When setting up a new business, one of by far the most significant concepts you’ll learn is break-even analysis, which is the amount of revenue you’ll need to cover your expenditure. Even businesses with large sales revenues can lose money if their costs aren’t covered. While break even analysis is more commonly associated with firms that sell tangible goods, it can also be used to assist establish the price of services.
Break-even analysis is an important financial statistic for every entrepreneur or small business owner to understand since it shows you exactly what you need to accomplish to recoup your initial investment. It’s a great tool to have when you’re beginning a new business because it allows you to see if your strategy is working. It also supplies you with data that you may utilise to develop your cost structure.
Lets know about the steps to do break-even analysis and its advantages and disadvantages.
The point at which total revenue and total cost are equal is known as the break-even point. Break-even analysis calculates the number of units or revenue required to cover your company’s entire costs. You are neither losing or gaining money at the break-even point, but all of your business’s expenses will have been paid. The sales earned by your company after striking even are pure profit. Simply put, break-even analysis helps you figure out when your business – or a new product or service – will start making money, and it’s also used by investors to figure out when they’ll recoup their investment and start making money.
When developing a new product, it’s a good idea to run a break-even analysis, especially if it’s a high-cost endeavour. Finally, whenever you make a change to your business – such as introducing a new sales channel or switching your distribution plan – your costs can drastically change, so a break-even study is always a smart idea.
Use the following formula to compute the break-even point in units:
Break-Even point (units) = Fixed Costs (Sales price per unit – Variable costs per unit)
In dollars using the formula: Fixed Costs/Contribution Margin = Break-Even Point (sales dollars)
You’ll need some information before you start your break-even analysis. Assume you’re conducting research for a potential new product. Make a list of all your expenditures and expenses related to that product, including premises, resources and supply costs, tool or equipment costs, and costs for paying personnel to make the product and prepare it for shipping.
You’ll also need to be aware of two other details first, the price range you’re considering, which starts at $0.00 and second, start with none and work your way up to the maximum quantity you think you’ll be able to sell.
The steps to determining break-even are as follows:
Step 1. Calculate variable unit costs: Calculate the variable costs of making one unit of this product. The costs connected with creating the product or purchasing it wholesale are known as variable costs. If you’re manufacturing a product, you’ll need to know how much all of the elements are going to cost. If you’re printing books, for example, your variable unit costs are the cost of paper, binding, and glue for one book, as well as the cost of putting one book together.
Step 2.Evaluate fixed expenses: Fixed costs are costs that must be met in order for your business to continue to operate, even if no items are produced. Add up the costs of running your factory for a month to determine fixed costs. Rent or mortgage, utilities, security, non-production employee pay, and any other costs would be included. Don’t forget about the costs of designing the product and packaging, creating a prototype, and possibly patenting your invention.
Step 3.Establish a unit selling price for your goods: Set a unit selling price for your product. As you determine your break-even threshold, this price may fluctuate.
Step 4.Determine the number of units sold and the price per unit: As the product’s total sales and unit price fluctuate, the break-even point will shift.
Step 5.Make a spreadsheet: To perform a break-even analysis, you’ll need to create or utilise a spreadsheet, which you’ll then convert into a graph. The sheet will draw break-even points for each number of sales and product cost, as well as a graph displaying break-even points for each of these costs and volume of sales.
1. Break-even analysis provides you with a far more solid foundation on which to offer your products. Analyze your current financial condition to determine how patient you can be in order to reach your break-even point.
2. Break-even analysis is generally a significant component of business strategies when it comes to obtaining capital. You’ll probably need to undertake a break-even analysis if you want to secure finance for your business or start-up. Furthermore, a modest break-even point will likely make you more comfortable with the idea of taking on further debt or funding.
3. Some company concepts aren’t meant to be pursued in the first place. Break-even analysis can help you reduce risk by eliminating unprofitable projects or business units.
4. A break-even analysis can also be a useful tool for establishing realistic target sales for your crew. It’s always easier to settle on revenue targets if you have a specific amount and a timetable in mind.
Break-even Analysis – Disadvantages
1. Break-even analysis is most useful for businesses with only one price point. Break-even analysis may be too simplistic for your purposes if you have many products with numerous pricing. Furthermore, keep in mind that costs can fluctuate, so your break-even threshold may need to be re-evaluated and altered in the future.
2. However a break-even analysis can tell you when you’ll break even, it can’t tell you how probable it is to happen. Furthermore, demand is volatile, so even if you believe there is a huge untapped market, your break-even threshold may be much higher than you anticipated.
