Entrepreneurship Blog Posts

How to think like an entrepreneur? The ‘Entrepreneurial world’ could be a mind-boggling place for a first-time business owner. With the overwhelming volume of advice floating all over, “Where do I start?”, could be one of the most difficult questions left to answer. If you started to read every book out there on ‘Entrepreneurship’ tonight, it could be a lifetime before you would be ready to take the first step to be an entrepreneur! Developing an entrepreneur mindset is crucial for success in the dynamic and ever-changing business world. It requires a unique way of thinking and approaching challenges. What are the top 5 questions young entrepreneurs should be asking themselves? Here are 5 easy tips that could help you train your mind to think just like an entrepreneur: 1. According to one of Steve Jobs’ most popular quotes, “The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.”  You’re the only one who can decide what work makes you happiest. This is important because you need to be the biggest fan of your product. Others will look to you when they want to know why they need to believe in your product too. If you’re not going to love what you do, no one else will either. Learn Top MBA Courses from the World’s top Universities. Earn Masters, Executive PGP, or Advanced Certificate Programs to fast-track your career. 2. The only thing permanent in life is a failure. This is the hardest part because, in our entire lives, we are conditioned to be so terrified of failure that we avoid it at all costs. Even if it means sacrificing one of your biggest dreams… As Mark Zuckerberg will tell you, “The biggest risk is not taking any risk… In a world that is changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.” Be determined and prepare for the battle. 10 Startup Ideas for Techies To Become an Entrepreneur 3. As an entrepreneur, inventor or innovator, it is your right to demand the most & the best from your team, when it comes to your product.  Keep an eye open for inefficiencies in your company at all times & implement improvement plans for them. Don’t let the ‘blame-game’ come into the picture at all. Make the best of your resources & push them to do their best. Even India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru agreed when he said, “Obviously, the highest type of efficiency is that which can utilize existing material to the best advantage.” 4. William Pollard believed, “Without change, there is no innovation, creativity or incentive for improvement. Those who initiate change will have a better opportunity to manage the change that is inevitable.” Where there is creativity, there is a change. Where there is change, there will be a disturbance. Your idea may not end up being what it was when you started, but if the change feels & sounds right, accept it. It might be for the best. How to Get Your Start-Up Idea Validated 5. Our world often subjects creativity to the most resistance. You may not find easy acceptance of your ideas all the time… But the most successful innovators will tell you that’s a good thing! “All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them…”, said Walt Disney. There’s nothing wrong with dreaming big. Don’t let a little criticism get you down. Embrace Uncertainty and Take Calculated Risks Entrepreneurs are risk-takers who thrive in ambiguous situations. Learn to embrace uncertainty as a chance for development and creativity rather than fear it. Recognize that taking chances is a necessary component of the entrepreneurial path. Before making decisions, weighing the prospective risks and benefits is crucial. Look for measured risks that fit your vision and could result in large profits. Foster a Growth Mindset Having a growth mindset is fundamental to think like an entrepreneur. Always believe that skills and abilities can be developed through effort and continuous learning. View failures and setbacks as valuable learning experiences rather than permanent roadblocks. Adopt a mindset that sees challenges as opportunities for growth and improvement. Embrace lifelong learning and constantly seek knowledge and new skills to adapt to the evolving business landscape. Think Outside the Box and Embrace Creativity Create an atmosphere that promotes brainstorming and original thought. Embrace people who may offer a whole new range of perspectives and ideas. Playing games that stretch your imagination is one approach to improving your creativity. Try reading diverse genres of literature, taking creative writing or visual arts classes, or engaging in exercises that challenge your preconceptions. Build Resilience and Perseverance A path in entrepreneurship frequently has its ups and downs. To overcome challenges and disappointments, resilience and perseverance must be developed. Become better at recovering from setbacks and keeping an optimistic outlook. Consider obstacles as chances for development and failures as stepping stones to success. Develop a strong work ethic and the willpower to persevere in the face of difficulty. Foster Effective Communication and Collaboration Successful entrepreneurs understand the importance of effective communication and collaboration. Develop strong communication skills to clearly articulate your ideas, vision, and goals. Listen actively to others and seek feedback to gain different perspectives. Embrace Continuous Improvement Entrepreneurs always seek ways to enhance their concepts, goods, and operations. Adopt a philosophy of continual improvement and actively solicit feedback from stakeholders, including consumers and staff. Adopt an experimental and iterative culture where you don’t hesitate to make essential adjustments and alter course when necessary. Develop a Customer-Centric Approach Understanding and meeting client needs is crucial for business success. Make decisions with your customers’ requirements, tastes, and experiences in mind by adopting a customer-centric strategy. To find chances for innovation and development, obtain customer input frequently, perform market research, and examine customer behavior. Gain a thorough grasp of your target market to better personalize your goods and services to their unique requirements and preferences. Thinking like an entrepreneur involves more than just having a great company idea; entrepreneurial mindset examples also entail developing a mindset that embraces uncertainty, takes measured chances, encourages innovation, and persists through difficulties. By developing an entrepreneurial mindset, you may manage the always-shifting business landscape with tenacity, innovation, and a customer-centric perspective. As you start your entrepreneurial journey, embrace these tactics and continue to learn, adapt, and grow. Keep dreaming and work towards the fruition of your ideas. If you want to learn more about marketing and entrepreneurship, Liverpool Business School & upGrad offers Master of Business Administration (MBA) Liverpool Business School which helps you to transform your career. The program provides 1-on-1 mentorship from industry leaders, 1-week immersion program at University campus, dual credentials (MBA from LBS & PGPM from IMT), network with peers at offline basecamps and more.

