovative? There is already a similar idea in the market? If so, what distinguishes my idea? It's my idea better than the existing ones?

If the answers to these questions were positive and are confident of the potential of business involved, then the next step is validate your idea with third parties. Despite being convinced of success that your idea can achieve does not mean that other people share the same opinion. At this stage you should present your idea only to people you trust in order to avoid the risk of stealing the idea. Within this confidence branch out to family and close friends.

Depending on the responses obtained, you can pick up with your idea or they change it or abandon it.

The main challenges of this phase will focus on the individual and on the idea. On a personal level, will be faced with uncertainties about their entrepreneurial capacity and risks to take into this world. However, keep in mind that sometimes big risks lead to big rewards. About the idea, the main challenge is in fact get a innovative idea and to arouse interest in potential customers.

At this stage quite embryonic, it is not common that entrepreneurs start establishing contacts with entities providing the assistance startups. However, entities that stand out at this stage are incubators, national and international institutions to support startups and consulting firms.

design

After receiving the first confirmation of the potential of the business, it is necessary to draw up a plan as detailed as possible. Although it can be a bit dull for many entrepreneurs, is an essential step in start a startup.

Therefore, you must determine how you will create the product or provide the service, identify the target audience, partners and competition on the market to work. intensive research on these aspects is important because the more information gathered, the better will be its analysis. Another advantage of this research is refining his idea in order to get a product that really stands out in the market to be inserted.

With these already consolidated information will have to develop model and business plan. These documents are extremely important because in addition to helping to shape the business, drive the entrepreneur in these first steps, making clear the starting point of this and where to arrive.

O business plan It is a document that describes all the steps that involve or are part of the business and this can be decisive in presentations to potential investors, partners or associates, these being also initiated at this time.

O main challenge this phase is in fact the correct preparation of model and business plan. Because of its great importance, the lack of entrepreneurial experience can be problematic to ensure that these documents is all the necessary information and at the same time, be catchy to attract the entities or individuals mentioned above.

At this stage, it is common for help in the entities intended to startups, Highlighting incubators, accelerators, national and international institutions to support startups and consulting firms.

Company Establishment

Open a company It is a complex journey. Prepare and complete all necessary documents is a major step towards establish a business from success. One should deal with the legal aspects of startup as soon as possible, especially if you have been made the first presentations to interested potential. This is because these individuals or entities that bet in your business, have a preference for those that are already legalized and founded.

Another reason to address this issue in these early stages of their startup bureaucracy is because address can be a big headache and tends to get worse in the later stages.

You must choose a name for the startup that is not registered, choose the legal structure that best fits the type of company and the integral market, opening a bank account, check the requirements for starting a business in the country concerned, among many other points that are needed to cover.

Also it is common presentations to investors in order to get the financing necessary for the opening of the company, if the entrepreneur has no chance to do so, and also to prepare for the next phases.

O main challenge this phase is to get all the information about what is needed to establish a companyIncluding the mandatory documentation as well as where to.

Because of its complexity, it is advised that the entrepreneur refer to entities with legal knowledge in order to get help. Within these stand out consulting firms, lawyers or even spaces as citizen store to ensure that all essential aspects are covered.

Brand management

Entrepreneurs understand that one of the most important steps towards establishment of your business It is dealing with bureaucracies. But many of them do not consider the importance of brand It is in the process of start a startup. Incidentally, brand It can be crucial to the success of this.

Good design is a first step in achieving recognition itself. It will be through the design that customers will have the first impression of the startup and your product. Therefore, it is necessary to define the entity and corporate design that best fits the context of startupCreate a logo that is clear and intuitive and the development of landing pages. Sometimes the latter is despised by entrepreneurs, but in a world increasingly digital, it is essential to be present.

This phase can be challenging for the entrepreneur, especially if it does not have a more creative aspect for the development of a design. This concept is complex because it depends not only on creativity but also strategies marketing since the goal is to create something that catches attention, is captivating and relembrável.

The entities most sought at this stage are mostly graphic design firms that specialize in this area.

Brand Protection

At this time, 4 of the 7 steps start a startup of success are made. Legal issues startup already resolved well as already implemented strategies brand management. A startup will start to gain recognition. For this reason, it is necessary to acquire the intellectual property of the product to develop as well as Brand Protection gives startup, as early as possible.

With this, the entrepreneur will have exclusive rights by preventing third parties from producing, manufacture or sell this solution developed without the permission of the owner. This also applies to the logo or image and brand name. It is a solution often used to deal with competition.

There are several types of protectionsFrom patents up to copyright, the costs, duration and rules vary in each. It is up to the entrepreneur to decide which are the best to buy according to their possibilities and needs.

The difficulty at this stage is to get advice as to which or what protections are needed before the type of startup in question and which necessary documents and where it comes to this kind of issues.

Again, the entities contacted at this stage stand out consulting firms, lawyers or even places like the store the citizen.

Development

It's time to put the idea into practice. This is the strictest phase which will be dedicated more resources (whether financial, material or temporal) and called for a time management and constant work team.

If you do not already have one work team and not have the necessary skills to develop the product alone, should consider hiring human resources, experienced preferably in the area in question to help you.

It should also define the kind of development you want to later bring to market. You can choose an MVP or a prototype, analyzing what that best suits startup.

Over development You must make numerous tests, preferably with real customers for later adaptation as the feedback received. This does not mean that the concept of your idea will be completely changed, just refined to ensure the quality of the product.

The the greatest challenges found here are related to compliance with deadlines and costs defined in the previous phase. The reasons for this happening are several and may be the occurrence of unanticipated, poor time management, lack of communication between the project team resulting in mismanagement of this, among others.

At this stage of the process start a startup, The need for help has increased considerably. Consequently, the demand for assistance increases and the main are incubators, accelerators and technology companies (if the startup is technological character) and specialists in the area in question.

Market launch

The last phase for start a startup it's the launch of the product on the market previously developed and able to garner clients.

Many entrepreneurs are focused almost exclusively on product development. This attitude leads to forget the importance of the marketing for business growth.

Marketing It goes far beyond sales and advertising. This includes an in-depth market analysis in order to choose the best strategies to adopt to achieve the desired audience. There are several types of marketingFrom email to the digital, and it is for the entrepreneur and responsible team to determine what is the best according to the defined objectives.

As in phase development where product testing is essential at this stage is also a need for monitoring of results and continuous optimization of the strategies to adopt. This is because the resulting today can no longer work as well tomorrow.

The main challenges directions at this stage is to determine the best action plan then to create an impact after its launch and maintain a growing number of customers acquired as linear as possible.

At this stage, marketing and accelerator companies are the main sought entities by startups.

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