Tag: Startups growth

  • Smart Strategies to Grow Your Business | Tips for Entrepreneurship

    The article is contributed by Mugdha PradhanCEO and Founder of iTHRIVE.

    In the contemporary world, the term “startup” is glamorized to another extent. Every person wants to become an entrepreneur without fully understanding what it means to start a business. Individuals look at entrepreneurship with rosy colored glasses and think of it as a medium to become an authority, rich and live life on their own terms. These outcomes are very much possible; however, it takes a lot of hard work to attain such freedom. One has to work without money for long hours before they can enjoy the empire. One has to convince people to use their product before building brand loyalty.

    So now the question arises what is the right way to become an entrepreneur and grow your business. Following are a few smart strategies to grow and sustain your startup.

    Solve a Problem

    It is important that one builds a product or a service that is genuinely going to solve a problem area. A very great way is to solve a problem that is close to you. When you do that, you’ll be able to convince the masses to use your product/service, and it will be more difficult for you to give up on it as it truly was helpful to you.

    Choose Teammates Carefully

    One cannot build a business alone. You will need a strong foundational team who believes in your vision as much as you, if not more. This team will become a brand ambassador for your venture in the initial days. Look for partners that complement your skills and get help whenever necessary.

    Plan for Failure

    Failure upon starting something new is inevitable, and it is important that one is prepared for that in order to adapt to the situation and learn quickly in such a scenario. It is also important to have Business Continuity Strategies in place by understanding potential hindrances in your business.

    Get Help

    When building something big, it’s naive to think that you’ll be able to do everything by yourself. Everybody has their limitations. Hence other than building your core team as advised in point number 2, it’s imperative to utilize your network and resources to their utmost potential. The key is to work smart and not hard.

    Find a Mentor

    One of the most cliche pieces of advice and yet often overlooked, a mentor can quickly take your career and business to new heights. More than a mentor, an advisory board is preferred. These advisors will not only know how to build a brand that lasts, but they will be your cheerleaders when the journey gets tough. Their advice will not only be optimistic but rather practical because they have experienced failure and difficulties in their journey too.


    9 Ways to Find A Perfect Startup Mentor to Grow Your Business
    Are you looking for a perfect startup mentor that will help you scale your business But don’t know how to find one?. Here’s how you can find one.


    Minimum Viable Product

    It might be tempting to add multiple features/ products/ services at the time of your launch, however, keeping things simple often is the best approach. Minimum viable products work best as they allow you to get feedback from actual target users rather than you perfecting and solving imaginary problems even before launching.

    Test Your Product/Service

    A business is only for its customers. Don’t solve a problem or give out services that are not asked for. It might be surprising, but many can get ahead of themselves and try to launch a product that is not needed in the present. So before going all out, ask for feedback from potential targeted audiences to understand the viability of your product/ service.

    A lot of us are reading the same books and following the same advice from traditional leaders. However, we need to follow the current trends and use a platform where most people are active. Such platforms can be Twitter, Reddit, Quora, Instagram, or even clubhouse. Remember, your product has to reach the audience before the audience can reach your product.

    Marketing/PR

    There is a common misconception that customers are attracted to good products, and hence one should focus on perfecting their product/service, and word of mouth is the only marketing one will need. While word of mouth is still one of the strongest marketing ways, marketing and PR have become quite necessary in a world where products are in abundance. PR strategies like garnering coverage in a digital or physical newspaper or a magazine can be very effective in increasing the reachability of your business.

    SEO

    SEO consistently is becoming important in the contemporary world of startups. Aiming to use appropriate SEO when posting digitally helps a long way in broadcasting your name in organic sales.

    Strong Sales Funnel

    While marketing and SEO can increase your organic sales, reaching out constantly to your customer base and getting leads is important. A strong sales funnel, and sales target will help you create a plan to grow your company at a steady rate.

    Create a Blue Ocean in Your Market

    The term “blue ocean” was coined in the entrepreneurship industry in 2005 to define a new industry with hardly any competition or barriers in the way of innovators. When a new or unknown sector or innovation appears, it creates a vast “empty ocean” of business options and opportunities. Hence try to create a blue ocean in your market and solve a problem that no one is solving.


