Past MentorConnect Sessions

October, 2021 : Starting a new business

Oct 7, 2021 : Ideation and Finding Purpose

The first step to starting your startup is deciding what you want it for. Once that’s clear, then comes ideation and finding the purpose of this new Startup. Learn more about ideation and finding the purpose in this video!.

✔️ A reason for being.
✔️ Finding your purpose by doing What you love.
✔️ Understanding what the world needs.
✔️ Working for what you can be paid for, and enjoying what you are good at.

October, 2021 : Starting a new business

Oct 7, 2021 : Ideation and Finding Purpose

The first step to starting your startup is deciding what you want it for. Once that’s clear, then comes ideation and finding the purpose of this new Startup. Learn more about ideation and finding the purpose in this video!.

✔️ A reason for being.
✔️ Finding your purpose by doing What you love.
✔️ Understanding what the world needs.
✔️ Working for what you can be paid for, and enjoying what you are good at.

✔️ Take below pre-cautions during customer discovery

  • A. Don’t lead the witness
  • B. Be an active listener
  • C. Don’t treat a single conversation as the ultimate truth
  • D. Don’t fear if your idea or product gets rejected, so avoid the fear of rejection
  • E. Don’t ask customers to design your product for you

October, 2021 : Starting a new business

Oct 14, 2021 : Success starts with understanding your customer

The most important factor in determining success is to know what the target audience wants and needs to achieve their goal.

✔️ Talk to your prospects, understand their pain point.
✔️ Define your target audience who you are going to do business with in the future, who will be using your product.
✔️ Find the right candidates by hanging out where your prospects hang out, joining conferences or meetups, and asking for referrals.
✔️ Run an effective interview session by interviewing individually, adding a note-taker who helps you collect important information, and keep it human.
✔️ Do not ask what do you think about my product or do you like my product, rather ask the right questions such as what triggered their search for a solution, what challenges they are facing currently, what platform they used, or how much did they pay for it?
✔️ After running a few sessions, understand how do you make sense of what you have learnt such as organizing the data with help of a note-taker, finding the patterns with help of your team, and discussing the findings with your team.

✔️ Stay calm and keep learning.

October, 2021 : Starting a new business

Oct 21, 2021 : Rapid prototyping

Rapid prototyping provides a cost-effective way to create fast and efficient models of ideas. Various techniques can be used to perform rapid prototyping, such as paper sketching, digital model designing, or now 3D modelling.

A Major benefit of rapid prototyping is quick validation of ideas, designs, and functionalities.

We learned about Rapid prototyping rules –

✔️ Rule number 1 – Find the quickest path to experience and develop a prototype.
✔️ Rule number 2 – Doing is the best kind of thinking.

Finally, The purpose of the prototyping process overall is to “Maximize the rate of learning by minimizing the time to try ideas.”

October, 2021 : Starting a new business

Oct 21, 2021 : Rapid prototyping

Rapid prototyping provides a cost-effective way to create fast and efficient models of ideas. Various techniques can be used to perform rapid prototyping, such as paper sketching, digital model designing, or now 3D modelling.

A Major benefit of rapid prototyping is quick validation of ideas, designs, and functionalities.

We learned about Rapid prototyping rules –

✔️ Rule number 1 – Find the quickest path to experience and develop a prototype.
✔️ Rule number 2 – Doing is the best kind of thinking.

Finally, The purpose of the prototyping process overall is to “Maximize the rate of learning by minimizing the time to try ideas.”

October, 2021 : Starting a new business

Oct 28, 2021 : The Lean Startup Methodology

The lean startup methodology is used to develop products and businesses in a short period of time to quickly understand if the business model is viable one. 

Using this methodology, it’s possible for early-stage startups to garner success without requiring high amounts of funding, comprehensive business plans, or a product that has no flaws.

There are five principles of Lean Startup Methodology

✔️ Entrepreneurs are everywhere.
✔️ Entrepreneurship is a management.
✔️ Building sustainable model through validated learning.
✔️ Innovation accounting.
✔️ Build-Measure-Learn loop.

Build – Create MVP with enough feature to test the product in the market.

Measure – Measure the results of MVP while continue to develop the product.