3. Another drawback of a break-even analysis is that opponents aren’t taken into account. New entries to the market may have an impact on demand for your items or force you to adjust your prices, affecting your break-even point.
A break-even analysis isn’t created in a bubble, of course. If you’re introducing a new product that no one has ever seen before, you have no idea how big the market will be or when competitors will appear. But it does provide a starting point for your quest for the “best” pricing for your purchase. Overall, knowing the advantages and disadvantages of Break-even analysis, it’s ideal to combine a break-even analysis with other profitability measures like net profit margin to get the most accurate picture of your company’s financial health.
FAQs
What is break-even analysis?
The break-even analysis lets you determine what you need to sell, monthly or annually, to cover your costs of doing business.
Is break-even analysis good or bad?
Break-even analysis is beneficial because it reduces the danger of going out of business due to a financial shortage. Because cash flow problems are the leading cause of business failure, knowing that there would be no negative cash flow makes the investment more safer.
What will cause the break-even point to decrease?
The break-even point can be reduced by increasing the average contribution margin earned on each sale.
Is it better to have a higher or lower break-even point?
A low breakeven point indicates that the company will begin to profit sooner, whereas a high breakeven point indicates that more products or services must be sold to reach that point.
How do you calculate break-even points?
Break-Even point (units) = Fixed Costs (Sales price per unit – Variable costs per unit)
In dollars using the formula: Fixed Costs/Contribution Margin = Break-Even Point (sales dollars)
This article has been contributed By Misbah Quadri, Founder and CEO, Monofys Media.
I remember the day when I was selected from school, as part of the Gifted and Talented program to attend ‘smart classes’ at Oxford University. I was apprehensive, my mind refusing to emerge from its hibernation mode, my eyes peeping from behind my woolen hat from time to time, like a turtle swinging its neck out from under its shell, trying my best to avoid all eye contact. Seated in the large sessions hall, I was unsure of what to expect next, unaware of who the others around me would be and unwilling to let my vulnerability show, by communicating with anyone around or asking for help. Slowly, the room began filling up and by the time it was time for the lecture to commence, the room was neatly packed with 50 odd students, hailing from different parts of the United Kingdom, all chosen for their exceptional work and more importantly, for their obsessive devotion towards the subject – English Literature. By the end of the first day, I was more at ease with this new bunch of students than I had ever before been in life. And just like that, by the end of the one month program, we had become a community! The one thing that had brought us close together seamlessly was our joint fondness for the subject as well as our combined efforts, teamwork, intention of learning, unlearning and making the most of the opportunity at hand. At the risk of sounding too poetic… our common interest and like mindedness bound us like the pearls of a necklace. I felt like I was home.
That was one of the first few chapters of my life when I was introduced to the feeling of being part of a community. Ofcourse, we are all parts of different communities in our own ways – be it by being born in to a particular religion, sect, nationality, race, political group or even that of growing up to opposing all of these. There are endless categories upon which communities are built. And they are all woven together by the foundation of a shared interest, collective efforts, sense of being rewarded, appreciated and acknowledged. I, as the founder of a startup am in the process of building a community around the shared interests of professionals seeking to engage and build with as a team in the corporate fraternity.
There are a few points I have kept in mind to ensure that I am able to create something substantial which adds value to the lives of those that are choosing to be a part of this circle of trust.
Be clear about the intrinsic aim and overarching objective of the community
First things first – it is crucial to know exactly why is the community being formed. Running around in circles, aimlessly, without a set objective will not only not serveany purpose but will also result in a waste of time, resources and energy into building something which will invariably fizzle out. A common destination warrants the construction of a road ahead for all those who are part of the journey. Think of plugging in the core offering or the end goal of your startup in order to build a conducive ecosystem for all team members.
Don’t plan too far ahead
While a lot of successful people will advise you to have a solid plan in hand before you build an entity, I am of the belief that planning too far ahead in life personally or professionally results in artificial glory which lacks the charm of a raw, natural, neutral backdrop. No matter how well prepared you are in life, you can never really anticipate the upheavels that are bound to cross your path. It’s great to have the basics in place, but let the rest flow naturally – at its own rhythm. A thriving community formed by a startup demands embodying originality, freshness and ingenuity.