    Red Ocean Strategy Vs. Blue Ocean Strategy (Explained)
    If you are planning to enter the market with your product, it is important to understand the difference between the Blue ocean & Red ocean strategy.


    Conclusion

    Apart from these tips, remember to keep trying new things in your entrepreneurial journey. All of the above-mentioned strategies were once a breakthrough idea in the startup world as well, so keep on learning and inventing; moreover, defining your “why” will keep you in the game even when the road gets tough. I hope these strategies help you during your venture.

  • How to Inspire Employees and Work-Retain Employees?

    A workplace is where we spend one-third (8 hours) of our day which is more time than we do spend at home. Every company focuses on productivity. There are some milestones that people have to go to make work successful and tangible. Deadlines are key areas that have to be met in order to measure success. Some managers put unnecessary pressure on employees like extending working hours. Ideally, this cannot be a parameter to measure success and effectiveness. Motivated employees always remain positive and the opposite is demoralizing.

    According to a survey, 75% of the reasons people quit come down to their managers. As the boss, you need to have the capacity to monitor each and every employee. When you realize some funny character in an employee, make a quick action and attend to their attitude. As an employer, have you noticed that your employees have started to withdraw? Reduce stress by observing the following tips on how to Inspire Employees to Work.

    How to Inspire Employees to Work
    How to Retain Employees in an Organization
    How to Keep Employees Happy and Motivated

    How to Inspire Employees to Work

    Flexibility of Work

    Flexibility in working hours should be encouraged to Inspire Employees to Work. Office time and personal time must blend. Keeping people at work throughout does not increase productivity at all instead employees get burnout. Flexibility makes employees work to achieve set targets within the specified time. After work, they get to attend to their personal issues effectively thus creating a work-life balance.

    Set time for Break

    Human beings are made to concentrate up to a certain period. Downtime for employees is very vital. Making employees work without break is unhealthy and production will be less. Burnout is eradicated when employees get time to be out of their desks for a cup of tea or water. Fresh ideas are conceived while being outside a normal work environment.

    Structured Meetings

    As an employer, avoid overwhelming employees with unnecessary meetings. It is a very terrible situation when people attend meetings just for the sake of culture. Meetings are made for updating and getting ideas from each other so organize an effective meeting only. Avoid wasting the time of employees, by organising unnecessary meetings.

    Transparency

    Information sharing is very crucial in a company. Employees are just like investors and they expect such treatment. Let them be at par with information, transparency makes employees attach and have passion with the company and also helps in winning their trust.

    Develop Work Schedule

    It is very tiresome to work blindly. This brings a lot of confusion when you’re trying to deliver the work. Work schedule helps in planning for activities. This is the only way to track and prioritize information. Allocation of tasks is done effectively. Teamwork is embraced, as people involved will understand work dynamics and work cordially and not based on fear.

    Work as a Family

    Despite the workplace bringing people together from various backgrounds, employees feel honored and respected when they are treated as a family. This is a place where we are driven by a common goal. Give employees your back just like any other member of your family. Stand with them and don’t let anybody abuse them. This is a very important point on how to inspire employees to work.

    Treat Employees Equally

    In a working environment, understand that no one is special than the other. Management should be concerned about everybody and not some hence productivity. When there is a difference in a workforce, teamwork will not be guaranteed and therefore the workforce will be split, which will in return be a hindrance. Favouritism brings discouragements among employees and brings division among employees.

    Capacity Building

    It is a very embarrassing situation when employees don’t know what to do. You always feel out of place and feel frustrated. It raises morale when you train employees to understand their work better. Proper work can be done with confidence only.

    Provide Right Tools for Work

    Most of the bosses demand much from employees while they know very well they have not equipped employees with tools. Employees feel harassed. Provide them with adequate and functional tools to facilitate their work. Tasks and deadlines will be met on time.

    Participatory Approach

    People are always allergic to changes imposed on them. Learn to engage employees in the decision-making process. For example, based on the kind of work that you do, get to know how people feel about the sitting arrangement. Get feedback from them, harmonize their concerns, and definitely this way, you will be able to address their needs better.

    How to Retain Employees in an Organization

    Every business or company needs employees to run effectively and meet its business needs. However, hiring new employees can become a tasking job causing levels of frustration to rise and hindering the progress especially when the company has just started. Thus, every company should learn Employee retention strategies in retaining its employee base.

