Nairametrics
  • Home
  • Exclusives
    • Financial Analysis
    • Corporate Stories
    • Interviews
    • Investigations
    • Metrics
  • Markets
    • Cryptos
    • Commodities
    • Equities
      • Dividends
      • Stock Market
    • Fixed Income
    • Market Views
    • Securities
  • Industries
    • Company News
    • Consumer Goods
    • Content Partners
    • Corporate deals
    • Corporate Press Releases
    • Energy
    • Entertainment
    • Financial Services
    • Hospitality & Travel
    • Manufacturing
    • Real Estate and Construction
    • Tech News
  • Economy
    • Get Data
    • Macro-Economic News
    • Research Analysis
  • Business News
  • Financial Literacy
    • Career tips
    • Personal Finance
  • Lifestyle
    • Billionaire Watch
    • Profiles
  • Opinions
    • Blurb
    • Op-Eds
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Exclusives
    • Financial Analysis
    • Corporate Stories
    • Interviews
    • Investigations
    • Metrics
  • Markets
    • Cryptos
    • Commodities
    • Equities
      • Dividends
      • Stock Market
    • Fixed Income
    • Market Views
    • Securities
  • Industries
    • Company News
    • Consumer Goods
    • Content Partners
    • Corporate deals
    • Corporate Press Releases
    • Energy
    • Entertainment
    • Financial Services
    • Hospitality & Travel
    • Manufacturing
    • Real Estate and Construction
    • Tech News
  • Economy
    • Get Data
    • Macro-Economic News
    • Research Analysis
  • Business News
  • Financial Literacy
    • Career tips
    • Personal Finance
  • Lifestyle
    • Billionaire Watch
    • Profiles
  • Opinions
    • Blurb
    • Op-Eds
No Result
View All Result
Nairametrics
No Result
View All Result
Home Business News

Setting goals for your startup – what you need to know (PART 2)

Raheem Adebayo by Raheem Adebayo
December 9, 2019
in Business News
Setting goals for your startup - what you need to know (PART 2)
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Linkedin

Running for the sake of running feels like a solid idea, but if you have a specific route and destination in mind, you’ll perform a lot better. This way, you’ll know exactly where you have to go. And you’ll always feel that you are going towards something important.

Startup businesses work the same way. Setting startup goals will keep you moving forward, and on the way, you’ll experience great things.

Motivation

As you start meeting your short-term goals in the first year of your startup business, not only you but your team will also feel a sense of achievement. This will fuel your passions, enabling you to strengthen your operations and refine your methods – plus you’ll also get an added boost to reach the next goal.

RelatedPosts

Wema Bank PLC to organize a webinar on renewable energy for SMEs

Nigerian SMEs need technology-driven solutions to boost growth opportunities- Q-Shop founder

Entrepreneur, Multiple businesses, Nigeria partners UAE to boost SMEs , US technology company deploys software to ease business process in Nigeria 
Fashion Designer In Studio

You’ll learn how to prioritize

When you set specific goals, it becomes a lot easier to make day-to-day decisions for your business. You will automatically learn where to focus and prioritize in order to achieve the goals you have set. And afterwards, it will become clearer which options will help you achieve long-term goals.

Long-term vision and direction will become obvious

The goals you set and achieve in the first year will ultimately help you with long-term vision and direction. You’ll know exactly where to go after you’ve successfully managed to hit first-year goals for your startup.

News continues after this ad


[READ MORE: Setting goals for your startup – what you need to know (Part 1)]

Business Goal #1: Minimum Viable Product

TIMELINE: AS SOON AS POSSIBLE

MVPs help entrepreneurs and corporate entrepreneurs outsmart the odds of failure by compartmentalizing big decisions – and big risks – into a series of smaller ones. Your minimum viable product is the earliest version of the product you build. Getting the first iteration “out there” should be the first thing on your list when you begin setting business goals for your early-stage startup. By fleshing out the leanest version possible of your product, you are able to get feedback in a more timely manner.

News continues after this ad


Your MVP should be rough around the edges – maybe even a little embarrassing – but functional enough that you can use it to figure out what you should work on next, based on user feedback.

Business Goal #2: Private Beta Launch

TIMELINE: AS SOON AS MVP IS READY

Once you have your MVP, you’ll need to get some feedback. One of the best ways to get that feedback is by offering a limited amount of users access to your products via private beta. This should be second on your list of business goals. The customers who see your product in private beta should be invite-only. They’re your core group – the people who need your product – because you’re going to rely on them to give you feedback as you work out the bugs.

Business Goal #3: Key Hire

TIMELINE: AFTER PRIVATE BETA

So, you’ve built an MVP, tested it out in private beta, and maybe you’ve started redesigning and/or iterating — but you’re not quite ready to go public yet. This is a great time to bring in a key hire, someone who can take your company to the next level. You’ve proven the need for product, if not quite found product/market fit, and you’re ready to make it awesome. Bring in the help — you’re going to need it.