Humans require appreciation and acknowledgement to flourish
Any community can best operate only when its members feel appreciated for their efforts and for their loyalty. Arranging regular award programs for those contributing on a steady beat and publicly earmarking milestone events in the progress of the community members will ensure that the group feels positively charged, energized and excited while feeling valued for adding value. Keep in mind that particularly in the post Covid era, we are looking at digital platforms (like Whatsapp, Zoom, Skype, Telegram, Clubhouse, etc) serving as the community binders. This makes your job equally easy and tough – balance is key.
Consistency is queen
You can offer priceless resources to the community members but if it is done only at intervals and not on a daily or timed basis, then your efforts are as good as (or as inadequate as) an umbrella during a tsunami. Being looked upon as dependable and inventive are key pillars of a well-functioning community.
Identify torchbearers of the community and delegate duties
No one person can ever achieve the collective goal of a community. One of the most underrated features of putting together a community is delegation of duties. Bifurcate roles and identify key participants of the community and hand over some of the critical roles to these members in order to encourage participation from the others as well as to ensure smooth operations of the group.
Conclusion
The last two years have been nothing less than a learning curve. It is quite sublime to recount how each one of us managed to evolve to take on roles and responsibilities in our individual capacities in ways, unimaginable in the pre-2020 era. There were tears, there was joy – there were mostly tears. But knowing that we were all in this together, somehow kept us going, despite the odds stacked against us. Covid has been a spectacular reminder of how a community can help us cross even the most agonizing tightropes of life.
In 2020, the normal lives of all the people in the world came to a standstill for more than half of the year. While some countries came out of it in a jiffy and some unfortunate ones like India and US got rattled by a second wave. The world economy was undergoing unprecedented challenges with everything tumbling down and nothing working as per plans. One can say that Covid-19 has affected every walk of our life in one way or the other.
Even in these uncertain times, certain startups managed to become unicorns. Unicorns are those start ups that gain a value of $1 billion. 2020 is earmarked for Coronavirus and there is no dispute about that. This article explains the various changes that would have caused due the rise in the number of unicorns.
This would have come up as a very obvious reason. The pandemic has altered the very foundations of human life. Its impact was universal. It saw a paradigm shift in case of our preferences as well. So, it can be said that not only did the pandemic make a lot of changes, the people also changed a lot at the advent of the pandemic. This resulted in many growing companies to fall and many new ones to reach its zenith.
Education in times of Pandemic
Education is one sector that was altered in unrecognisable ways in 2020. This can be witnessed in the increase in the number of unicorns that this sector bore. Across the world, education shrunk into online platforms while opportunities became limitless.
While we acknowledge the digital gap that it exposed, we must also welcome the avenues it opened for people, especially with regard to distance education, accessibility of premium education etc.
One example for such a unicorn will be Unacademy. Launched as a YouTube channel in 2010, It was expanding slowly into the domain of online teaching before the pandemic itself. But we saw the demand for online classes skyrocket in 2020 and the firm was also able to rise up to the expectations of its users. In the same year, they announced their achievement of getting Unicorn status after the $150 million funding by SoftBank.
Changing Income Patterns
During the pandemic, the income levels of people dwindled. In India, 75 million people went into poverty. The people who had high paying jobs lost it, new employment was scarce. We had seen the stories of people who were professionals and yet had to go in for daily wage work or other manual work.
Even the government workers had to tighten their expenses due to heavy salary cuts. As far as the middle class was concerned, they had to take a step down when it came to their demands. Firms that understood and aligned with the financial situations of the people saw a rise in their status during this time.
One such startup is Cars24. The working middle class who were no longer able to afford cars for transportation had to look for more affordable options. This is when cars24 came as a saviour. They focused on the online transactions on pre-owned cars. This shift from new cars to used cars was a great opportunity for Cars24 and they used it well too. In 2020, with annual transactions going above two lakh units, it got the unicorn status with the $200 million investment made by Yuri Milner.
As mentioned earlier, incomes dwindled for most people in the world. This led people to look for more than one channel of income. Some started businesses, and many became content creators on various platforms etc. But most of them took to investing money in the stock market.
This became an intellectual exercise as well since it is a risky game and requires a lot of analysis. Despite all the risks involved, people who were hitherto critical about the stock market decided to try their luck this time.
An example for a startup that made the best out of this scenario is Zerodha. Launched in 2010 as an online trading startup, it was able to gain the likes of many traders before the pandemic itself. Today, Zerodha is the most valued and the most popular name in the online trading platforms. During the pandemic the monthly addition of users has been increasing by around two lakh users per month. They gained the unicorn status with a self assessed valuation at over $1 billion.