    Here, we bring you employee retention strategies and how you can inspire your employee so that they are satisfied and content with their work.

    Create a Healthy Work Environment

    This is one of the best Employee retention strategies for any company. As a start-up, there is a lot of work pressure on the employee to meet deadlines and make faster progress; however, employees tend to make mistakes under pressure. When such situations arise, make sure to not criticize or pressurize the employee by reprimanding him; instead, help them to become more efficient in their work.

    Transparency

    Maintain an office policy where everyone works with a clear knowledge of all the things going on in the company and is treated equally on all fronts. This is also one factor in employee retention strategies. All employees should be able to put forth their ideas and suggestions regarding anything. This gives an employee the sense of being involved and the more involved a person is, the more likely he is to stay.

    Rewards

    Your workplace is like your second home, hence, treat your employees like family. Give them occasional rewards on their success or any big achievement that the company makes, this will help in Employee retention strategies. Give them yearly treats that are personalized for them like providing them with a paid holiday or some complimentary leaves and gifts that they would like. Incentives may also be a good way to encourage employees, although gifts have a better impact in keeping them happy.

    Do Leave and Staying Interviews

    If you are unable to understand, why employees are leaving, ask them. Your human resource team can arrange a leaving interview for every person that is quitting their jobs and you can take their feedback to improve your companies’ policies. It helps in Employee retention strategies for your startup or business. Apart from this, you can hold interviews of the loyal employees asking them the reasons for their stays and what did they like about the company and what would make them leave. Assess all the feedback and improve yourself.

    Provide Them With Small Perks

    Give your employees some facilities to improve their lives so they can work better. A complimentary transport service or free lunch would work wonders. This will give a boost to employees and help in Employee retention strategies. Some paid leaves can also be given in order to make the employees loyal. The money spent on these things will be way less than the money spent on recruiting and training new employees which is not only a waste of money but time as well.

    Hire smartly

    While hiring employees make it a point to know whether that person is actually suitable to work in the company’s environment or not. Every company has a different culture and discussing that culture with the employee can go a long way to get an idea of whether the person will be suitable or not.

    Keep a Tab on Everything

    Even though start-up co-founders get really busy after the successful take-off of the company they should take out some time to check how the company is working. Recruiting a management team is not enough, founders need to look at every department and know whether the work environment is good or not. Sometimes, this can bring unexpected things in the light which can be corrected only by the bosses.

    Respect the Work-Life Balance

    Your employees have a life outside work and that should be respected. The employee works for the company during office hours but working beyond that is their own choice. So don’t make employees do more than they have signed for. This is one of the most important factors for employee retention strategies. Yes, there can be times when you need them to work a little extra but that should not become a daily routine because an environment like that will drive people a way to look for jobs that provide flexible working hours.

    How to Keep Employees Happy and Motivated

    Are you a small business owner? Do you wish to improve the office environment? The key to a successful business is to keep employees happy. It has been proven that a person is most productive when they are happy. So if you have a happy task force chances are high that your company will make tremendous progress. Keeping Employees Happy is of the utmost importance to your company and here are some ways to keep them happy.

    Help Your Employees Feel Valued

    If your employee is doing a good job appreciating their effort is very important. Thank them for the work they have put in and make them feel that you value their contribution. There goes a lot into doing some work, and giving appreciation might not be a big deal for you but will surely make your employee’s day. This will make him want to work harder and better. If something goes wrong, do not punish or be harsh on them. They are adults and know that they have made a mistake. Help them correct their fault or give them some extra time to mend their mistakes. Also making efforts to know the employee and be humble to them. An occasional small talk about their family and their kids will make the employee feel as if they are important.

    Positive Atmosphere

    Try to create a positive atmosphere in your office. The workspace should enough room for your employees to walk and move. There should also be spaces for your employees to interact with each other or relax while taking a break. A dark and congested office will never improve the work environment. Place some greenery around the office. Let some fresh sunlight come in so that people feel recharged. Also, change your air filters and get the office cleaned regularly. A clean environment is sure to make a person feel more relaxed and will help in keeping employees happy.