Learn – Learn from data and feedback to make a market ready product.

October, 2021 : Starting a new business

Oct 28, 2021 : The Lean Startup Methodology

The lean startup methodology is used to develop products and businesses in a short period of time to quickly understand if the business model is viable one. 

Using this methodology, it’s possible for early-stage startups to garner success without requiring high amounts of funding, comprehensive business plans, or a product that has no flaws.

There are five principles of Lean Startup Methodology

✔️ Entrepreneurs are everywhere.
✔️ Entrepreneurship is a management.
✔️ Building sustainable model through validated learning.
✔️ Innovation accounting.
✔️ Build-Measure-Learn loop.

Build – Create MVP with enough feature to test the product in the market.

Measure – Measure the results of MVP while continue to develop the product.

Learn – Learn from data and feedback to make a market ready product.

November, 2021 : Business Model Canvas

Nov 04, 2021 : Ideal Customer Persona and Key Partnerships

An Ideal customer persona is a way of thinking about who can be your customer, doesn’t have to be a person, it can be a company, doesn’t have to be one, it can be more. Gender and age is one of the criteria but in today’s era it’s more about the person’s thought process.

To develop an ideal customer persona one should know about the depiction of an ideal customer based on qualitative and quantitative data, market research and things we know about existing customers.

Key partnerships can be categorise into 4 different types :
✔️ Strategic Alliances – It’s between non-competitors.
✔️ Coopetition – Strategic partnership between competitors.
✔️ Joint Ventures – To develop new businesses.
✔️ Buyer-Supplier Relationships – To assure reliable supplies.

Factor to keep in mind when forming a partnership :
✔️ Should have a right partnership agreement.
✔️ Impact on your clients.
✔️ It should be a win-win situation.
✔️ Selecting the right partner.

Key partnerships can be develop by asking 3 Important questions :
✔️ What Industry or company align with your company goals ?
✔️ Which type of partnership best fits your organization ?
✔️ What benefits those potential partners could gain through their relationship with your company ?

November, 2021 : Business Model Canvas

Nov 04, 2021 : Ideal Customer Persona and Key Partnerships

An Ideal customer persona is a way of thinking about who can be your customer, doesn’t have to be a person, it can be a company, doesn’t have to be one, it can be more. Gender and age is one of the criteria but in today’s era it’s more about the person’s thought process.

To develop an ideal customer persona one should know about the depiction of an ideal customer based on qualitative and quantitative data, market research and things we know about existing customers.

Key partnerships can be categorise into 4 different types :
✔️ Strategic Alliances – It’s between non-competitors.
✔️ Coopetition – Strategic partnership between competitors.
✔️ Joint Ventures – To develop new businesses.
✔️ Buyer-Supplier Relationships – To assure reliable supplies.

Factor to keep in mind when forming a partnership :
✔️ Should have a right partnership agreement.
✔️ Impact on your clients.
✔️ It should be a win-win situation.
✔️ Selecting the right partner.

Key partnerships can be develop by asking 3 Important questions :
✔️ What Industry or company align with your company goals ?
✔️ Which type of partnership best fits your organization ?
✔️ What benefits those potential partners could gain through their relationship with your company ?

November, 2021 : Business Model Canvas

Nov 11, 2021 : Value Proposition

As a business owner when you are selling things, it’s not the product but the value that product holds, or what problem that product is solving for your customer.

Value Proposition, explains how your product solves the problems of your customer or how it improves their situation, how it delivers a specific set of benefits and tells your ideal customer why they should buy your products or services.

Here are some examples of Value Proposition for clear and better understanding of Value Proposition :

1. Some of the Value Proposition for Facebook : 
✔️ Free social media for user.
✔️ Meaningful Engagement & Social Networking.
✔️ Global Reach.
✔️ Personalized Social Experience.

2. Some of the Value Proposition for Google :
✔️ Search for anything from any part of the world.
✔️ Fast and easy to access.
✔️ Organized Information which is easily accessible.
✔️ Free entertainment and learning.

