December 14, 2018 5 min read

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Here are the few things that you might want to consider as you prepare to launch your dream startup.

1. Understanding Whether Your Product is Meeting the Demand or Creating One

The key to better understand your product is to get the market validation right. Going all guns without a market validation may leave your offerings without any buyer. This is where you need to identify whether you are meeting the market demand or creating a new one.

Stick to 80% rule wherein you strive to have an honest review about offerings based on the interviews. Don’t wait to hit the 100per cent successful feedback at early stages. Check if your product is creating a demand or meeting one by validating your assumptions. These are done by interviewing experts e.g.; Industry analysts, people employed by the industry that you are jumping in, consultants, etc.

Try to remove all the possible ‘false positives’ associated with your product and get to know your product completely before it is up for the offerings.

2. Launch Timing is Very Important

A lot of startups miss out on this. But the launch timing of your product is crucial, considering the market scenario and competition. Sure, you have a great idea, but is the market ready for such change? Timing an idea is like a cherry on the top where reception of product can yield overwhelming results.

Uber came out as an implausible company having a unique business model that blends with remarkable execution. The need to get drivers into the system was during the economic slowdown. The taxi drivers were unable to reach passengers that easily and had to move around, wasting gas, looking for them. And Uber came just right in when people were looking for odd jobs and small employment opportunities.

Even YouTube came in just after the codec problem to view online videos was resolved by Adobe Flash offered. The broadband reach also witnessed a growth of over 50per cent in the USA.

3. Never Forget Your Team: Ever!

Successful businesses are built by great execution, and such massive scale execution never happens single-handedly. You will need a team who contributes their blood and sweat for your startup. When starting from scratch, the A-team is your biggest asset to brainstorm with. This is why you need to take unanimous decisions considering the whole team. This is why some decisions are elected and not selected in startups.

You are the one who’s taking an entire team along with your vision. The same works the other way round as well. Here you will need to brainstorm ideas, bounce the craziest of plans in the workplace. Launching a startup involves trial and error so you need to be patient with the team. The idea is to have a fruitful, constructive conversation happening on a regular basis with tea members to assure you stay on the same page.

4. Long-Term Vision – Short-Term Milestones

Startup demands some sort of agility. Long-term vision comprises of careful planning goes hand in hand with dedication, hard work and time. Break those tasks into small milestones and strive to accomplish them. The key is to manage all resources, including finances and make it all work for the goal that you are chasing while starting up. Implement a step-wise approach across the team to have everything work in tandem

- Ask what needs to be done to achieve a particular goal. List it out and have others in your team to follow the same approach.

- Make common boxes and chunk it to ensure efficiency.

- For each thing that you chunked, ask – ‘what needs to get done to make this happen?’ Keep a note of activities for this process until you get back to where you are currently.

5. Stay Laser Focused on Your Goals.

For all the goals you list you must create a timeline as well to achieve it. Then you implement actions that route through the tunnel of goals that you dig, again, ensuring that the team follows it as well.

Never try and compromise long-term goals for short-term profits. And being a startup you constantly evolve with every decision you make. This is why improvisation is the key to achieving milestones and making it a habit will create all the difference.

Another startup super-power is the ability to quickly pivot which the big companies lack. The startup culture offer entrepreneurs the ability to their initial idea, design choices, and product features to add/remove before launching the MVP.

Coming to the first point again, the market feedback will have founders pivoting their startup from the original idea, niche, or even market to another in pursuit of a final product.

It is a tough task for entrepreneurs to create a win-win scenario for all the stakeholders involved. This involves considering what your customers win, what your employees gain, what your investors earn. And not to forget, what you become while on the journey of scaling your startup. Commit yourself to make it better for all.