Business Goal #4: Redesign / Iteration

TIMELINE: AFTER PRIVATE BETA FEEDBACK

The design-feedback-iterate-redesign-feedback-iterate cycle is one that should be ongoing throughout your startup’s life. However, when it comes to business goals, the first redesign and iteration need to happen immediately after you get feedback from your private beta users.

Examples of questions you should ask are:

  • What’s the biggest issue they’re facing?
  • What keeps coming up again and again?
  • What are they asking for, either directly or via complaints? 

Business Goal #5: Public Beta Launch

TIMELINE: WHEN YOUR PRODUCT IS USABLE AND YOU’VE PREPPED FOR PUBLIC CONSUMPTION

Think you’re ready to launch into public beta? Ask yourself if you’ve done private tests, prepped for a potential PR swarm, and made sure your technology can handle it if you get a bunch of new users. However, don’t ask yourself if your product is “perfect.” (Pro-tip: It’s not — and it never will be.)

Business Goal #6: Major Milestone

TIMELINE: WITHIN TWO YEARS OF PUBLIC BETA

After your public beta launch, you’re going to be in the redesign-feedback-iteration cycle for a while as you figure out how to best refine your product. Within two years of launching, one of your business goals should be to hit at least one major milestone. That milestone is something you and your team should set together and it should focus on traction – i.e. customers, clicks, downloads – or profitability.

[READ ALSO: Here are 10 actions that can make you a successful investor]

CBN Entrepreneur loan, 7 Tips for Financing Your New Business, SMEDAN invests N103.5 million in Sokoto entrepreneurs  

Business Goal #7: First Investment Round

TIMELINE: WHEN YOU CAN PROVE YOU’RE WORTH IT

If you’re going to convince people to give you money, you better have a compelling argument — and it better be backed up by data. Your first investment round – or “seed round” – shouldn’t be attempted until you’ve checked off everything on the list above. It’s the last thing on your list of business goals for early-stage startups.

“Investors write checks when the idea they hear is compelling when they are persuaded that the team of founders can realize its vision and that the opportunity described is real and sufficiently large,” Geoff Ralston writes in A Guide to Seed Fundraising.

“Therefore, founders should raise money when they have figured out what the market opportunity is and who the customer is, and when they have delivered a product that matches their needs and is being adopted at an interestingly rapid rate.”

Ultimately, there are no strict rules for business goals or milestones for early-stage startups because, like snowflakes, every startup is different. But it always helps to have a little guidance along the way, so we hope that this loose outline of business goals helps.

Related

Tags: Minimum Viable ProductSetting goals for your startupSMEsStartups

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

inq
avatrade
Stanbic bank
Mega Millions
UBN
Hot forex
Access Bank
Bankers Committee
First bank






    Business News | Stock Market | Money Market | Cryptos | Financial Literacy | SME |

    Recent News

    • Half year 2022: Dangote, BUA Cement spend N174 billion on fuel, power amidst rising inflation
    • Quoted companies pass cost to customers, report N5.2 trillion revenues in first half of 2022
    • Nigeria Data Protection Bureau probes UBA, Philips Consulting, for alleged data breach

    Follow us on social media:

    Recent News

    Buy what? Dangote vs BUA Cement

    Half year 2022: Dangote, BUA Cement spend N174 billion on fuel, power amidst rising inflation

    August 16, 2022
    Quoted companies pass cost to customers, report N5.2 trillion revenues in first half of 2022

    Quoted companies pass cost to customers, report N5.2 trillion revenues in first half of 2022

    August 16, 2022
    • ABOUT US
    • CONTACT US
    • PRODUCTS
    • ANDROID APP
    • iOS APP
    • DISCLAIMER
    • CAREERS
    • PRIVACY POLICY

    © 2022 Nairametrics

    No Result
    View All Result
    • Home
    • Exclusives
      • Financial Analysis
      • Corporate Stories
      • Interviews
      • Investigations
      • Metrics
    • Markets
      • Cryptos
      • Commodities
      • Equities
        • Dividends
        • Stock Market
      • Fixed Income
      • Market Views
      • Securities
    • Industries
      • Company News
      • Consumer Goods
      • Content Partners
      • Corporate deals
      • Corporate Press Releases
      • Energy
      • Entertainment
      • Financial Services
      • Hospitality & Travel
      • Manufacturing
      • Real Estate and Construction
      • Tech News
    • Economy
      • Get Data
      • Macro-Economic News
      • Research Analysis
    • Business News
    • Financial Literacy
      • Career tips
      • Personal Finance
    • Lifestyle
      • Billionaire Watch
      • Profiles
    • Opinions
      • Blurb
      • Op-Eds

    © 2022 Nairametrics

    Social Media Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com