Here are 4 questions, which will help you better define your Value Proposition :
✔️ Identify all the benefits/value your product or service offers.
✔️ Which one of your customer’s problem are you helping to solve.
✔️ In what ways are you helping your customers to get it done.
✔️ Differentiate yourself as the preferred provider of the value.

November, 2021 : Business Model Canvas

Nov 11, 2021 : Value Proposition

As a business owner when you are selling things, it’s not the product but the value that product holds, or what problem that product is solving for your customer.

Value Proposition, explains how your product solves the problems of your customer or how it improves their situation, how it delivers a specific set of benefits and tells your ideal customer why they should buy your products or services.

Here are some examples of Value Proposition for clear and better understanding of Value Proposition :

1. Some of the Value Proposition for Facebook : 
✔️ Free social media for user.
✔️ Meaningful Engagement & Social Networking.
✔️ Global Reach.
✔️ Personalized Social Experience.

2. Some of the Value Proposition for Google :
✔️ Search for anything from any part of the world.
✔️ Fast and easy to access.
✔️ Organized Information which is easily accessible.
✔️ Free entertainment and learning.

Here are 4 questions, which will help you better define your Value Proposition :
✔️ Identify all the benefits/value your product or service offers.
✔️ Which one of your customer’s problem are you helping to solve.
✔️ In what ways are you helping your customers to get it done.
✔️ Differentiate yourself as the preferred provider of the value.

November, 2021 : Business Model Canvas

Nov 18, 2021 : Market Strategy and Channels

Why is Marketing Strategy Important for a Business?

A marketing strategy is like a game plan for reaching prospective consumers and turning them into customers. The ultimate goal of a marketing strategy is to achieve and communicate a sustainable competitive advantage over other companies.

What are Channels in the Business World?

Channels are how a company communicates with its customers or how a company reaches out to its target customers. Your channels are your touch points, that play a crucial role in your customer experience.

So your channels actually serve several functions including raising awareness among customers about your company’s products and services, helping customers evaluate the company value proposition, and much more.

There are basically 4 types of phases in a Business Channel :

✔️ 1. Awareness: It’s about communicating companies’ products and services through social media, websites, or other channels.
✔️ 2. Evaluation: It’s how you can help your customer evaluate your organization’s value proposition.
✔️ 3. Purchase: How we allow customers to purchase specific products and services.
✔️ 4. Delivery: How we actually deliver the value proposition to our customers.

To know more on how to make a marketing strategy for your company, watch our Mentor Connect video which is available on our website, and at the end of the video, you will get a market strategy template, which will help you better define your channels and strategies.

November, 2021 : Business Model Canvas

Nov 18, 2021 : Market Strategy and Channels

Why is Marketing Strategy Important for a Business?

A marketing strategy is like a game plan for reaching prospective consumers and turning them into customers. The ultimate goal of a marketing strategy is to achieve and communicate a sustainable competitive advantage over other companies.

What are Channels in the Business World?

Channels are how a company communicates with its customers or how a company reaches out to its target customers. Your channels are your touch points, that play a crucial role in your customer experience.

So your channels actually serve several functions including raising awareness among customers about your company’s products and services, helping customers evaluate the company value proposition, and much more.

There are basically 4 types of phases in a Business Channel :

✔️ 1. Awareness: It’s about communicating companies’ products and services through social media, websites, or other channels.
✔️ 2. Evaluation: It’s how you can help your customer evaluate your organization’s value proposition.
✔️ 3. Purchase: How we allow customers to purchase specific products and services.
✔️ 4. Delivery: How we actually deliver the value proposition to our customers.

To know more on how to make a marketing strategy for your company, watch our Mentor Connect video which is available on our website, and at the end of the video, you will get a market strategy template, which will help you better define your channels and strategies.

December, 2021 : Business Model Canvas II

Dec 2, 2021 : Takeaways on building your team

Team building is the process of creating a team that is cohesively working together towards a common goal.

The main purpose of team building is to create a strong team through better understanding and by forming bonds, as it can be very beneficial to business and organization.

A strong team can’t be built by hiring qualified employees, they need to be built through activities that are designed to bring all the employees together.