Realisation of Technological Gap
Pandemic exposed the sheer unpreparedness of even developed countries in handling the pandemic. Technological advance was not used in an optimal manner until then. Upon this realisation, one can say that 2020 became the era of technology where potentials of Artificial Intelligence, Data analytics etc were brought to the forefront. The situation demanded such a technical change. The startups who worked around these technologies saw themselves booming in 2020.
Glance is one such startup. It uses Artificial Intelligence to influence and leverage the contents on lock screens of Android phones. It is customised in severe languages as well. Having over 115 million active users, this startup has achieved the unicorn status in two years of its launch. In 2020, Glance got $145 million funding from Google and Mithril Capital which took it to the glory of unicorn status.
Glance
Zeal to Create a Contactless Environment
The spreading of Corona virus has completely altered the physicality of our surroundings. People try to reduce contact with people and things as much as possible. Currency became a very dangerous point of contact which can spread viruses like wildfire.
This led to the change in the case of digital payments. Experts note that, if not for the pandemic such a change would not have been possible in such a short time. Even the older generation who were stereotyped for resorting to traditional ways of payment migrated to online payment methods.
RazorPay is one of the most prominent online payment platforms that made the best use of the radical shift. Established in 2014, it aimed at simplifying online payments for small and medium enterprises. It continued to expand its domain to newer avenues and finally achieved unicorn status in 2020 with a $100 million funding. It continues to expand its business as their revenue increased 2.5 times than 2019.
Safe Ways of Shopping
Literally all forms of commerce where people came for business transactions were closed down during the lockdown. People, without much ado, went looking for better options on online platforms. Due to unlimited options, good offers and easy transactions online shopping became people’s favourite. Studies show that even after the pandemic subsided, it is unlikely that the demand in online shops would go down.
Nykaa is one such online shopping startup that achieved the unicorn status in 2020. It was launched in 2012 to cater the beauty products requirements. Nykaa’s growth was a surprise to those who thought it was an underdog in the e-commerce industry.
When the pandemic struck, Nykaa compensated for the customer’s inability to access physical shops. Today they have their own private labels for various products. Apart from the amount raised from the Bollywood film stars Alia Bhatt and Katrina Kaif, the startup achieved its unicorn status with 66.4 crore funding from Steadview Capital.
Other Startups that got the Unicorn Status in 2020
Zenoti
Postman
Uber Freight
Dailyhunt
FirstCry
Dialpad
VerSe Innovation
Pine Labs
WHOOP
Eightfold
Indian startups that got unicorn status in 2021
Digit insurance
Groww
Innovaccer
Zeeta
Cred
ShareChat
Meesho
Urban Company
Moglix
Gupshup
Conclusion
Unlike what was expected, we saw a surge in the number of startups that became unicorns in 2020. It must be noted that it was not just the changes made by the pandemic that helped them achieve it. It was only one among other factors. Their hard work, vision and adaptability cannot be forgotten. All these firms have been working for nearly a decade before it achieved the unicorn status. Their results are indeed a lesson for all the future entrepreneurs to learn from.
FAQ
What is the meaning of Unicorn startup?
Unicorn is the term used to describe a startup company with a value of over $1 billion.
How many Unicorn startups are there in India?
There are about 100 unicorn startups in India in which 40 are technology startups that are unicorns.
Which is India’s first unicorn startup?
InMobi was the first startup that became India’s first unicorn in 2011 which was cofounded by Naveen Tewari in 2007.
SaaS, or “Software as a Service” simplifies the user experience by cutting down the need to install software, allowing access to the application via an internet browser instead.
Started a SaaS-based business or have a brilliant SaaS idea to implement? Great! But worried about raising funding?
It is all indeed a game of numbers,
getting more new customers than customers not renewing or cancelling.
Getting paid subscription sign-ups rather than trail sign ups
What new ideas can you apply for boosting growth and customer retention without taxing your funds?
Various low-cost ideas can be applied in most business models with ease. Here are some growth hacks to help your SaaS start-up.
Give away a valuable incentive and start charging early
You want people to use your services, think about giving away something useful. Offering free trials and giveaway gadgets have become very common. So what else can you do?
When customers switch to your service, they import information. So, how about offering them some extra storage? Or a bonus for every referral, after all, who doesn’t like some money?
Get your existing customers involved and do the precious marketing for you. Offer them something that is linked to your service and connects them directly with your business.
On the other hand, don’t be hesitant to charge for your service. You may think expanding the customer base is important but earning revenue is just as necessary.
