navigating the early stage startup journey

10 steps to grow your startup and put yourself on the right track to business success.

Many people start new businesses, but only a small percentage of early stage startup companies survive and become successful. That’s why it's important to get the right tips and advice on how to navigate the early-stage journey.

Luckily there are many experienced entrepreneurs who are willing to share their experience with managing early stage companies and how to navigate the growth stage, pivot and scale. This can make it easier to avoid common pitfalls, and be more prepared to ensure startup success. 

People like Tim Marting, Co-founder and COO of Citizen Remote, who generously shared with us his insights and experiences on starting a successful startup.

Tim’s number one piece of advice for growing a startup is commitment. “Startups take a long time to turn a profit and you should expect to not make money yourself for at least 18 months”, says Tim. Being prepared for this and managing your own expectations, can help you stay committed for the long-haul.

Some of the factors for success include having a well-planned business strategy and vision for growth and scaling, being flexible and adaptive to change, and having the right systems and processes in place to grow.

In this article, we'll take you through 10 steps to grow your startup. First though, we present a useful checklist for startup success which you can use when you’re planning a new enterprise. 

Before getting started: a checklist for success

According to Tim Marting, navigating the early stage startup journey is not easy and can be a stressful and bump ride. Tim’s advice is:

Tim also says that it’s important to be flexible and to remember enjoy life outside your startup too. 

Here are a few questions you may want to consider as a checklist for success when starting your venture:

• Where will you register your company? This decision may impact the amount of taxes you pay, where you pay taxes, the type of funding you’re eligible for, and what markets you can operate within. For example, if you choose to register your company in Estonia, you may be able to take advantage of its tax competitiveness, startup network and funding opportunities, and access the largest single marketplace on Earth: the EU. 
• What type of business or legal entity will you register? Depending on which country you register your business in, you will have different legal structures to choose from. For example, depending on whether you register a limited company or other type of entity, there will be different criteria, fees, and legal implications for each. Make sure you do proper research and look at all your options. In Estonia, you can start a company 100% online and run your business 24/7 remotely with e-⁠Residency. It’s also very quick, affordable and easy to register a company in Estonia. 
• What legal requirements do you need to comply with to register and operate your business? Choosing a legal entity comes with a range of legal and financial implications. It’s advisable to do your homework and make sure that you know the full implications and requirements of registering a business in whichever country you choose. You may have tax and financial reporting requirements, and the responsibility to follow a wide range of different laws and standards, depending on your industry and the nature of your business. 
• What legal risks exist and how can you minimise those? Navigating all the risks and challenges your company may face can be onerous. It’s important to recognise risks that your business may face, so that you can minimise or mitigate them. For example, you may need to register a patent on one of the products you’re selling, without which your business could be replicated by a competitor. 
• What challenges do you face and how can you overcome those? Try to pinpoint what risks, challenges and barriers you will face so you can manage those proactively. For Tim Marting, “ the biggest challenges I've noticed usually arise when there's a misaligned understanding of the direction of the startup at the founder level. The biggest thing which will resolve this is trust in who your fellow founders are, and what they want. I'm talking about at a personal level. Business is personal and your founders become part of your family, so understanding them on a personal level is important to ensure everyone is aligned. If you can trust that you're part of a team and lift each other up instead of tearing each other down, you'll find these challenges are usually resolved.”

10 steps to growing your startup

Below are 10 steps for startup founders to grow early-stage companies from pre-seed stage to exit.

1. Set goals for business growth

Every business needs to have a clear plan of where it’s headed and what it wants to achieve. 

Articulating your goals, vision, mission and strategy can help you put in place the structures and processes to achieve those goals and targets. 

2. Develop your product or service offering

Spending time developing and testing your product or service offering is also an important aspect of any startup. This allows you time to validate your idea, innovate, and pivot or adapt where needed. After all, you want to make sure that there’s a good product market fit.