Here are 8 questions about which you should know while forming a team :

✔️ When do you want to build your team?
✔️ What all to consider when hiring a team? 
✔️ How to define a purpose?
✔️ How to assemble a team?
✔️ What expectations you should have from your team?
✔️ How to define goals with your team?
✔️ How do you monitor the progress?
✔️ Importance of Celebrating a reward?

If you have missed this wonderful session but want to know how to build your dream team and to know about all the answers, do watch our Mentor Connect video which is posted here.

December, 2021 : Business Model Canvas II

Dec 2, 2021 : Takeaways on building your team

Team building is the process of creating a team that is cohesively working together towards a common goal.

The main purpose of team building is to create a strong team through better understanding and by forming bonds, as it can be very beneficial to business and organization.

A strong team can’t be built by hiring qualified employees, they need to be built through activities that are designed to bring all the employees together.

Here are 8 questions about which you should know while forming a team :

✔️ When do you want to build your team?
✔️ What all to consider when hiring a team?
✔️ How to define a purpose?
✔️ How to assemble a team?
✔️ What expectations you should have from your team?
✔️ How to define goals with your team?
✔️ How do you monitor the progress?
✔️ Importance of Celebrating a reward?

If you have missed this wonderful session but want to know how to build your dream team and to know about all the answers, do watch our Mentor Connect video which is posted here.

December, 2021 : Business Model Canvas II

Dec 9, 2021: Defining your finance model – Cost & Revenue

The Business model concept helps you to think about each aspect and then very rapidly you can compile everything together.

In key resources, the first thing is to think about your people, how you gonna achieve it, all by yourself or you gonna have a team of people supporting you, if so then what that team would look like.

✔️ You must think about who can help you drive better towards your goal.
✔️ You must think about, what physical resource you need, whether they are direct employees or not direct employees.
✔️ Intellectual property resources, are another things that people sometimes don’t think about when they think about the resources.
✔️ You need to think about the financial resources, that you need to start your business.
✔️ What expectations you should have from your team?
✔️ Is your business model going to be cost-driven?

With these questions and takeaways, you can work towards starting your own Business.

December, 2021 : Business Model Canvas II

Dec 9, 2021: Defining your finance model – Cost & Revenue

The Business model concept helps you to think about each aspect and then very rapidly you can compile everything together.

In key resources, the first thing is to think about your people, how you gonna achieve it, all by yourself or you gonna have a team of people supporting you, if so then what that team would look like.

✔️ You must think about who can help you drive better towards your goal.
✔️ You must think about, what physical resource you need, whether they are direct employees or not direct employees.
✔️ Intellectual property resources, are another things that people sometimes don’t think about when they think about the resources.
✔️ You need to think about the financial resources, that you need to start your business.
✔️ What expectations you should have from your team?
✔️ Is your business model going to be cost-driven?

With these questions and takeaways, you can work towards starting your own Business.

December, 2021 : Business Model Canvas II

Dec 16, 2021: Product Pricing

Always go with the pricing model, what fits best for your business, and the products you sell. You should also know about your exit plan, who is likely to buy your business as pricing strategy also has a huge impact on it.

One of the common ways is looking at your competitors’ pricing and then settling your pricing.

✔️ Free should be a part of your pricing strategy.
✔️ If you are looking at a long period and expect your customer to stay with you for years and years, you can definitely offer your business or product for free, for a month or two.
✔️ Subscription pricing is something which reoccurs every month, this is alone one of the good strategies to look at but then it also depends on the product or services you are selling.
✔️ If you have a consulting or coaching business, hourly-based pricing is also one of the models you choose.
✔️ One is discount strategy, as winter sale or festival sale you can price your products under discounts or offers.
✔️ Geographic pricing is where you set your price based on the country or city as the market is not the same across global.

December, 2021 : Business Model Canvas II

Dec 16, 2021: Product Pricing

Always go with the pricing model, what fits best for your business, and the products you sell. You should also know about your exit plan, who is likely to buy your business as pricing strategy also has a huge impact on it.

One of the common ways is looking at your competitors’ pricing and then settling your pricing.