Believe in your product and put it to the test. Most people don’t value things that are available free of cost. Also, this would help reduce your risk in the investment.
Don’t invest a huge amount of money in launching the product, but start at a modest level and continue building up. Your customers demonstrate their faith in you by buying, while this also drives away freebie users.
Meet up with potential customers, attend seminars, webinars, forums, and use them to understand the market better.
Use analytics tool for your website, you will get to know your visitor, areas of interest, and content effectiveness, it will be a good exercise to identify customers
Finally, use retargeting techniques to bring previous visitors, churned or likely leaving customers back to the fold, and sign up for your service.
Revenue of software as a service (SaaS) companies in India
Create engrossing content, keep engaging and increase your reach
Content is compelling and engaging and has the power to bring people back for more. Also, it is a fantastic way to stand apart in a crowd especially in a competitive space.
But the quality of the information matters, so you have to believe in the idea. You must produce quality work regularly and most of all information should be freely accessible.
Share your knowledge about the industry, introduce your solution, and present a valid case to your intended audience, this will garner their attention.
This will work in building an email list, and once sufficient numbers are reached higher traffic and brand awareness will follow. This should be good for business growth and ultimately revenue.
Listen to your customers
You will have a lot of voices talking to you, but the most important ones are your customers. So, listen you must. What are the best ways to contact you?
Start with welcome call minutes within minutes of customer signing up. Get feedback on your marketing funnel, personalize your solution support. You will obtain real-time experience data and know if you are reaching the intended crowd.
Offer weekly contact points i.e. Q&A sessions, Webinars, pre-recorded pieces of training, etc. to demonstrate, explain, and help your customers embrace the product. Your SaaS solution has to be embedded in customers’ business fabric, so let them learn the benefits and improvements as it develops.
Pay special attention to subscribers, as they are serious about your product and care about it. They have paid to utilize the facility, thus should be given preference and special privileges like access to new features.
Listening to your customer will make them feel valued and create a personal connection with your company. Another good way to increase and retain your customers.
Ever heard the proverb “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer”, well a direct example would be when your partner with your competitors. You and your new partner(s) can work and play together.
You will have plenty of smaller competitors usually and few big players in the SaaS marketplace. Instead of quibbling over the pool of customers, it may be worth combining forces to take on big players.
Another way would be to actually partner with the big players. Becoming a direct competitor would be a difficult task. So it may be a better idea to work with them, like offering a peripheral utility. This would increase traffic, your brand awareness, and revenue growth.
FAQ
What is B2B SaaS?
B2B SaaS stands for business-to-business Software-as-a-Service. It encompasses cloud-based software used by businesses for various tasks, such as accounting, office productivity, customer relationship management (CRM).
What are the top SaaS companies?
HubSpot, Microsoft, Asana, and Shopify are some of the top SaaS companies.
Why do SaaS companies fail?
Most SaaS businesses fail because they are simply not solving any existing problem and a lack of market.
Conclusion
Setting up a business is a difficult task, continuous growth is even harder. All of this needs you to have belief in your product, a flexible approach, and lots of smart work. You can implement these to attract and retain the correct clientele; create your brand in the market, get useful feedback to effectively manage decision making, and fulfill your goal of a prosperous business.
In order to scale a business, it’s important for entrepreneurs to market their products effectively. There are many challenges down the road. So, scalability is only possible with these best startup growth tips and hacking strategies. If you follow us on Facebook, you must be knowing how great our community is! We’d love to discuss about things related to startup ecosystem and share valuable insights with fellow Startuptalkers. Here is the list of successful startup growth hacks and tactics shared to grow their startups.
In order to reach out to a massive audience, entrepreneurs need to adopt best growth Hacking Strategies for startups. We are sure it will help you to grow your startup as well. We will keep updating it with more and more upcoming hacks. Although some amongst these techniques have only been around for a few years, nonetheless, they prove to play a vital role in the growth of modern-day businesses.
