From Idea to Execution: The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Starting a Successful Venture
By Dr. Saarthak Bakshi
Having an idea for a new business venture is exciting, but transforming that idea into a real, successful operating company is a long journey. It requires careful planning, sustained effort, and a structured approach. Here are some key steps every entrepreneur should follow when taking a concept and turning it into an actual new business:
Validate the Idea
Before investing too much time and money, make sure there is a market need for your product or service. Do market research by surveying potential customers about their pain points and whether your idea addresses them. Also analyze the competition and potential market size.
Develop a Business Plan
Put together a comprehensive business plan that outlines your value proposition, target market, marketing strategy, operational requirements, financial projections, and more. This acts as a roadmap and pitching tool for potential investors.
Build a Minimum Viable Product
Create a basic prototype or minimum viable version of your product/service that you can get in front of early customers. Their feedback will be invaluable for refining and improving the offering.
Secure Funding
Bringing your vision to reality requires capital. Explore funding options like self-funding, loans, angel investors, venture capital firms, etc. Each path has pros and cons to consider.
Establish the Legal Structure
Decide on and set up a legal business entity like an LLC, partnership or corporation. Secure necessary licenses, tax IDs, trademarks, etc. Consult professionals as needed.
Develop the Product/Service
With funding secured, build out and refine your minimum viable offering into a polished final product or service ready for full commercialization.
Marketing/Branding Efforts
Establish a strong brand identity through logos, messaging, websites and marketing campaigns. Get the word out through PR, content marketing, ads, events and more.
Build the Team
Often you can’t do it all alone. Establish roles needed and hire the required workforce with the necessary skills and experience. Develop an organizational structure and culture.
Launch and Continuous Improvement
After all the preparation, it’s finally time to open your doors to customers and start generating revenue. Closely monitor performance and keep iterating to increase product/market fit.
The road of an entrepreneur is rarely straight and narrow. It’s filled with unexpected twists, turns and obstacles. But by methodically moving from idea to execution through purposeful stages, you can maximize your chances of getting a new successful venture off the ground.
(The author is Dr. Saarthak Bakshi, Healthcare Entrepreneur and CEO of RiSAA IVF, and the views expressed in this article are his own)