✔️ Free should be a part of your pricing strategy.
✔️ If you are looking at a long period and expect your customer to stay with you for years and years, you can definitely offer your business or product for free, for a month or two.
✔️ Subscription pricing is something which reoccurs every month, this is alone one of the good strategies to look at but then it also depends on the product or services you are selling.
✔️ If you have a consulting or coaching business, hourly-based pricing is also one of the models you choose.
✔️ One is discount strategy, as winter sale or festival sale you can price your products under discounts or offers.
✔️ Geographic pricing is where you set your price based on the country or city as the market is not the same across global.

January, 2022 : Raising Funds

Jan 06, 2022: Forms of Business Funding

There is a massive amount of capital out there for your business, there is absolutely no shortage of money out there. Just in the US, there are over 300,000 angel investors and 1.8 million in India.

Ways and types to raise funds for our business :

✔️ Bootstrapping is when an entrepreneur starts a company with little capital, relying on money other than outside investment. An individual is said to be bootstrapping when they attempt to found and build a company from personal finances or the operating revenues of the new company.
✔️ Angel investors are usually high net worth individuals who provide financial backing for small startups or entrepreneurs.
✔️ Venture capital is financing that investors provide to start-up companies and small businesses that are believed to have long-term growth potential.
✔️ Then there is corporate venture capital provided by companies who are typically seeking strategic investment.
✔️ Government programs can support and fund startups too. Resources in the US can include National Science Foundation, which provides $190 million annually.
✔️ Then there are several investment officers focused on managing the assets of a wealthy family typically with $100 million or more in assets.
✔️ Banks are financial institutions licensed to receive deposits and make loans, are typically very risk-averse.

January, 2022 : Raising Funds

Jan 06, 2022: Forms of Business Funding

There is a massive amount of capital out there for your business, there is absolutely no shortage of money out there. Just in the US, there are over 300,000 angel investors and 1.8 million in India.

Ways and types to raise funds for our business :

✔️ Bootstrapping is when an entrepreneur starts a company with little capital, relying on money other than outside investment. An individual is said to be bootstrapping when they attempt to found and build a company from personal finances or the operating revenues of the new company.
✔️ Angel investors are usually high net worth individuals who provide financial backing for small startups or entrepreneurs.
✔️ Venture capital is financing that investors provide to start-up companies and small businesses that are believed to have long-term growth potential.
✔️ Then there is corporate venture capital provided by companies who are typically seeking strategic investment.
✔️ Government programs can support and fund startups too. Resources in the US can include National Science Foundation, which provides $190 million annually.
✔️ Then there are several investment officers focused on managing the assets of a wealthy family typically with $100 million or more in assets.
✔️ Banks are financial institutions licensed to receive deposits and make loans, are typically very risk-averse.

January, 2022 : Raising Funds

Jan 13, 2022: Art of Pitching

Having great business ideas and winning concepts is not enough if you don’t have proper investors & team members. However, presenting your idea in a way that investors connect with your idea & team is important.

Here Art of Pitching helps.
Pitching is simply the art of talking about your work, in front of the right people (investors). Pitching timings varies from 1 minute to 30 minutes (depends on event & organizers)

Before pitching you should have an attractive pitching deck (presentation) about what you are going to pitch. Use graphics, pie charts where needed, It makes a great impact.

Here is how you can master the art of pitching-

✔️ Start with a short intro about you & your venture.
✔️ Asking a question connected to the solution that your product provides.
✔️ Problem statement & Value proposition.
✔️ Details of your product or services in sync with a problem you stated in the previous
point. (Be confident & try to create an epiphany moment)
✔️ Specify Market size & Opportunities (Use graphic charts)
✔️ Talk about competition & Define your USP.
✔️ Your marketing & Growth strategies.
✔️ Elaborate business model.
✔️ Define your team with key points.
✔️ Projected financials for the next three to five years.
✔️ Ask for Funds*.
✔️ Never end with thank you, It’s a turn-off.

Other Highlights-
➤Initially, investors invest in people. They take risks on trust, integrity, team skills,
and ideas that can make people’s lives better.
➤Enthusiasm towards your work (project) will help, So be passionate about your
product or services.
➤One of our participants (Alice) was a former participant of Shark Tank.

January, 2022 : Raising Funds

Jan 13, 2022: Art of Pitching

Having great business ideas and winning concepts is not enough if you don’t have proper investors & team members. However, presenting your idea in a way that investors connect with your idea & team is important.