Startup Growth Tips from Professionals
Innovate an existing product or service in your initial days, instead of presenting a super unique product. Ola’s concept was not new, however, they introduced the option of Auto rickshaw because it is what people of India wanted. – Varun Surana
Automate the process of marketing. Although not all the marketing factors, you can hire someone for some aspects of marketing like social media marketing. However, you should still keep a track that what is happening in which field of your business. – Ishu Bansal
Recruit the best people through LinkedIn. It makes sense because most of the professionals know the value of LinkedIn, and so all the decision makers are available there. If you are able to connect to just 2 best employees of a company and you research about 100 companies, you get 200 best employees. Having this many people professionals increase your success rate. Moreover, you can use this trick if you are new into hiring business. –Priyash Nigam
Make a product which a small group of people will love to use. When you focus on the need of a community, you get your permanent clients. It is because people tend to use any product by watching others use it. Once you earned the trust of one particular group, they will tend to use it more as they will see other people in the group using it. – Donvon Urfaison
Co-branding for marketing. However, you should never use this type of marketing with your rival (obviously) but neither should you co-brand with a diverse brand. You can see many products giving free products of their companies like with the bottle of some shampoo, you get hair straighteners. That’s the co-branding. The hair straightener company is not the rival of Shampoo company but still relevant to their industry which is Hair care industry. –Viswam Vemula
Use barter deals in events. Barter deals are deals without the use of money as an exchange. You can provide free promotion on your website or social media. You can use this hack to get a place in professional events. – Raunak Agrahari
Use memes for marketing. Memes are in trends right now and you can still use them for marketing. Moreover, you can use emotional videos for video ad campaigns. If you can someone laugh, you can sell your product to them. By laughing on something belongs to you, they tend to think about you. – Arpan Khosla
Do not to register your startup unless you have your product ready. It’s really senseless unless you are getting a very big round of funding. But it is still advisable to make your product ready even before going to investors. Most of the investor like to invest in product and the team instead of just an idea and concept. – Ramamoorthy
Get a serious reason get out of your comfort zone. External motivation is just Moh-Maya. Find your reason to do something. Without reason, you can never plan and never know your next step. – Manoj Kumar Sahoo
Quote more price than your competitors if you are into digital marketing. Some experts advice to do it even if you are giving the same service as your competitor. Clients think that lower prices lead to bad quality of work, which is true most of the time. – Vikas Chauhan
If you want to deep research about anything then connect to the people who work in the particular industry, which you are researching on, through Twitter. You can also go to NGOs or Government organizations for this matter. They are like mine of information. – Indranil Deb
No matter what people say, but looks matters. Especially the looks of the ad campaign of the business matters. Use bright colors to design your posters. Bright colors attract more people and market your product more efficiently. You can observe the posters of other companies to learn more. – Abilesh Hope
Get more work done through interns. It gives a lot of perspective on a low budget. Moreover, those interns learn to seriously work on real projects. Although some people think that interns will learn everything from the company and will start something same of their own. It is life and there is nothing like copying. There is only learning and implementing. – Midhun Noble
Use high-frequency sound or buzz in the background to stay focused on the work. These sounds stop your sub-conscious mind from distracting you and you can fully focus on your work. – Ronakk B kakkad
Use web.archive.org to get content of old websites which have already closed. Although it is not a great strategy for SEO it can provide you with some content which you can repurpose later. It will be great if you ask for the permission from the owner of the content first. –Shubham Kumar
While writing blogs, research and target on the long tail keywords. The competition on long tail keywords tends to be lower than that of short keywords. Moreover, big popular blogs already cover the rankings of short keywords, so it is better to be at higher ranking with less traffic than lower ranking and still less traffic. – Pranav Parth Tyagi
Ask the people for the opinions about your new product before launching it. Most of the time, the reality is totally different than we think it is. It is better to know their opinion at the starting and stop wasting time on the unprofitable product than losing your motivation by facing the failure. – Jatin Kumar
Know your product in terms of exact outcomes it will give to the customers. It will help you to create advertisement campaigns. Moreover, it will also help you to pitch it better to both, investors and customers. – Varun Surana
Focus on the operations of the company and improve it with the help of technology. You can also outsource any operation. Outsourcing is an economical way for business operation as you don’t have to spend time and money on recruitment and setup. – Varun Surana
Invest in knowledge. You can get free knowledge from blogs and videos, but they can never compete with the books. Read just 5 pages every day. It is better to go slow than to never start. – Varun Surana
