Key points
- Building a start-up on solid ground rests on several pillars: concept, profitability, organisation, communication and priorities.
- The first pillar is the idea, combining creativity to stand out and quality to remain credible.
- Profitability is essential; fundraising must come after the product has been designed, with grants preferable before that stage.
- Organisation relies on choosing competent, complementary and motivated partners, and on strong team cohesion.
- Effective communication aims to make you known and to turn prospects into customers through targeted channels.
- You need to stay focused on your priorities, listen to customers and keep adapting your offer.
Setting up a startup is an exciting venture. A symbol of innovation and boldness, it is a chance to show what you can do. To get from “Start” to “Up”, however, you will need method and a number of pillars… Concept, organisation, profitability, communication, innovation… Here is a look at the pillars that will make your startup a success.
The right concept
The very first pillar of a startup is, naturally, the idea. Whether it is a product or a service, concept and innovation are central. The aim is to combine creativity, to stand out, and quality, to remain credible. The right product for the right customer at the right time is the key objective before setting up a startup and, to that end, you will need to keep a forward-looking mindset while taking account of how people actually behave.
Sufficient profitability
Funding is not necessarily the top-priority pillar, but it remains essential to start a business. Economic impact is a major point for any startup, and more precisely profitability. Fundraising will give the startup credibility, since it will confirm that an investor sees value in its model. At a later stage, revenue growth and financing capacity will give it weight. But be careful! Fundraising must happen at the right time to have the intended effect, that is after the product has been designed, to speed up its launch. Before the product is designed, it is preferable to apply for grants.
This pillar also rests on the business model, that is the plan on which the company relies to make a profit.
Organisation and cohesion
Having a good product backed by clear objectives is a major point, but without a coherent organisation the project could not succeed. This organisation rests first on the choice of partners and/or the team who will deliver these objectives. It is essential to choose people who are competent and, naturally, motivated. Their skills must be complementary and the people chosen must pull in the same direction and show strong motivation. As you will have understood, the project only stands a chance of succeeding with strong team cohesion. The company’s leaders must therefore create momentum in which the teams take part as true ambassadors of the startup. Organisation is all the more crucial because it lies at the heart of the company’s business model. Optimising it depends on managing time and launch operations.
Effective and consistent communication
A startup’s first objective is clearly to stand out and attract new customers. Communication is one way to achieve this. Here, communication is an essential driver of visibility with the target audience. The goal is to attract prospects and turn them into customers. The first step is therefore to make yourself known through the main channels where your audience is, online and in person. In this context, a startup has every interest in creating its own identity to stand out from the competition. The marketing strategy then focuses on launching products or services to grow the customer base while segmenting it according to the products offered. This involves targeted communication campaigns on social media to broaden your audience. This strategy improves gradually and continuously.
Staying focused on your priorities
Setting up and then running a startup is the result of constant reflection. You need to be responsive and willing to question yourself to keep up with changes in markets and customers.
In this spirit, you must listen to your customers: listen, yes, but in the right way. You should also not neglect former customers, or potential future customers.
These exchanges will also help you steer any changes to your products and services, whether new features or innovations. Customer feedback will be your best indicator. It may be obvious, but your offer must consist of products customers really want. If it does not, keep working on it to improve it. At the start, the only priority is customer contact and refining your offer, even if other matters seem important to you. Do not hesitate to use email to communicate and stay in direct contact.
Another key way to stand out: speak out on your blog or other media, share your views, become an expert in your field and a thought leader. This will give you even more credibility with your customers and prospects.
Finally, a more than fundamental point: stay informed. A start-up stands above all for innovation and, by definition, innovation evolves and is constantly moving. You therefore need to keep up with the latest trends. Accept that you must constantly question yourself: this is how you will be able to react more quickly. Review your successes, but also your failures, by looking for the causes of each result. This will also give you the opportunity to make changes.
Everything starts with an idea, a concept. During ideation, you reflect on the business model and positioning in order to identify growth prospects and a value proposition and to consolidate your initial vision. At this stage, building on your concept, you will start to bring in partners who are convinced of the project’s relevance.
The second phase is the official birth of your start-up, with the drafting of the company’s articles of association (statuts) and the completion of the various formalities, carried out with the help of a startup lawyer. At this stage you can test your concept by defining a prospecting strategy, a communication plan and the technical resources you need.
The third stage, the seed stage (amorçage), is the growth phase in which you attract customers through a marketing strategy and the development of your product. It is a phase of acceleration both for customer acquisition and for customer retention. You will also need to track various performance indicators.
Scaling is a phase of full growth in which the aim is to make your business sustainable in terms of customers, communication and marketing, but also to identify new markets and invest in tools dedicated to performance and productivity.
Finally, the last phase, and by no means the least, is expansion, which requires solid foundations, a sound strategy and a recognised offer. It is time to set out to conquer new markets, including internationally.
In conclusion, to make your start-up a success, you must always keep in mind your objectives, based on a clear vision of your project. All these pillars must be pursued together, in constant motion, so that you can always adapt to market and technological change.
This page provides general information and does not constitute legal advice: every situation is different. For a specific matter, see our company formation lawyer page.
