Have you been thinking of starting a business, but you get bogged down by the process, then you have landed to the right article. Listed below are the top 30 things to keep in mind when trying to plan and start your dream company: Product/Service: The first and foremost thing is to decide on what you plan to sell or provide to your clients. Basically, it is the idea that you want to implement. The way successful entrepreneurs approach this aspect is to solve a mass real life problem or a mass real life convenience that people didn't know they needed. Since business is something that you plan to do for a long period of time, choose a product or service that you are passionate about. This way your work doesn't feel like work but its fun to see things coming together. Sourcing of product/service: There are two options that you can either make your own product or ask a supplier for the same, but even if you are going to make your own product, in most cases you will have to get ra...

What is one of the most important skill for an entrepreneur? There are plenty of inventors in the world, one of the prominent one's being Thomas Edison, the inventor of the light bulb. Did you know that other than the incandescent light bulb, some of his other contributions to the world were the phonograph, the kinetoscope (motion picture device), the electric pen ( for duplicating hand-written documents in offices), the vitascope (a film projector), the tasimeter (a device to measure infrared radiation), and the electric power distribution system (to carry power from transmission system to individual consumers). Nikola Tesla, who is another amazing inventor of the alternative current supply system, was the mind behind inventions such as the remote control (which you use to control things wirelessly), the violet ray (a therapeutic medical device), the induction motor (yes the very same which Raju Rastogi in 3 idiots talked about), the neon lamp, the wireless telegraphy ( transmissi...

Which businesses can you start in this pandemic? A lot of us think about being an entrepreneur and the objective of an entrepreneur is to solve problems. What are you waiting for now? You have one of the biggest problems to address globally. This is the right time to start something that will really impact the lives of people. Below are a list of industries that are booming due to the coronavirus and you can start your business in any one of them. Cleaning industry: Today, the requirement for a clean work space or a clean locality has increased a lot and people want the areas where they visit to be sanitised. Sanitisation of places is a burning issue to be addressed and there is a requirement of professionals who can clean office spaces, commercial shops, hospitals, local communities and residential areas which are under the containment zones. E-learning industry: The e-learning industry is taking a new toll. With students and professionals caught up in their homes, either...

What is mezzanine financing and why are companies using it to fund expansion plans? Do you own a startup? Have you been finding new ways to borrow capital for expansion? Do you lack the collateral to borrow money from banks? I have come up to update you about this amazing source of financing which is being used by many growing startups to help them in their journey of building their companies and making an impact on this world. Before I explain to you what mezzanine financing is, let me familiarize with the below 2 terms: Senior Debt: This is the debt that holds priority over all other loans the company might have as well as over the equity shareholders. This means they get paid first when wounding up the business. Equity: They are the shareholders of the company and own shares of the company which gives them ownership for the corresponding shareholding. Equity does not carry any fixed interest and therefore has the highest cost of financing. Because even if the company...

How perspective changes the way you see numbers? What if I tell you that you are to build a company which has a sales of 24 crores every year. It seems a bit difficult to visualize, right? Do you know why because you directly saw the big picture without taking into consideration the product, the plan, and the timeline to achieve the same. Similarly, when you want to manifest big goals, breaking them down to achievable small tasks is the only way to feel that it's actually not that difficult. Let's take big basket for example. Big basket started in 2011, so it's a 9-year-old company. What if someone told Hari Menon(the founder) that you are to deliver grocery to 2 lakh houses in a month when he just started his company. He would say not today I don't have the capacity, but definitely one day. Do you know how many houses he delivers groceries to every single day? See for yourself: Clearly, delivering to 2,97,440 houses in a single day is difficult to visu...

What is affiliate marketing and how to use it for generating revenue? There are hundreds of ways that people use to earn money online. One of the ways is affiliate marketing, which usually people say is the best way to earn money even while you sleep. This is something which is being practiced all around the world and you might not even know but you are probably paying huge sums of money to these marketers. The usage of affiliate marketing is so widespread that affiliate programs are being used by individuals, small bloggers, micro-influencers, youtubers, celebrities and even big enterprises. What is affiliate marketing? Have you ever wondered while reading an article or blog post online that why do these writers include links to different products (websites, softwares, books, tools etc.) or when you watch a youtuber's video, why do they include links to all the equipments (camera, mic, gopro, gimbal, lenses etc.) they use in the description box. Well you will get...

What is scalability and why is it necessary to check this aspect when starting a new venture? The craze for being independent, escaping the 9 to 5 rat race and starting self-owned business startups has risen tremendously. The craze prevails among young as well as experienced professionals. The good thing is that a lot of people can now fulfil their dreams because all you need is an idea, since getting resources is a lot easier than before. However, there is one important aspect that one's idea should be checked for. It is scalability, yes, scalability. No one wants to limit themselves to just one particular geographical area and survive for a living. An idea should be such that there is a huge growth potential and that expanding to a new location is possible at feasible costs. A lot of people start their business and are stuck in a locality because of having a product that can be sold only to some kind of customers. For eg. If you want to sell a local cuisine which i...

What is a subscription model and how can you implement it in your business? Subscription model: It's no more about ownership, it is about access. A subscription model refers to a system wherein the customer enjoys access to a product or service by subscribing to it once and the seller receives recurring revenue until the customer decides to discontinue the usage of the product/service.  In a subscription model the customer pays according to his needs (dynamic prices) and the convenience of auto-renewal since payments are directly deducted from customer's bank account or credit card. The model focusses more on customer  retention  than customer  acquisition . This business model has already shown its success in the SaaS(software as a service) industry. Some known examples are Netflix, Spotify, Adobe. In the SaaS industry, the clients instead of purchasing the whole software pay a licensing fee and get access to updated softwares through updates throug...

When is it completely okay for your business to be in losses? Gone are the days when you could only raise fund for your business when you had positive profits. The matured startups have understood the benefit of a first mover advantage and therefore have shifted their priority from profits to revenue growth. This is because becoming a dominant player in any industry helps the company to get a larger share of the market and in return reap immensely high future rewards after break-even point. One can also notice that a large number of companies also get listed on the stock exchange with negative profits and still manage to get better valuations than those with positive profits. This makes it easier for investors to exit even when the company may be running in losses. This scenario predominantly prevails in the tech industry where organizations like OYO, Spotify, Swiggy or Uber have consistently had increased losses but their valuations have increased. Visible Growth: The v...

What is the future of marketing and how companies will know your needs even before you know it? We all come across ads on random websites and apparently the ad may relate to your recent search about a mobile phone, an air-conditioner, or simply an online course. The world has come way too far in terms of marketing but there is a lot of disruption that is still happening in the marketing domain and it is going to be all together a different experience that customers are going to witness in the coming two decades. When was the last time you read an article about a phone. Yes, I thought so, you probably would watch our beloved Technical Guruji or the handsome Marques Brownlee for a review. The companies have realised that people have started to read less and watch more. Also, videos provoke more feel than a 2d printed design on a poster. How companies will know your needs even before you know it? With all the smart wearables that exist in the market like the ...