Depending on your product or service may include having to establish your manufacturing processes, setting up supply chains, and hiring consultants. 

3. Focus on your customers

When there’s so much focus on growing and scaling, it can be challenging to keep your eye on the ball and focus on your customers. Startups need to make sure that they put enough focus on retaining customers and ensuring customer loyalty. After all, your early adopters can be invaluable ambassadors for your products and services, and help you to improve on your offerings. 

It’s important to therefore make sure that you put enough effort into enhancing the customer experience. This can be done by looking at reviews, asking customers for feedback, and personalising the customer journey. It also helps to maintain engagement with customers, which can be done through newsletters and social media channels, and to provide opportunities for customers to engage with your brand. 

Focusing on your customers' satisfaction, also requires good customer service. If you’re able to meet and exceed expectations, you’re likely to have customers recommend your product or service to others. This is essentially free advertising! And it can result in repeat business.

To help you retain your existing customers, you may want to consider implementing some kind of customer loyalty program. 

4. Hire the right people 

When you're developing your startup, your staff component may be lean, but their impact is what will determine the success of the startup. 

It’s important to have the right team in place who are willing to dedicate their time and skills towards helping the business grow and succeed. Hiring the right people can help you fast track growth. 

Tim Marting continues, “before there's a product or service, it has to be created - your team is who will be creating it. Many startups survive or die purely because of who is involved. If there are conflicting goals or levels of commitment or desire, it's likely your startup won't succeed.”

Hiring people who have the skills, experience, and networks to help the business grow and scale can be invaluable. It’s also good to bear in mind that investors will be looking at your staff and their skills when deciding whether to invest in your business, making it even more important to have a highly skilled, diverse and capable team. 

Hiring people who can start working independently without much training can also help you reduce onboarding costs and time, helping you to be more productive. 

Putting together a team may include hiring business partners, freelancers, or consultants. When creating your team, don’t forget about being intentional when it comes to cultivating your company culture.

5. Ensure a reliable and resilient supply chain

Part of planning for your startup’s resilience and sustainability, is the need to ensure a reliable, sustainable and resilient supply chain. 

Businesses need to have a plan for where they will source all the products and services, raw materials, manufacturing processes, and logistics they require to effectively and efficiently sell their products and services. 

In addition, companies need to have a plan for how to deal with supply chain disruptions, which are increasingly prevalent given geo-political and climate change related happenings. 

This may include having a range of different suppliers, building relationships with other organisations in the same industry, and incorporating sustainability into supply chains. 

6. Network

Networking has the power to connect your team and business with others who may have the knowledge, skills, or resources to help your business grow and succeed. 

Networking can lead to partnerships, innovation and can unlock opportunities for collaboration and funding. It provides an opportunity for you to connect with others in your sector and provides a chance to learn from others’ who’ve been involved in startups and the processes and challenges you’re going through. People who you network with may be able to help you navigate the startup journey by mentoring you, or providing invaluable insights or introductions. 

Networking with the startup community in your town or city can help you meet other entrepreneurs, startup founders, and business mentors. Networking is an opportunity to connect with useful resources such as opportunities for investment and startup funding. 

Networking can also help you understand the local environment in which your business operates much better, and you may learn about trends and upcoming changes in policy that may affect your business. 

According to Tim Marting, networking can play a big role in growing a startup, particularly if you want to fundraise. “If you're looking to fundraise, your network will be crucial”, he says.

For e-residents, we recommend getting to know our official e-⁠Residency Envoys or Community Leaders - experienced e-⁠residents and successful business founders with Estonian companies.

7. Develop strategic partnerships 

In addition to networking, it can be beneficial to develop strategic partnerships with other people and organisations. 

Whether you partner with suppliers, find a business mentor, or partner with other organisations in your sector or industry, there are many benefits of developing alliances and partnerships. 

You may find ways of collaborating, sharing resources, or co-developing a new product or service offer.