Employee Stock Option Plans (ESOPs) are part of policies to attract, motivate and retain employees by organizations. Thanks to the startup ecosystem, ESOPs have become a famed instrument amongst new emerging organizations. Earlier, they were usually offered to senior employees for their long-term association with the organization but in this new age, it has become a tool to attract the best talent by startups. An ESOP is a plan that offers an option to the employees to purchase the equity shares in an organization at a discounted price. Startups need to design the ESOPs scheme before granting options to the employees. For startups, it is imperative to fix the number of shares to be granted in an option rather than fixing the percentage stake because the equity stake will be subjected to dilution with further fundraising or another option plan. The option has to be exercised during a specific period and must have a termination clause followed by the exit of an employee from the organization. Learn MBA Courses from the World’s top Universities. Earn Masters, Executive PGP, or Advanced Certificate Programs to fast-track your career. ESOP is an instrument that helps save cash for a startup in its initial phase. There is no denying the fact that every startup wants the best talent for its venture. However, the best talent comes at a price. One may be required to design a very competitive compensation structure to attract them. But ironically, startups are usually not in a position to shell out a huge amount of cash on salary cost. At an early stage, ESOPs come into play for cash conservation. The potential employees are attracted by giving them the option of purchasing an equity stake in the company. On the contrary, they are made to sacrifice on their cash component of salary structure to an extent where it does not affect their lifestyle. The instrument has proved to be beneficial as it aligns the organizational goals with the employees’ personal goals. The employees holding the ESOPs are motivated to work towards the success of the organization. They take the onus of fulfilling the business’s vision and mission along with the founder(s). They become the part owner of the company and thus, would be liable to the share of company’s profits. Due to this, the employees’ give their best shot to grow and nurture the startup and take it to the next level. As an entrepreneur, when you are hiring talent from the industry – you would typically ask the individual to take a 20-30% haircut in their existing salary and make up for that gap through ESOPs. For the early hires, the cash component in their salary remains low as the startups try to balance it out by offering ESOPs. There is a risk associated with such plans. There can be a decline in the value of equity that an employee holds if the startup is unable to show up the requisite results. On the other hand, for founders – ESOPs lead to equity dilution of their holding. Although it might involve dilution for existing owners and future uncertainty for the employees, the benefits from such plans outshine its downside. They have even been successful in compelling the talented employees working with big and stable organizations to leave their existing jobs and join a startup. Such can be the power of ESOPs if designed diligently. Top reasons why the ESOPs are important Attract employees who can be posed as potential assets to the company Helps in minimising the attrition Align employees towards the organisation’s vision and mission Brings employee loyalty into the picture  Types of ESOP Plans for startups Employee Stock Option Scheme (ESOS) Employee Stock Purchase Plan ( ESPP) Restricted Stock Units (RSU) Stock Appreciation Rights (SAR) Phantom Stocks  The ESOPs in Indian startups are a way of providing an opportunity for the employees to participate in the company’s growth.  The ESOPs act as an additional source of income for the employees. The esops for startups are a great way to retain and attract talent into the organisation.  If you want to learn more about marketing and entrepreneurship, Liverpool Business School & upGrad offers Master of Business Administration (MBA) Liverpool Business School which helps you to transform your career. The program provides 1-on-1 mentorship from industry leaders, a 1-week immersion program at the University campus, dual credentials (MBA from LBS & PGPM from IMT), networking with peers at offline basecamps, and more.

This is an excerpt from the book ‘The Fuzzy and the Techie – Why the Liberal Arts Will Rule the Digital World’ by Scott Hartley. Scott Hartley first heard the terms ‘fuzzy’ and ‘techie’ while studying political science at Stanford University. If you had majored in the humanities or social sciences, you were a fuzzy. If you had majored in the computer sciences, you were a techie. This informal division quietly found its way into a default assumption that has misled the business world for decades that it’s the techies who drive innovation. The prospect of earning big money—an average of over $160,000 per year—mining for iron ore and gold has attracted thousands of young men and women from across Australia for over a hundred years. But during the past decade, mining companies have implemented machine automation to improve the safety and efficiency of their operations, becoming among the most automated of all industries. Self-driving Volvo trucks manufactured in Sweden are being pressed into service in large open-pit mines across Australia. Scania, another Swedish vehicle company, has pioneered trucks that use GPS and LIDAR (light detection and arranging) sensors to operate with optimal efficiency, minimizing fuel consumption. The trucks are said to have improved efficiency by 15 to 20 percent. Mining conglomerate Rio Tinto reports a 12 percent efficiency gain through its own automation, saving millions not only in oil and gas costs but also in reduced rubber consumption. Learn MBA Courses from the World’s top Universities. Earn Masters, Executive PGP, or Advanced Certificate Programs to fast-track your career. 13 Traits of Highly Effective Startup Entrepreneurs Before automated trucks, humans drove vehicles like the CAT 797, a bright yellow, 4000-horsepower truck capable of carrying 400 tons, or 800,000 pounds of load. Each CAT 797 truck costs around $5.5 million, and the tyres cost more than $40,000 each. If that sounds like a lot of money for a tyre, consider how massive and strong they must be. Each truck requires six Bridgestone 59/80R63 XDR tyres, which stand 13 feet tall and weigh nearly 12,000 pounds. Each tyre is supported by 2000 pounds of steel—enough to build two small cars—and wrapped in enough rubber to make 600 standard automobile tyres. Learn MBA Courses from the World’s top Universities. Earn Master, Executive PGP, or Advanced Certificate Programs to fast-track your career. How has Rio Tinto been saving on the cost to procure that rubber? Humans driving at variable speeds up and down circular ramps break more than they need to, resulting in greater tyre turnover. In fact, one of the reasons Rio Tinto and others moved toward automated trucks was rubber savings—automated trucks apply brakes only when necessary, increasing the lifespan of those pricey tires. In the remote north-eastern corner of Australia, in a thinly populated, arid region known as Pilbara, Rio Tinto has also been pioneering autonomous haulage and drilling systems since 2008. They operate over sixty autonomous trucks, and those trucks have covered 3.9 million kilometers since 2012, loading extracted iron ore onto their AutoHaul system, the world’s first fully autonomous, heavy-haul, long-distance railway. Rio Tinto calls this their ‘mine of the future.’ It is run from a location which is hundreds of miles away, in Perth, by a 400-people operations staff, who manage fifteen mines in total, as well as thirty-one iron ore mining pits, four port terminals, and 1600 kilometers of railroad. The remote operation is made possible by data visualization software that interprets masses of data coming in from sensors on the autonomous vehicles installed at the mines, and produces easy-to-read displays for the pit controllers, geologists, drill-and-blast teams, and other personnel who supervise the activity. Automation technology allows machines to work autonomously in dangerous mining pits so that humans don’t have to. Employee Engagement is Now About Holistic Well-Being at Work Such triumphs of automation, which are being achieved in an increasing number of industries, have fueled the concerns about massive job losses that Martin Ford predicts in The Rise of the Robots. Academic research has also raised alarms. In the oft-cited 2013 study conducted by Oxford University economists Carl Frey and Michael Osborne, titled ‘The Future of Employment: How Susceptible Are Jobs to Computerization?’ the authors concluded that 47 per cent of US jobs are at a high risk of machine automation over the next one to two decades. What’s more, how so many jobs will be replaced by new jobs for humans to do is very much unclear. Job displacement by machines is commonly referred to as ‘technological unemployment.’ The argument that masses of human workers would lose jobs, which would not be replaced by other kinds of work, has been made many times in the past, including the dawn of the Industrial Revolution and during the Great Depression in the early twentieth century. Economist John Maynard Keynes contended that job losses during the Depression due to technological advances were leading to ‘means of economizing the use of labour outrunning the pace at which we can find new uses for labour.’ But history contradicts that thesis: as prior waves of technological innovation led to great job displacement, thousands of new and different jobs eventually popped up and offset the losses. In the Industrial Revolution, the vast majority of farm jobs were replaced by factory jobs, so that when in 1900, approximately half of all American workers were employed on farms; today that number is just 2 percent. Then, from the middle to later twentieth century, much of the new manufacturing work in the US and other developed nations were either automated—by the introduction of robotics technology to the factory floor—or shipped abroad to the less developed nations. But again, plentiful new jobs in the service industry emerged. Conceding this point, Martin Ford argues, however, that the current wave of technological innovation will lead to even more severe job displacement than what has occurred in the past. In other words, this time is different. Fewer new jobs will be created because machines are now able to perform not only many manual tasks as well as humans do, but can also perform some cognitive tasks, and they will be getting better at mimicking human intelligence. This is why he predicts that machines will take over many high-level, ‘white collar’ jobs as well as manual ones. Employee Engagement is Now About Holistic Well-Being at Work ‘The Fuzzy and The Techie‘ gives particular importance in India, where students are unduly pressured to gain admission into institutes of technology in the hope that they will be at the forefront of change and innovation in the VUCA world. This is a brilliant book if you want to know why liberal arts are still important in our techie world. What will be the future of jobs? The impact of automation on the job is going to be there. Approximately less than 5 percent of jobs will be affected by complete automation. Automation is not the only factor affecting the complete automation of employment; instead, there are various other factors also at play, such as the development and deployment of automation solutions in the workplace.  The impact of automation varies by the sectors and types of occupations. The occupations likely to be affected by automation include physical ones, such as operating machinery,  fast food preparation, etc.  The future of work for data collection and processing can also be affected by automation as a machine can do this job relatively quickly and accurately.  The most in-demand skills for the future of jobs Advanced literacy and writing  Quantitative analysis  Critical thinking  Statistical analysis  Advanced communication  Empathy Business development programming  Counseling skills  Data analysis IT skills Engineering  Prediction of the future jobs Although predicting future jobs is difficult, according to the current scenario and predicting future trends, some of the jobs which are going to be there in the future are mentioned below- Data analysts Data scientists Renewable energy technicians  Healthcare professionals Cybersecurity experts  Robotics  AI Specialists  3D printing specialists Virtual augmented reality developers If you want to learn more about marketing and entrepreneurship, Liverpool Business School & upGrad offers Master of Business Administration (MBA) Liverpool Business School which helps you to transform your career. The program provides 1-on-1 mentorship from industry leaders, a 1-week immersion program at the University campus, dual credentials (MBA from LBS & PGPM from IMT), networking with peers at offline basecamps, and more.

It’s mostly a dream for everyone to become the master of his own business. And why not? The time for following the bosses’ orders has now shown a trend. Although the idea seems to be an awesome one, difficulties are still there. But, knowing the best ways to achieve dreams might help turn the dreams into dreamt entrepreneurship. The idea might be simple to a complex one, but what is important is the fact, how the dreamers follow it. Before starting with the ways how to become a successful entrepreneur, it is important to actually know what entrepreneurship means and who is an entrepreneur is. Starting the Journey as an Entrepreneur With the passing years, the word that has been consistently in trend is “Entrepreneur”. An entrepreneur is any person that transforms his creative skills and ideas into an innovative business and this process of setting up is known as entrepreneurship. So, how to become a successful entrepreneur? A few steps for a successful entrepreneur are: An innovative product is supported by a great idea. Therefore, an idea unique to its product, method, etc. is needed before setting up any business. A few areas related to the concept of marketing ideas could be learned which might turn out to be beneficial in the future. One of the most important steps in the creation of a business is its planning. A business plan is required which will hold the information of the objectives, and the business strategies to achieve those goals.  Getting hold of the audience that the business is going to attract. One should have a clear picture of the market that the product will adhere to. Based on that other strategies could be built up to focus more attraction. In the digital era, networking has become an essential factor for the survival of any type of business. Therefore, it is always expected to build more networks that will help in identifying or connecting to potential investors. Being an entrepreneur requires the ability to sell their products into the market and convince the people that the product is the best. A business won’t be a successful one if marketing is not done properly. Efforts are always needed to market the products at different stages of the business with a focus on the target audience.  Learn MBA Courses from the World’s top Universities. Earn Master, Executive PGP, or Advanced Certificate Programs to fast-track your career. Role of a product manager in becoming an entrepreneur It is a widely known fact that product managers make some good entrepreneurs with their inherent ability to set up a business on their own. A few reasons why a product manager delves toward becoming a successful entrepreneur are: How to become a businessman? Entrepreneurs have the belief that their ideas are the most creative ones which could lead to great business. But, the skeptical nature of the product managers helps in dealing with customer research which is the utmost necessity for knowing how the product will fit into the market. It is believed that product managers very well play the role of an ethnographer collecting information about the society. For a business to turn into a successful one, understanding the target market is required.  Only then effective solutions embraced by the customers will be built up. Due to the unpredictable nature of human beings, it’s always helpful to collect reviews from varied angles. This seems to be a crucial task for all those entrepreneurs. As finding and retaining a single review of a customer might eventually lead the business into failure. Product managers are well equipped with failure from which they eventually learn leading to better ideas. No one knows much while developing an idea. Anyone who gets the idea that his knowledge is adequate for his business, then it’s a total myth. Therefore, it’s always better to fail in a controlled environment, rather than the failure after investing a huge amount. It’s only through failure, that the product managers understand the reason behind it and eventually turn it into something better. The process is an iterative one. Interdependence is the key to a successful business. The attitude of independence while being the owner of a business isn’t going to be of any help. Product managers know the worth of interdependence while working in a diverse organization. It is only through the collaborative efforts of top minds that results in a great product. How to choose a business idea? Before knowing how to become a successful entrepreneur, you must rely on your business model as a good business idea is one of the most important reasons behind a successful business.  