    Involve Them

    Involve your employees in everything. Take opinions on every topic. They should know what business the company is doing and how their work is affecting the company. You can set up regular employees meetings for the exchange of ideas. The meeting should not be excessively serious and all work. It should have a light environment and everyone should be given a chance to share their thoughts and opinions any topics. This will make them feel more involved in the company matter and give them a feeling that they have a responsibility to hold. This is one of the most important points to Keep Employees Happy.

    Let Them Work at Their Own Ease

    With so much technological advancement you do not have to follow the old ways and lock your employees up in an office. Let them do their work at their own ease. If they have an emergency, let them work from the comforts of their houses. If they are completing their work, it is not necessary for you to constantly have them in front of your eyes.

    Give Them Time off Work

    If your employee has been doing a good job all year giving them an extended vacation is not bad. If they are a good employee, they will make sure that they complete their pending work on time. This has another advantage. The other employees will see this and want to work hard and earn their own perks.

    Encourage Them to Stay Fit

    A fit person is always a happy person. This does not mean that you need to tell your employees to go to the gym every day and lift weights. All you need to do is motivate them. You can build tennis or football or basketball court in your office. Or you can have an indoor gaming area where your employees can come and ease out the stress and also get some exercise. This will keep the endorphins in their body running and in turn, it will help Keep employees Happy.

    Conclusion

    As a leader, you should act as a role model. Employees would always imitate your actions. Show concern to employees by responding to their needs on time. Appreciate them by celebrating their achievements and where applicable give incentives. All this enhances production and inspires employees to work. Good employees are the backbone of the company and retaining them will go a long way in making the business a success, hence, keep these points in mind to maintain the smooth progress of the company.

    FAQs

    How you can motivate your employees?

    To motivate your employees, you should praise them, treat them with respect, don’t be impartial, and try to listen to their concerns.

    What are the best retention strategies?

    Provide your employee’s growth opportunities. Engage with your employees, reward them for their work and be impartial.

    What is the key to employee retention?

    The main points to do is to provide job satisfaction to the employee and keep them engaged, that is how you can retain your employees.

  • Scalable Organizational Structure For Your Growing Startup

    An organization’s organizational structure is the relationship between different roles within the company. In the structure, you can see how the roles are interconnected and what level of responsibility each role entails. In addition, it reveals the organization’s hierarchy of roles. Your small business’s structure can help you stay organized during the start-up phase and beyond by helping you visualize it.

    A great business idea and a great team are at your disposal. Your company is growing, and it’s time to put some structures in place to help you keep track of everything. If you want your startup to succeed, you need a more innovative organizational structure that can adapt.

    An organizational structure is a visual representation of what employees do, who they report to, and how business decisions are made. It is possible to create organizational structures that are tailored to the needs of specific businesses and industries based on functions, markets, products, geographies, or processes. It’s also important to be aware of any potential stumbling blocks before you begin to scale.

    Work Culture
    Assembling Your System
    Roles in the Evolution
    Focus on your core competencies
    Team Organization
    Holacracy
    Sociocracy 3.0
    Command and Control
    Centralization
    Conclusion
    FAQs

    Scalable Organization Structure

    Work Culture

    Transparency, traceability, and repeatability of work must be ensured. Work must be delegated and owned. If something goes wrong, you need to know who’s responsible and what went wrong, as well as how to fix the problem. Process management is the most common tool used by most organizations. When it comes to information flow as well as the interaction between business and human worker processes, work management is a set of software products and services that apply workflow structure.

    You can transform and streamline critical business processes with the help of good work culture and better work management.

    Assembling Your System

    Small businesses often have a very simple structure when they first start up and for a long time afterward, as well. As a small business, you don’t have to deal with the complex structural decisions that large corporations have to make.

    You are likely the owner and manager of your company, with employees reporting to you. With one or more partners, the top of the pyramid could be made up of all the partners (including you), then managers (including you), and finally employees.

    Roles in the Evolution

    When starting a new business, the owner often finds that he can’t effectively handle all of the managerial responsibilities. Financial and marketing managers will be replaced by hard-working employees.

    Owners and managers can focus on larger goals by delegating managerial responsibilities. Over time, employees become more skilled and knowledgeable in their respective roles, increasing the efficiency of the company as a whole.

