What journey do you want to have?

We looked recently at the reasons you are building your business, and as I said at the time that is probably the most important question you can ask yourself (Or that we can ask you – Ed), but it is very much only the beginning of the process clients go through when they work with me.

One of the next things I’m going to be asking is what journey do you want to have?  Because let’s face it there is not one single path that you can take. If there was, my role of navigator would be utterly redundant. But just like all of these questions, it is not a simple one to answer, and most people need at least a little guidance as to what the options are. What types of journey are even possible?

So before I get on with talking you through that, I better explain the assumptions that I am making at this point.

I’m assuming that you have had an idea for a business, that you have worked out what problem(s) you are going to be solving with your business, and that you have identified, at least broadly, who your customers are going to be.

If that’s a fair description, then let’s get on with it. We’re going to start at the end.

What is your exit point?

Is your goal to create one of the almost mythical tech unicorns? A company to rival Google, or Facebook? Because it’s probably safe to say that Google and Facebook weren’t created to be the behemoths they have become.  And so if it is I’m probably going to suggest that you rethink.  While it is theoretically possible to end up with a company worth a sizeable proportion of a trillion pounds, the chances are so remote as to be almost non-existent.

Maybe your goal is to get to the point where you can sell or float the company and walk away with a few million or considerably more? That’s slightly more feasible, but as the voice of reason here I am honour bound to point out that companies of that size are still quite rare and hard to build.

Let’s go back a stage, and look at the options in their broadest sense.

Are you looking to build a company with the end goal of selling it for as big a lump sum as you can walk away with?  Or are you looking to create an organisation that you are not only proud of, but want to stay as part of? Is it going to be a one off windfall, or a comfortable lifestyle business?

The answer to that question is going to play a fairly significant part in how you attempt to grow your company.

Once you have a rough idea of what “finished” looks like then we need to look at how you might get there.

The first thing I’d want to know is do you have a timescale?  And if so, is it realistic?  We’d all like to come up with an amazing idea, and then sell it a day later for a billion pounds, but if that is your goal then you’re probably better off sticking to lottery tickets.

Do you have any money to invest in the business?  If not, are you going to be looking to source money from external investors?  If so, do you understand how investment actually works? Do you understand things like dilution?

That the more money you need to raise, the less of your company remains yours. It’s actually a little more complicated than that, but we’ll cover the details in a different article.

If you have investors already lined up, what are they looking to get back for their investment?  Are you giving away a share of your company? And if so how much? Will that affect the chances of you securing further investment in the future if you need it?

Are you looking to employ staff? And what role are you planning on taking on in the business?  Are you the tech brain behind it all, or are you the evangelist who is best suited to marketing and selling the concept.  If the latter, do you have a CTO in mind, or do you need to find one?  There probably isn’t a more important role in a growing tech start-up, so you’re going to need to get that right.

What is your business model? You do have one don’t you? Are you selling a product or a service? Are you billing as a one off, or are you signing customers up to pay monthly?

Are you the sole founder, or do you have other co-founders in place?  If not, do you have non-execs lined up to sit on your board to ensure you have the full range of expertise you are going to need?

While your business is still in its infancy how often are you going to get feedback on the products or services you are developing?  Once it is up and running smoothly are you going to be set-up for honest customer feedback?  Will you have structures in place to act on it if you need to?

Since the Pandemic hit one of the biggest questions a lot of founders are facing is will your business be remote, or will you be based in an office?  Perhaps you’ll adopt a hybrid approach with a bit of each. If that is what you have in mind where will your office be, and how will you ensure the remote staff feel valued members of the team?

How will you hire staff? Are you planning on doing it yourself initially? Or have you included the financial costs of paying recruiters to your cash flow predictions?

How close to the wind are you planning on sailing?  You can’t run a business without taking risks, how much risk are you willing to take?  And do you have a plan b just in case it doesn’t work out the way you want?

Even now, almost a thousand words in we have only just scratched the surface of what you need to consider to ensure the journey you go on is close to the one you want. In my experience company founders often don't think about it, they essentially reinvent the journeys they have experienced in other companies. But in reality there is a lot of room for intent that often goes unaddressed. I genuinely believe planning your journey is as important, or even more, important than "coping with your journey".

If you want to talk about your business journey, and how to make it go the way you want then drop me a line.