Steps to choose a business idea – Identify what motivates you Your motivation will lie in what makes you passionate. Any successful business has some element of passion in it. The best way to know your passion is to identify what makes you actually passionate rather than what you wish to be passionate about. You may ask yourself some questions in order to know what your passion- In which areas have you performed your best? Which extracurricular activities/ hobbies excite you the most? What makes you feel satisfied with your work? Do extensive research about the market Once you have narrowed down your business idea,  research comes as the next step in the process. Now is the time to dive into doing research about the business. Study the different businesses which have been there for a long time and learn about how they grew their business. Once you have studied the business well, it becomes time for you to brainstorm about what is missing in their business that you can provide that help you stand better in the competition. It is better to shadow and visit their office and understand their business better while doing research. Create a business plan Having only the idea is not enough to build a successful business. On the journey to learn how to become a businessman, it is important to know and learn to build a successful business model.  You can create a business plan based on the research which you have done. Moreover, you can even refer to the business plan of the businesses you have researched about.  In the planning phase, you must work on the following- How the business would work Who would be the target market How to approach the investors These are some of the major points you must consider while creating a business plan. Look out for funding sources Funding is very important while working out a business. It is important to have cash flow that helps you run your business smoothly. Some of the funding options are- Angel investors Crowdfunding Venture capital Small business lenders Employees and Partners Any business you start, you will find a need for partners or employees who help you to grow your business. It is important to know better that behind any successful business, there is a team who works passionately. It is important for business owners to create a healthy and positive environment in their workplace. You need to think about the perks you will give your employees, competitive compensation, and how you can be a mentor or a coach to them. Why an Entrepreneurial product manager? Most people might believe that developing a product will often result in success. While from the perspective of a product manager the road towards the development of the product from its idea is filled with danger. Always aided with multiple risks, the new ideas are finding it quite difficult to turn themselves into great products. It is through the inborn ability of an entrepreneurial product manager to embrace such type of risk leading them towards creating a groundbreaking product. The product managers very well know how to utilize the resources efficiently. During conditions of scarcity, it is their responsibility to make good decisions and therefore has the skill of getting informed of each and every resource available. In cases of new products, there is lesser data or sometimes no data. In such scenarios, the product managers get deep inside the client conversation in order to gather metrics.   How to become an entrepreneur with higher skill sets Some of the important skill sets which any entrepreneur must have are as follows – Interpersonal skills Attending various workshops and events Networking Finance management Leadership skills Branding Customer acquisition Design thinking  Strategic thinking  Time management Sales Pitching Fundraising  Explore our Popular MBA Courses Master of Business Administration from Golden Gate University Master of Business Administration (MBA) Liverpool Business School MBA from Deakin Business School MBA in Digital Marketing from Dekin University Executive MBA from SSBM View all MBA Courses Training in Product Management: Getting the Certificate Becoming a product manager is eventually an effective path leading toward a successful entrepreneur. The present era demands the continuous growth of all product managers in the evolving environment. For all the fine-tuning of the skills, essential training is required. Online resources provide a way to gain the knowledge necessary for product development. But, being a master of the discipline signifies being the epitome of essential training and knowledge. This could be achieved through the Product management certification program.  Getting enrolled in a product management certification program offered by upGrad could help in leading your career toward becoming a successful product manager. It provides an opportunity to get certified by the global institute “Duke corporate education” and an opportunity to learn from some of the best faculty and industry mentors. Top MBA Skills MBA in Finance MBA in HR MBA in Marketing https://www.upgrad.com/mba-course/mba-in-international-business/ MBA in Operations Management MBA in Business Analytics MBA in IT MBA in Healthcare Management MBA in General Management MBA in Agriculture MBA in Supply Chain Management MBA in Entrepreneurship Summing up The development of any new product often has a rough path along with the several challenges faced by the developer. Therefore, it is always in the mind how to become a successful entrepreneur or how to become a businessman. Well! It’s the effective guidance and training that helps the creator turn themselves into successful entrepreneurs. Being a master of the field is always helpful. So, if you are having a bachelor’s degree but are lost on how to start your entrepreneur journey, upGrad could be the solution you are looking for. Irrespective of age and gender, the Product Management Certification Program might be the right path toward your dream. If you want to learn more about marketing and entrepreneurship, Liverpool Business School & upGrad offers Master of Business Administration (MBA) Liverpool Business School which helps you to transform your career. The program provides 1-on-1 mentorship from industry leaders, a 1-week immersion program at the University campus, dual credentials (MBA from LBS & PGPM from IMT), networking with peers at offline basecamps, and more. Read Our Popular Articles Related to MBA Financial Analyst Salary – Freshers and Experienced Top Interview Questions and Answers for HR MBA Marketing Career Options in US Best Career Options In USA After MBA In Human Resource Top 7 Career Options in Sales Highest Paying Finance Jobs in the US: Average to Highest Top 7 Career Options in Finance in the USA : Must Read Top 5 Marketing Trends MBA Salary in USA [All Specializations] .wpdt-tc-F44336 { color: #F44336 !important;}

Renowned Silicon Valley investor and serial entrepreneur Peter Thiel wrote in his best-selling book, “Going from 0 to 1 is the hardest thing in the world.” You’re creating something out of nothing, with no past precedents, no current references, no validation to help you figure out right from wrong. It’s like a blind person flying a supersonic jet with little to no visibility. Starting something of your own can be a daunting challenge, especially if it’s your first rodeo. It can be intimidating and full of uncertainty. And yet, if done right, it can be the most thrilling, rewarding, and emotionally fulfilling job in the world. 9 out of 10 startups fail because there is a lot of contradictory wisdom on the Internet that only serves to misguide you. But we’ve put together a list of 7 tips for first-time entrepreneurs that can help you navigate the mazy and confusing world of startups. 1. Identify Your Niche One of the most common startup tips floating around is to go after a large market. And while that does entail more $$$, it is a double-edged sword because it also means more competition. Instead, as a first-time entrepreneur, you better identify a small but sizable niche and become the dominant player in that segment. Once you get a strong foothold in that space and capture significant market share, you can always expand horizontally into new, allied markets. Be the biggest fish in a small pond instead of hundreds of smaller fish in a large pond. 2. Find Your First 100 Fans Too many startups commit the fatal mistake of going after perfection. They spend an excessive amount of time building a feature-rich version of the product or service without knowing if there are any takers for it. Avoid the trap of perfection and embrace iteration. Build a minimum viable product (MVP); it can be a landing page, a video, an Excel sheet, a blog, or a no-code prototype and just put it out there. Spend all your energy on finding your first 100 fans. Because if you can get 100 people to love a makeshift version of your product, imagine what the response will be when you have something tangible and fully functional. Learn MBA Courses from the World’s top Universities. Earn Masters, Executive PGP, or Advanced Certificate Programs to fast-track your career. 