Track the psychographic data of all your customers. It will help you to know the need of your customers and shape your product or service better. – Pranav Shandilya
Craft a solution around solving a problem keeping the end user in the center. In simple words, research well before starting your business. – Pranav Shandilya
Interact with your customers on a regular basis. It increases trust and improves the relationship. And trust is the only way to make anyone your permanent customers. – Pranav Shandilya
Never get your work done for free, neither do it for free. Getting free service is ok when you are a consumer, but it is not healthy for business. Moreover, when you take free official service from anyone, their expectations towards you increases which is the only reason most of the relationships end up. – Mudassir SkSm
Find the backlink sources while doing competitive research. Moreover, mirror their strategy. There many paid and free websites available on the web to do this. – Aditya Raja
The only person who knows the best about your company is you. Write the articles for your company on your own. Do not outsource it. You don’t have to spend hours on it, just 2 to 3 articles per week. – Rakesh Sidana
Chose your first few customers very carefully. These will be your best customers and your best marketers. – Arun Babu
Try to genuinely help your audience. We published an explainer video for GST just to help people. In just somedays, we got 150k views and thousands of subscribers, even when we never planned anything like that. – Shubham Khandelwal
Focus on the system of your company. Improve the system where your own interaction as a boss, gets minimized. Once you automate the whole process of the company, your company will start growing faster. – Sampathraj Mathurperumal
Focus on your business rather than your investors. Clients are the biggest investors you can get. Work hard to improve their experience. – Nirav Shah
Promise discounts on the next service instead of direct discount or freebies on the current service. It will bound your customers as they will think that they will miss the opportunity if they chose anything but you. – Prithpal Rawat
Collaborate with other brands more often. It helps in growth and marketing. When you collaborate, their audience will get to know about you and your audience will get to know about them. This mutual interaction will be great for the business of both the collaborating companies. – Saqlain Shaikh
Register an expired domain with good backlinks. They will benefit your SEO. However, research about that domain first as many time these are blacklisted domains and you can never rank them again. – Sahil Sharma
Do not procrastinate the marketing. Start it from the first day using the existing network of the founders. Most of the time, entrepreneurs think to do marketing after launching the product. Marketing takes time. – Venkatrangan Gokul
Always have a long and short-term marketing strategy. Having everything planned helps you to stay on track of your goal. You always know what you have to do next even if one plan is failed. – Venkatrangan Gokul
Create one goal every month and dedicate time to focus on it. It is because most of the time when we see back at the activities of last month, we realize we did nothing productive. –Ramanathan Srinivasan
Don’t shy to ask for help from anyone. Many failed entrepreneurs regret not asking for help from people. Even many of them didn’t even ask for it from their own investors. People love to help when they can. Even psychology says that asking for help makes other people start liking you. However, if they can’t help, don’t break your relationship with them. – Gaurav Gat
Don’t build something if it is not on the top of the priority list of your customers. Otherwise, it will take a long time to sell them. – Gaurav Gat
Even though Facebook is working hard to provide more relevant posts on people’s feed but you will still appear as noisy to many. So, create a go-to-market strategy and don’t rely just on social media marketing. – Ajay Ghai
You can track the success of your competitors if they are using bit.ly links. Just add “+” at the end of the link. However, many users hide their confidential data these days but you still can give it a chance. – Shubham Kumar
Plan things out but don’t overthink your idea. You never know what will work for you and what will not. Overthinking leads to dilution of motivation and dropping off the idea. –Gaurav Chopra
Focus on earning a relationship with your customers instead of just earning money. Money is just a byproduct of your service, the main aim should always be the experience of your customers. – Gaurav Chopra
If you can add value to your customer’s life, they will add revenue to your pocket. – Varun Surana
Tell stories while pitching your product to your customers, investors or just hiring the best person. Let them know what they can get from your product or company through the story. –Harry Ven
Don’t hesitate while sharing your ideas. Share your ideas in communities, people will give you suggestions and help to start and grow your business. Even if someone steals your idea, they will not get enough support of all those people as much you will get. – Aayush Kaira
Even if you have enough funds to hire someone to do anything particular, try doing it yourself for some time. It will help you to guide other people better. – Harshit Baveja
Be like Chinese Bamboo. Not just tall and strong but patient too. Chinese bamboo grows 80 feet tall in just 3 weeks. But, it waits 3 long years under the ground. What does it do there for that long? Well, it develops itself to really stand that long. Just like Chinese Bamboo, you should be patient to really see your startup grow. You have to develop yourself and your startup and its system to achieve your dreams and goals. – Yug Jain
