What to Know Before You Start Your Business

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Bplans.com knows a thing or two about what it takes to start a business. The Managing Editor of Bplans, Candice Landau, distills what entrepreneurs and the leadership at Palo Alto to get to what entrepreneurs need to figure out as they stand on the threshold of being business owners. It includes legal issues, working through business ideas, and resources for helping to figure out your vision.

Here is an example of the type of things you need to know before you start a business:


2. Start working through your business idea

Do your research and validate your idea:

You’re probably going to be doing this at the same time as you write your business plan.

This is why we strongly recommend starting with a one page pitch first. It’s the lean format of the business plan—the format that will allow you to adapt fastest as you progress through the startup phase. More importantly, it will allow you to play with ideas before you even start.

As you work through this section, the key things to keep in mind or figure out include:

Your business identity
The problem you are solving
Your solution to the problem (your product or service)
Your customer
The competition
The sales channels you will use to reach your target customers
Your marketing activities
Your team
Your business model (or how you will make money)
Milestones
Partners and resources

A good online course will guide you through these steps. This will include everything from conducting the market and industry research and validating your business idea, right through helping you refine your mission or vision.


Read more at:Bplans

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