3. Assemble an A-Star Team A good product in a lucrative market is nothing without a top-notch team to execute it. Hiring people smarter than you is the cardinal rule of StartupLand. While skill-sets are essential, also ensure that a prospective hire will gel well with the team. Recruit diligent people with a positive attitude who are team players. Jackpot if you can find someone who takes ownership and does not treat it as a mundane job. If you’re looking for co-founders, work with someone who shares your vision and work ethic and is not afraid to stay out of the comfort zone for long periods.  4. Know Thy Competition As a first-time entrepreneur, one of the biggest mistakes you can make is operating with blinders on. While tunnel vision can help you focus on the core objective, it can make you lose track of what’s happening around you. A thorough competitive analysis is a prerequisite for success. Google your competitors and see what they’re doing to get a pulse of the direction your market is heading. Make a note of competitor playbooks, strategies, communications so that you can differentiate and carve out an identity for yourself. Get a top-level view of the competitive landscape first before diving deep into building anything. 5. Be Receptive To Feedback Having a strong gut is essential, but don’t let it blindside you. First-time entrepreneurs should always keep their ears firmly to the ground and listen to early customer feedback. Sit down with your first 100 fans, understand their pain points, and use those insights to inform your product. Let them contribute to feature selection discussions and influence your product roadmap. You might have a strong instinct about something, but you should discard it, and of course, correct it immediately if the majority disagrees. Have a thick skin, don’t get attached to your ideas and beliefs, accept you might be wrong and embrace constructive feedback. 6. Exercise and Eat Healthy Running a startup well is impossible if you’re not operating at a 100% capacity every day. The nature of the business is such that you can get physically and mentally fatigued quickly. Founder burnout is commonly observed in startups because there are new headaches and stressors every day. The best way to tackle startup exhaustion is to exercise, eat healthily, and get a good night’s sleep. Going at full tilt without taking breaks or recharging your batteries can be injurious to your health and mental well-being in the long run. 7. Quitters Never Win You’ll face many hurdles in your startup journey, and every time you come across a big obstacle, your fight-or-flight mechanism might kick in. Remember never to throw in the towel and keep ploughing at it until you dig yourself out of a hole. No entrepreneur becomes an overnight billionaire, and as such, there are no shortcuts to startup success. There are so many things that can and will go wrong, but the one thing you can control is your attitude. Never doubt yourself, believe in your abilities, and just put your head down and power through. Put up inspirational quotes around your office, if need be, to motivate you to go the extra mile. Conclusion Above all, read. You don’t have to take our word for it; take Warren Buffet’s. For any first-time entrepreneur, knowledge is a moat and something that can set you apart. These startup tips can mean the difference between being a unicorn and an also-ran, so we hope you internalise and act on them. If you want to learn more about marketing and entrepreneurship, Liverpool Business School & upGrad offers Master of Business Administration (MBA) Liverpool Business School which helps you to transform your career. The program provides 1-on-1 mentorship from industry leaders, 1-week immersion program at University campus, dual credentials (MBA from LBS & PGPM from IMT), network with peers at offline basecamps and more.

A few years back, a research was conducted by Forrester about the progressive behaviour and pattern of the B2B customers. The study revealed that 74% of B2B buyers often research half or more than half of their work purchases online. The market research also discovered that approximately 56% of the buyers today prefer to buy their official products online. ‘Convenience’ is the major factor of influence in the shift to online from offline. 74% of B2B customers feel convenient to make a purchase online than deal with sales personnel. Undoubtedly, the results of the study and the pioneering data-driven marketing statistics have shackled the cuffs of the conventional marketers and sales moguls. The question, ‘what’s next’ is a constant in a tech geek’s professional life. When it comes to technology, there is always something fresh and the hunt to develop and implement a new technology which could augment businesses is unyielding. The inquisitiveness to know and seek knowledge about the technology and how it is going to impact the daily lives of the human species. A few years back, who could have thought that social, mobile, cloud, etc., technological platforms would rule out daily lives. The accelerated growth of the user’s needs and their expectations to interact in the real-time scenarios on these applications has disrupted the business ecosystem. These technological headways play a compelling role to face the challenges of the global world. These emerging technologies have the indeterminate power to strengthen the lives, transform the global economic scenarios and make this world a better place for the upcoming and future generations. Must-have Skills at Different Stages of a Sales Career Technology is indeed, one of the greatest change agents in the present world, and is moving faster than ever before. It has the supremacy to offer innovative solutions to the global challenges. The emerging technologies have brought a radical shift in the information, technology and development sector and thereby impacting the other industries along with sales and marketing business segments well. Mapping the imminent technology proposal of the business demands the business leaders to first identify these emerging technology trends. They ought to learn the dynamics of the technology and how it would impact the present and the future of the business. Here are some of the most revolutionary and disruptive emerging technologies: #1 Big Data Big data is the buzzword. The last few years, every business firm is taking enormous efforts to learn and implement the uses of big data. The Big data technology is a very simple and effective concept. An exceptional method to collect, organise and comprehend the data for the benefit of the business. The quantitative output of the data-driven analysis is one of the core strengths of the big data technology. For example, in the healthcare industry, an enormous amount of data analysis of a series of patients for a disease, could help to diagnosis the various signs and symptoms of the disease and offer a rational medical solution for the same. A big data expert could also help to find the hot spots of crime in the city for the Police Department and support to reduce crime. The Big data technology involves building huge data architectures to organise and analyze the unstructured data and offer real-time value for the business. The vast augmentation of the digital data has enabled not just big, but also the small and medium enterprises disrupt the power of the big-data. This technology with right expertise would help the business to lower the cost of consumer gaining, augment sales and step into new business markets. Understanding and Conducting a Market Research like Experts #2 Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) An explicit example, in our daily lives, is Google’s ‘Hello Google’ or the Amazons ‘Alexa’. Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence have taken huge leaps in the in the recent past few years. For example, a business can apply machine learning and offer the consumer a fresh purchasing option, depending on the analysis of the history of the purchasing pattern and taste of the consumer. Machine Learning could be an effective tool for the cyber financial frauds. Artificial Intelligence could be a more robust system to combat the new complex cyber-attacks. In simple terms, the highly advanced computers (machines) performing tasks, which is habitually done by humans. The ML and AI technologies blend a variety of other skills and expertise such as neural networks, deep learning, and natural language processing. This also includes other statistical concepts to appreciate, learn, forecast, acclimate and potentially function autonomously. The machines are trained by human beings to learn and uplift the conduct of the human, in turn leading to more smart systems. This technology is enabled by the powerful data sets. These smart machines and systems would be able to think on their own and produce unexpected outputs for the benefit of the security of the business. The industries which are expected to yield from ML and AI are hospitality, medical and other service sectors. The image recognition in the airport is a simple example of ML in our daily lives. The speech recognition by the Google assistant or Apple’s Siri is an explicit poignant idea and implementation of ML and AI. As the high-end systems replace humans and perform tasks with immense credibility, this technology will question of what it means to be human and the rapidly posing risks of this technology on the human species. Learn Online MBA Courses from the World’s top Universities. Earn Masters, Executive PGP, or Advanced Certificate Programs to fast-track your career. #3 Market Automation Every entrepreneur and business tycoon must be aware that the marketing automation is here to stay. In the present-day scenario, a sales and marketing personnel must automate processes in every way possible to offer the best experiences for the consumers. Businesses must leverage the benefits of this exclusive technology to eradicate the human-exclusive tasks. A robust automation tool is tailored to the explicit requirements of the business. In simple words, marketing automation is a method to use technology and software applications to market the business products and services in several platforms and automate the repetitive tasks of the consumers. Marketing automation helps to save time, lowers the operating costs of the business, and optimises the performance of the business. The online e-commerce leverages the best of automation technology. An e-commerce industry can use automation technology to understand the customer’s buying cycle and share the right message at the right time. For example, if he or she has left the shopping cart without making a purchase. An automated marketing system could send the customer a reminder message of the purchase or if any new discounts or offers are available for the same product. Sales 101: An Optimum Approach to Find a Happy Customer Learning the history of customer data purchases, business organisations can upsell, cross-sell and trigger cycle sell for the consumers. By reducing the human error using this technology, business entities can effectively manage their marketing campaigns and increase the performance of the marketing an s sales team. #4 Internet of Things (IoT) In a recent article by Forbes, about the Internet of Things (IoT), it stated that IoT is going to comprise 30 billion devices by 2020. IoT is seen as the change agent for the luxurious and effective lifestyle for the consumers, offering valuable customer interactions and exceptional experiences for them. IoT is one of the most exciting areas of focus today. The idea revolves around the nano-sensors circulating in the human body or any specific object. Once connected with the technology, this is going to have a proliferating impact on the various sectors such as medicine, agriculture, architecture etc. IoT is an interconnecting technology. In simple terms, an interconnected smart home system. For example, the doorbells could be connected to a voice-based application which tells the information about the person on the doorstep. Every home appliances could relate to each other, such as a thermostat, security cameras, security lights, television sets, etc., and in turn, connected to the technology. A consumer-centric single, seamless solution for all their problems. Amazon’s Alexa is a great example of fetching IoT to the user’s living room. The benefits of IoT is far beyond the four walls. The business entities could take the advantage of IoT by tracing and monitoring assets and offer real-time value and information to the consumers about the ups and downs of the market. In short, a strategy of prevention before the disaster. The occupational potentials offered by IoT are infinite. #5 Cloud Computing The market forecast states that in the next five years, 50% of the business organisations and global companies are moving their data to the cloud. This also points that Cloud Computing Technology companies such as Microsoft have greater responsibility to safeguard and secure the consumer valuable data. The use of cloud computing technology would ease the worry of security issues of the data for the business firms and help them focus on other important business activities. No business organisation can ignore the benefits of cloud computing and must build a flexible and robust customer support system. For example, the educational institutions can leverage the use of cloud computing technology and aid students to enroll and access data of online classes from anywhere and everywhere. In the healthcare sector, operations and medical organisations can maintain the patient data, check the status of the patient and offer necessary treatments as and when necessary, without storing the data in the hardcopy of files. The Ultimate Sales and Marketing Resource Guide #6 Blockchain Technology The Blockchain Technology is the disruptor of the Financial Industry. Mostly espoused by the cryptocurrency industry, today, even the conventional banks have started to clout its usage. The rise of bitcoin industry has raised the ambiguous inquisitiveness of the blockchain technology affecting the emerging markets. The blockchain technology is a digital principled ledger which creates numerous chained blocks of data and ensures sales and marketing resources are focused on the numbers of the business. Each block preserves cryptographically appropriate information which is infeasible for a discrete entity to demolish. In the financial industry, the potential and implication of the blockchain technology are vast. This is useful to scale the speed of the financial transactions, trim the transaction costs and enlarge cash flow. This could also offer innovative methods in the way markets and government function. A clear understanding of the business opportunity and the potential of the technology is critical for the appropriate usage. Along with machine learning and artificial intelligence, blockchain technology can automate and lift the daily business operations through its unique way of the inbuilt functioning architecture. For example, the blockchain technology can aid to eliminate the intermediaries of the payment and settlement systems of the capital markets. In the government digital initiatives, this can reduce the manual efforts of accounting and auditing.  An optimum technology to reduce the manual mundane tasks of the employees. The innate characteristics of the blockchain technology of being secure, transparent and autonomy have led to being solution-generator for different verticals of the industry. #7 Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) The fascinating Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) is the current catchphrase of every technocrat. The AR and VR are potentially remodelling the way consumers interact with each other and the technology, inspiring the growth of pervasive settings. For instance, AR allows the user to blend the real and virtual world. With the help of VR technology, firms can deploy virtual business training and remote involvement. These technologies are changing the way the end-user is perceiving and interacting with the digital world. The system software along with development platforms and interface compete to deliver this technology. The AR and VR had already had its digital footprint in the gaming industry. Most big companies such as Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Unity etc., have already deployed this technology and viewed the results. The technology is also helpful to know in-depth about the changing tastes of the target audience and has immense potential to influence the business strategies. The global companies like Walmart have adopted this technology for recruitment and training of the employees and offer a smooth experience of the consumers. The PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift, Google DayDream, Samsung Gear, etc., are some of the evident examples of AR and VR. Do You Really Need an Offline MBA to Become a Great Manager Sooner or later, these technological trends are going to take over every aspect of the business. Now is the time, when business firms and industrialists can bet their money on this vastly rising technology inclinations. They must make the best of the efforts to learn and appreciate the future disruptions associated with these emerging technologies. Looks like, the sky is the limit for the human creativity and these emerging and influential technologies are just the tip of the iceberg which are going to shake up the world tomorrow. If you want to learn more about marketing and entrepreneurship, Liverpool Business School & upGrad offers Master of Business Administration (MBA) Liverpool Business School which helps you to transform your career. The program provides 1-on-1 mentorship from industry leaders, 1-week immersion program at University campus, dual credentials (MBA from LBS & PGPM from IMT), network with peers at offline basecamps and more.