8. Attract startup funding

Tim Marting has some valuable advice when it comes to attracting startup funding. Tim says that:

Having a prototype or MVP will also be helpful for gaining customer feedback and market validation at the early stage.

When it comes to financing your startup, there are many different approaches and options. Many entrepreneurs and founders like to bootstrap their startups if they can, or take out small business loans to cover some of their early expenses. 

“If you're bootstrapping, your team and the quality of your product, and ability to market it will likely be more important than a strong network”, says Tim.

Another popular option to finance your startup, is to take part in a business accelerator program, or incubator lab that can provide you with access to mentors, training, service and guidance on how to start and grow your business. 

Crowdfunding is yet another option that can help you cover some of your startup costs. And some entrepreneurs are lucky enough to win startup competitions that provide access to startup funding, mentoring and other resources. 

Once your startup is at the stage where you’re ready to scale, you may want to look for angel investors or venture capital investments – or other types of funding that can allow you to focus on growing and scaling. That includes seed funding to grow your startup.

When it comes to attracting funding for your startup (particularly tech startups), Estonia is a popular choice for many reasons. According to Tim, “Estonia has rallied around tech companies and investing in tech companies. When you're looking to build something and find an investor, this type of environment (willing investors) is critical.”

9. Conduct solid market research (and competitor analysis)

Getting to know your target market and conducting research to reveal what they want and need can be helpful when designing your product and service offerings. 

In addition to conducting solid market research, the early stage journey is also about discovering your competitors and what they offer, to help you create your unique value proposition and distinguish yourself in the market. 

Competitor research is a vital part of any startup journey and helps you create a robust business plan. 

10. Plan for growth and scaling

The startup journey can be complex. On the one hand you’re trying to figure out your niche and unique value proposition. And on the other hand you’re trying to secure funding that will allow you to grow. But, at the same time, you need to have a clear and holistic vision of what growth and scaling your business looks like, so that you can achieve that.

Planning for growth and scaling requires you to step back and take a birds eye view look at how all aspects of your business will transform. You need to figure out what staff roles and positions you need or can afford, what your infrastructure needs will be, what your budgets and funding can support, how you’ll manage your supply chain (and any bottlenecks), and how you’ll find and retain talent.  

What makes Estonia a great place to establish a startup?

So, what makes Estonia a great place to establish a startup? 

There are many reasons. Among them is the fact that Estonia is ranked among the best places in the world for its startup ecosystem. It’s also known for having a business-friendly environment with world-class government e-services that make it easy to run a business remotely and online from anywhere in the world. 

In addition, Estonia is one of the most tax-competitive countries in the world. And, according to Martin Goroško, there’s something “magical” happening in Estonia when it comes to startups and the sheer number of unicorns per capita.

Estonia is a place known for its home-grown entrepreneurial culture. And, the Estonian e-Residency program helps foreign entrepreneurs start their business startups in Estonia with ease, providing access to the vibrant venture capital (VC) and angel community in Estonia and as well as funding and mentoring programmes. 

Known as a startup powerhouse, Estonia and it’s e-Residency programme provides access to the EU market, a business-friendly environment, unrivalled growth opportunities, and a flourishing startup scene with supportive business networks and access to funding opportunities. 

Final thoughts on taking your startup to the next level 

The early stage journey is important, as it sets the stage for growth and scaling of your business. Above are 10 steps to help you navigate the early stage startup journey so that your business is ready to succeed. 

As you plan for success and growth, make sure you have a clear vision for your business future, and that you have the systems, process and supply chain networks in place to scale. Plus, ensure that you are able to secure the funding and talent needed to grow. 

While you’re establishing your startup, you’ll need to conduct market research, competitor research, and be laser-focused on your customers, while also networking with other entrepreneurs and business networks. 

This article was written by guest contributor and seasoned digital nomad Andy Stofferis (www.andysto.com).