    Focus on your core competencies

    Organizational Structure to focus on your core competencies
    Organizational Structure to focus on your core competencies

    Make sure you focus on your core competencies and outsource the rest of your work. In the past, organizations have diverted large amounts of money from core products to servers, software development, platforms, and hardware. These days, it’s very likely that you can outsource these tasks and get better results than if you did them yourself.

    Core competencies are the resources and capabilities that comprise the strategic advantages of a business. A modern management theory argues that a business must define, cultivate, and exploit its core competencies in order to succeed against the competition.

    Team Organization

    Organizational Structure for growing startup team
    Organizational Structure for growing startup team

    Software companies tend to use Agile. Whatever you choose, make sure that team management is in place, with the necessary structure, processes, and tools. Teams are almost non-existent in early startups, but they quickly become essential for basic functionality such as transparency, role and responsibility delegation, and asset management. The following are some of the benefits of working with a team: This approach to leadership views a team as an organisational group made up of individuals who work together to accomplish goals. A team is made up of individuals who are interdependent, work towards interchangeable goals, and share common goals. An entire team works together to accomplish a goal.


    Tools to Boost Team Collaboration
    The ability to collaborate is important. Teams want to be able to contact one another to discuss the shared work that’s taking place within your product.


    Holacracy

    For organizations, Holacracy divides the structure into nested circles. For example, in a holacracy, members of an organization or team work together to accomplish tasks and achieve company goals in separate, autonomous teams. Hierarchy in the workplace is replaced by a flat organizational structure that gives each employee a say in the company’s direction. Because it is so well-structured, there is very little room for ambiguity about who is responsible for what in this system.

    Because people are not hired solely for a specific job, they can take on one or more roles at any given time, and they have the flexibility to move between teams and roles if they have skills or insights that the organisation could benefit from at any given time.

    This replaces the autocratic power usually exercised by company owners.

    Sociocracy 3.0

    It is based on seven guiding principles that help to shape the culture of organizations. Considering that all of Sociocracy 3.0’s patterns incorporate the seven principles, understanding them is essential to adopting and adapting the patterns. Use your time wisely by focusing on activities that will help you achieve your goals.

    • Use the principle of effectiveness to spend your time only on activities that will help you reach your goals.
    • Invoke the principle of consent when making decisions or taking actions.
    • All assumptions should be tested through experiments and revisions.
    • The principle of continuous improvement is to make incremental changes to accommodate empirical learning over a long period of time.
    • It is important to involve people in the decision-making process.
    • Unless there is a reason for confidentiality, all information that is valuable to the organization should be recorded and made available to everyone.

    In order to be accountable, one must respond when something is needed, follow through on what they agreed to do, and take responsibility for the organization’s success.

    Command and Control

    To delegate tasks and approve work, you must have a chain of command (or command structure). If you have an org structure, you can specify how many “rungs of the ladder” a certain department or business line should have.

    Almost all companies have a hierarchy in place that identifies which individuals are responsible for which people, teams, or departments within the company. The chain of command allows each employee to know who is in charge of them and what their responsibilities are.

    Centralization

    The term centralization refers to the final decision-making location. Your chain of command will need to be set up after that, and you’ll need to decide who has a say in each decision. Unified or decentralized decision-making is possible in a business.

    If you don’t have an organizational chart right away, it will become increasingly difficult to run your company without it as you add more products and hire more employees.


    Freelance vs Full-time Employee: The Pros and Cons of Hiring a Freelancer Over a Full-time Employee
    Are you planning to hire a freelancer over a full-time employee? So, Here are the pros and cons that will help you decide Why you should hire an Independent Contractor.


    Conclusion

    This was a list of some approaches to organizational structure in an organization. You can also create your own organizational structure which you think fits your company the best.
    It’s time for your startup to adopt a more innovative organizational structure that forces everyone to think.

    FAQs

    How do you structure a startup?

    Here are the things to consider while structuring a startup:

    • Defining and establishing the leadership
    • Architecting the structure
    • Building your team
    • Bring in the professionals
    • Communicate with the board members

    An organization’s legal structure is a key determinative of the activities that a company or a startup can undertake. It Includes:

    • Raising capital
    • Responsibility for obligations of the business
    • Amount of taxes that the organization owes to tax agencies