  In a start-up, absolutely nothing happens till you make it happen. – Marc Andreessen If you are a start-up or nursing the idea of starting one for a long time, you know this to be the absolute truth. But no matter how much you multitask or run around, the feeling of dissatisfaction catches on as you realize that you have so much more to achieve. That’s where productivity tools come in. Tools which take care of the nitty-gritty, giving you more time to chase your dream. What are the top 5 questions young entrepreneurs should be asking themselves? There is a whole repository of start-up tools for you to choose from depending on which stage of entrepreneurship you are in. The list below is just a drop from the ocean of start-up toolkit available out there. Top startup tools to make your startup smarter: This is the early entrepreneur stage when you are planning to launch your start-up. WordPress/GoDaddy: WordPress is the world’s most popular platform and GoDaddy is the world’s largest web host and domain provider. Together, they help you to create a beautiful website which will go on to become the face of your company when you are pitching for new businesses. CoFoundersLab: If you have a great start-up idea and are looking for like-minded co-founders to partner with, this online matchmaking service is the place to go. It helps you to find the right people online and in-person events. Learn Online MBA Courses from the World’s top Universities. Earn Masters, Executive PGP, or Advanced Certificate Programs to fast-track your career. In this stage, when you have launched your company officially and are pitching for your first set of clients, these startup tools can help you understand your customers better – BetaList: This tool gives you your first hundred users and helps you to understand your start-up’s place in the market, enabling you to improvise on the product-market fit. Intercom: This application lets you interact with your customers/prospective customers on a one to one basis through live chats, targeted emails, specialised in-app messages which are triggered by behaviour and time to build your business. Doorbell: As a start-up, if there is one thing that you eagerly look forward to is genuine customer feedback. Doorbell helps you to gather them all and monitor them closely. The stage when your company has taken off and you are looking at building a team and getting the best out of them on a tight budget, these tools for startup might come in handy – Recruiterbox/Homerun: These productivity apps help you to create authentic job openings, receive genuine applications and review the candidates effectively. Termsfeed: This unique tool lets you create extensive legal documents within minutes and customize them as per your products and services. Slack/ Hipchat: These tools enable you to say to communicate with your team, manage them by allocating tasks and deadlines, follow their progress by sharing files and links and grouping your communications according to projects/teams. Asana/Trello: These are two of the most popular project management tools used by many start-ups. They help you to effectively manage your tasks and projects on one common platform with the whole team on the same page. io: Specially built for idea-led projects, this project management tool lets you record, manage and monitor every step of your journey from an idea to execution. Top 21 Tech Product Marketing Tools For Startups While the tools on this list are some of the most used out there, there are however a lot more where these come from. If you have used any other productivity tools that have transformed your life as an entrepreneur, tell us about it. We would love to hear about them. If you want to learn more about marketing and entrepreneurship, Liverpool Business School & upGrad offers Master of Business Administration (MBA) Liverpool Business School which helps you to transform your career. The program provides 1-on-1 mentorship from industry leaders, 1-week immersion program at University campus, dual credentials (MBA from LBS & PGPM from IMT), network with peers at offline basecamps and more.

The world is evolving at a rapid rate as new technologies disrupt traditional business practices. Almost every industry has been transformed by new technology in recent years. This trend has created significant opportunities for entrepreneurs who launched their products at the right time. In contrast, today’s new entrepreneurs face uncertainty as they try to compete with established companies in both new and existing markets. Although small and medium-sized businesses realized the most significant benefits of new technologies in the past, the consolidation of many industries is leading new entrepreneurs to question whether they will be able to remain competitive. Historical Opportunities for Small Businesses The future can only be understood by making projections based on historical analysis. So, it is important for new entrepreneurs to study what has led to success for existing businesses. Before the 21st century, small and medium-sized businesses were struggling to compete against large corporations. Reaching out to customers was difficult without large media budgets. Once the internet made it possible for businesses to reach customers through direct means at low cost, small businesses began to prosper in every industry. Many of the most successful entrepreneurs found ways to leverage the internet to market their products and services to both local customers and buyers from around the world. Get MBA Certifications from the World’s top Universities. Earn Masters, Executive PGP, or Advanced Certificate Programs to fast-track your career. Challenges in the Competitive Landscape 2022 could be a challenging year for small and medium-sized businesses because new technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things, will be most effective for large-scale enterprises. Companies selling a high volume of products will gather most data and then use the information to improve all aspects of an offering. Entry barriers will increase in many industries as established haystacks of data become the primary drivers of success. Local businesses will also face challenges as autonomous delivery and virtual reality reduces the value of retail stores. Best Path to Success Although most industries will face severe disruption in 2022 as new technologies are introduced, the reality is, adaptive small businesses can achieve growth by leveraging changes in the marketplace. Businesses that cling to traditional models will decline or face bankruptcy, but businesses that adapt to the new reality of the marketplace can realize significant growth. Small and medium-sized businesses that wish to succeed will need to realize that they are not immune from digital transformation. Therefore, they will need to incorporate big data into their own operations. Do You Have All the Skills Required to Start a Business? Growth Industries for Small Businesses New entrepreneurs who have the luxury of being able to enter any industry should focus on adding value in industries with the best outlook and highest growth. Entrepreneurs who are skilled in software development or engineering should consider working with new technologies that are likely to transform the modern world, such as autonomous driving or the Internet of Things. However, new technologies will have applications in every industry so entrepreneurs can try to connect what they already know with new technology to disrupt established business models. Scaling a Small Business in 2022 Small and medium-sized businesses that take advantage of market dynamics in 2022 will be able to scale at a rapid rate. Scalability will depend on the degree to which a business incorporates new technology into existing processes. An online t-shirt store, for example, may need to invest in artificial intelligence to create a personalized experience for customers, which is way different than the approach an online business for grocery would opt. An online grocery store might want to invest in developing technology for filtering food according to the calories it contains. Small businesses will also need to leverage data to optimize all areas of their operations, such as marketing, manufacturing, and employee management. As technology evolves at a rapid rate, small businesses must also remain vigilant to recognize new business products that could help to improve the quality of their offerings. Maintaining Sustainability High market dynamism will decrease the sustainability