Deal your customers with heart. Many times when people go to ask about products to make a better decision, they treat you like they are some celebrity. If you are not treating your customer like your boss, you will gradually lose your Boss’s position. For instance, when I called somebody to inquire about some program and asked “Can I have more information about this?”, they replied rudely saying that they didn’t have time send a write-up. Although they agreed to explain me in brief. They mentioned 2 points while they had 5 or 6 in their post. That was the moment they lost a potential customer and a lead. – Aman Kapoor
Add a Live chat option on your website. It will help you interact with your visitor. Moreover, if possible try providing anonymous chat option where don’t have to give any information about themselves and still can chat with you. It makes them comfortable to chat with you because most of the people fear that if they give you their email address, you will start sending emails every now and then. Furthermore, there are many services available for this purpose. – Jafar Muhammed
Next time someone asks you, where do you see yourself in the next 5 years, just say that it is totally irrelevant. In the 5 years, Apple would have launched iPhone XYZ, Mi would be selling explosives directly instead of hiding them in their devices and so on. The main point is, the technology after five years will be totally changed and it will unlock much more opportunities for everyone. No one can say what they will become after 5 years. This question is totally illogical keeping in mind that 5 years ago, we were saving internet data by sharing files through Bluetooth and today almost everyone has a Prime membership and watch HD movies online. – Deb Rishi
Your startup might shut or perform terribly, but the main purpose of any startup is innovation. The innovation of the startup, your “never give up” attitude and out of the box thinking will help you sail through the storm of failure. Keep learning and keep sailing. –Sidharth Dugar
You can fail but you cannot stop. You cannot just give it all up. Life is enough reason for waking up every day. – Arhaan Arham
SEO is totally different than you think it is. Reading about SEO on some blogs don’t make you an expert. SEO doesn’t socialize your content, sell your product or manipulate Google’s results instead they communicate your value, help you attract more buyers and make Google’s results relevant. Use it wisely, don’t try to blackhat everything. Be wise and Google will rank you. – Shanu Singh
If you really want your dream job or just any job, you have to work on your resume. Maybe, you are not applying for your dream job but the employers are searching for their dream employee, for sure. Consider these points while creating your resume:
Your career objective should be aligned with the job description of the company.
Add a segment and describe how you and the company can be a winning combination.
Be creative and display how you can add values to the company.
Moreover, spend some time editing your resume and finalizing it. Make it unique which make an impression in the employer’s mind. – Neeldeep Das
Try to keep your LinkedIn profile up-to-date. Many people find partners, clients, or service providers on LinkedIn. When they will approach you and see your latest achievements, it will greatly impact them and the chances of generating leads increases. – V SHiva Kumar
If you are using LinkedIn just to randomly find people and cold messaging them to generate some leads, then you might be wrong here. There are very low chances that people will actually buy your product based on your pitching through a text message on LinkedIn. Try posting good content on LinkedIn. Make them helpful and enjoyable. People will start following you based on your content. This way, they will connect with you and you have more chances to generate leads. – Shubham Kumar
Do not boost your post to get more likes on your facebook page. The likes on your facebook page are nothing more than a fancy number. Most of your post never reach to those people who liked your page. The organic reach of the best of the pages has become negligible now. Even less than 10% people will receive your post in their feeds. It is senseless to spend money boosting your post to get more likes on your Facebook page. – Ankit Shukla
To all the content writers there:
Text consistency is important; you should not type the same word in different ways.
If using one-liner bullet points, you can skip using the full stop until the last line; the full stop can grab unnecessary attention and it provides breaks not needed.
Apostrophe marks should be preferred over quotation marks when pointing out to a subject that is a single word. Right below, see how the comma comes before the apostrophe mark is closed, but in the second sentence, the question mark comes in after. This is due to completing emphasis while keeping in touch with the flavor of the conversation.
If you copy and paste text from a website and paste it in Word, most often, you will find the font to be different; after you are done, paste everything into Notepad and paste it back into Word; consistent font, every time.
The replace feature is underrated; if you have a ton of editing to do, you can use it to replace a recurring mistake with the right word, rather than just manually correcting it over and over.
Your client sent everything in bloody CAPS LOCKS? Use Notepad ++ and paste everything there; once done, select everything (Ctrl-A) and press Ctrl-U. Every letter ends up as a lowercase. – Anthony Stephen Mendes
I think new entrepreneurs should spend 3-4 hours weekly on product hunt. You get to see new innovative and upcoming ideas, changing UI and UX patterns. More Importantly, If you will read comments you will get to know people’s views and need. These Learnings you can apply your startup to make better products / provide better services. PS: You also get discounts and offers from some startups! – Shubham Kumar
These hacks were implemented and adviced by our amazing community members. Thank you to you all for joining our community and sharing your thought. The basically unique idea was given by our members however some editings were made by our writers.
Shubham Kumar