of existing business models when entrepreneurs are not willing to embrace change. The most sustainable business models will recognize that change is inevitable and that continuous innovation is now necessary for success. Small businesses that succeed in nurturing a culture of innovation will be more prepared to adapt when technologies transform their industry. Adapting before competitors will yield significant advantages, so businesses of all sizes will need to embrace an entrepreneurial mindset to maintain a dominant position in the marketplace. Getting Funding Most entrepreneurs do not have enough capital to fund their own ventures, so it is important to recognize how market dynamics will impact funding in 2022. Entrepreneurs who rely on bank financing should expect loan officers to request data to verify the fundamentals of a business plan. Submitting a loan application without data that substantiates the claims will put entrepreneurs at a disadvantage relative to firms that can prove the viability of their models through data analysis. Venture capital firms will also expect data to drive decision-making throughout the business planning process, and entrepreneurs who can provide the information venture capitalists are looking for will have the greatest chance of acquiring the funds necessary to remain competitive. How to Get Your Start-Up Idea Validated Organizing the Right Team Teams of competent entrepreneurs with a broad range of skills will have the best chance of succeeding in 2022. The amount of knowledge necessary to run a business is increasing as technologies improve, so entrepreneurs who plan to start their own business should consider working with a partner. An ideal founding team will have at least one member with experience working with data and software. Founding teams that are competent in data analysis, product development, and digital marketing will realize synergies that will yield advantages against both new and existing competitors. Putting It All Together Running a small business in 2019 will require entrepreneurs to embrace new changes in order to succeed. Entrepreneurs who take advantage of new technologies can realize significant growth that will yield advantages for many years to come. The reality is, small and medium-sized businesses are likely to remain competitive with the introduction of new technologies, but continuous innovation will be required to keep a business model sustainable. Entrepreneurs who are ready to innovate, therefore, should look forward to 2019 as an opportunity to achieve growth, learn new skills, and build sustainable value. If you want to learn more about marketing and entrepreneurship, Liverpool Business School & upGrad offers Master of Business Administration (MBA) Liverpool Business School which helps you to transform your career. The program provides 1-on-1 mentorship from industry leaders, 1-week immersion program at University campus, dual credentials (MBA from LBS & PGPM from IMT), network with peers at offline basecamps and more.

The startup entrepreneurship landscape in the 21st century is phenomenal. Startup entrepreneurs are working on brilliant ideas in their quest to be the next unicorn. You need not be surprised if we say that the amount of capital invested in startups has drastically increased over the years. More than $171 billion has been invested since 2017, which marks a growth of 231% since 2010. It is simple to deduce that it is growth and investment that has made the sector so appealing. But behind all that appeal, is the rigour of hard-working founders who sold their cycles, leave aside Ferraris. What we see eventually is the glamour of an enterprise that has had a tough becoming. So, what are those factors that contribute to the success or failure of a startup? In this article, we discuss four major tenets for aspiring entrepreneurs. 4 Pillars of Scalable Startup Entrepreneurship Startup Incubation The incubation is an essential phase. There are way too many incredible ideas in the market, ready to compete and shine. But these ideas, despite their inherent brilliance, fail because of inadequate evaluation. Please note it is not necessary to have a unique idea. You are set to attract investment to scale your dream as long as your business fulfils a need in the market. In the case of the later, your focus should be on positioning your product in the market, shadowing the position of your existing competitors. Get Top MBA Certifications from the World’s top Universities. Earn Masters, Executive PGP, or Advanced Certificate Programs to fast-track your career. A great way to start on the incubation phase would be to join local startup incubation centres. Through peer and mentor consultation, you will have a better understanding of your proposed product is what your business should take up. An excellent execution strategy is the only way out. Check out  Canada North America United Kingdom Europe China India Team Building In the 21st century, when you set out to build your empire, people relationship is a significant success factor. Millenials do not work for bosses; they work for businesses. If you come across as an arrogant and exacting person, you’ll lose the opportunity to work with the best people. Without them, you can never build a great team that can materialize your business idea. Read: Online Education Programs to Transform Your Life You must understand the psychology with which young people operate, give them responsibilities that commensurate their talent and freedom that gives them the power to face the future head-on. As a technology firm, your hiring influences your business success. Form an advisory board of experienced businessmen and enthusiastic young people who see value in your mission and are ready to give their best for your success. Be mindful of the money aspect; although necessary, it is the last motivation for any doer. Pursuit Of Perfection Of course, a sincere entrepreneur would always be obsessive about the quality of their product. That is the way to go about striving for excellence in cutting out a differentiation. But here’s a challenge; many entrepreneurs with the potential to do great business get stuck at the product perfection phase before entering the market. For example, you may be determined to launch an AI-based app development company. The idea is distinct enough as per your incubation evaluation. Read: Career Options After Engineering However, you do not know how much the market is going to accept it until you start and operationalize your product. You will have no fund for marketing your product if you exhaust your capital only in perfecting the product. So, start without obsessing on perfection too much and focus on improving your product as per market response.  Agility to Adapt The premise we built above, further branches out to the critical aspect of agility to adapt. One thing is not to overspend on perfecting your product before entering the market. The other is to be ready to amend your original product vision, depending on the market response. There is absolutely nothing wrong or defeating about a strategic amendment to the original product archetype because your passion must fulfil a requirement to solicit funders. You are set on an epic journey if you notice the market steadily warming up to the new solution your product/service offers. Stay put and keep improving. But if the response is cold, you know due market diligence can help you figure the priority quadrant of your product/service. Startup Entrepreneurship & Seed-Funding You may think that the above discussed four simple tips to scale your startup to success aren’t that simple. And if that is so, you are not entirely wrong. The tips discussed may appear like simple chunks of text, but the scope of implementation is enormous. But you are an entrepreneur. You have the vision to give the best to yourself and the community at large. So, go for them and ensure you have your game plane attuned to those crucial strategies. By the way, it is Ronnie Screwvala at the helm of upGrad’s startup entrepreneurship which is disrupting the space of online education. If you want to learn more about marketing and entrepreneurship, Liverpool Business School & upGrad offers Master of Business Administration (MBA) Liverpool Business School which helps you to transform your career. The program provides 1-on-1 mentorship from industry leaders, 1-week immersion program at University campus, dual credentials (MBA from LBS & PGPM from IMT), network with peers at offline basecamps and more.