Here Art of Pitching helps.
Pitching is simply the art of talking about your work, in front of the right people (investors). Pitching timings varies from 1 minute to 30 minutes (depends on event & organizers)

Before pitching you should have an attractive pitching deck (presentation) about what you are going to pitch. Use graphics, pie charts where needed, It makes a great impact.

Here is how you can master the art of pitching-

✔️ Start with a short intro about you & your venture.
✔️ Asking a question connected to the solution that your product provides.
✔️ Problem statement & Value proposition.
✔️ Details of your product or services in sync with a problem you stated in the previous
point. (Be confident & try to create an epiphany moment)
✔️ Specify Market size & Opportunities (Use graphic charts)
✔️ Talk about competition & Define your USP.
✔️ Your marketing & Growth strategies.
✔️ Elaborate business model.
✔️ Define your team with key points.
✔️ Projected financials for the next three to five years.
✔️ Ask for Funds*.
✔️ Never end with thank you, It’s a turn-off.

Other Highlights-
➤Initially, investors invest in people. They take risks on trust, integrity, team skills,
and ideas that can make people’s lives better.
➤Enthusiasm towards your work (project) will help, So be passionate about your
product or services.
➤One of our participants (Alice) was a former participant of Shark Tank.

January, 2022 : Raising Funds

Jan 20, 2022: How you can find investors to fund your business

Before digging deep into finding investors, there are a set of questions about which one should be aware of:

● At what stage is my company at?
● What is my end game?
● Which types of investors will help me reach my goals?

While looking for investors one should :
● Ask family or friends for capital.
● Apply for a small business administration loan.
● Consider private investment.
● Try fundraising and co-funding platforms to find investors.

✔️ Angel investors are individuals who have a high net worth, strong network connection, who are willing to invest in early idea phase startups.
✔️ There is a number of platforms where we can find angel investors like Angel Investment Network, Angel Capital Association.
✔️ Venture capitalists are needed when a business is expanding and it’s already been established. The amount required for venture capitalists are typically much higher than that of angel investors, two big venture capitalists are Sequoia and Tiger-global.
✔️ There are also some online fund-raising platforms like Angel list, Seed-invest, circle-up, Crowdfunding Indiegogo, and Kickstarter.
✔️ Gust is one of the biggest angel groups in the USA that helps founders build investable companies.
✔️ Applying to accelerate or incubation programs can also help in business funding.
✔️ Attending start-up events are also a way to get noticed by the right investors, these opportunities can also turn into creating a successful pitch, especially for startups that require a lot of seed funding.

January, 2022 : Raising Funds

Jan 20, 2022: How you can find investors to fund your business

Before digging deep into finding investors, there are a set of questions about which one should be aware of:

● At what stage is my company at?
● What is my end game?
● Which types of investors will help me reach my goals?

While looking for investors one should :
● Ask family or friends for capital.
● Apply for a small business administration loan.
● Consider private investment.
● Try fundraising and co-funding platforms to find investors.

✔️ Angel investors are individuals who have a high net worth, strong network connection, who are willing to invest in early idea phase startups.
✔️ There is a number of platforms where we can find angel investors like Angel Investment Network, Angel Capital Association.
✔️ Venture capitalists are needed when a business is expanding and it’s already been established. The amount required for venture capitalists are typically much higher than that of angel investors, two big venture capitalists are Sequoia and Tiger-global.
✔️ There are also some online fund-raising platforms like Angel list, Seed-invest, circle-up, Crowdfunding Indiegogo, and Kickstarter.
✔️ Gust is one of the biggest angel groups in the USA that helps founders build investable companies.
✔️ Applying to accelerate or incubation programs can also help in business funding.
✔️ Attending start-up events are also a way to get noticed by the right investors, these opportunities can also turn into creating a successful pitch, especially for startups that require a lot of seed funding.

February, 2022 : Business Strategy

Feb 03, 2022: Understanding your niche

A niche market is the subset of the market, which revolves around the products and customers. The market niche defines how a particular product is featured in the market, how better it satisfies the marketing needs, who the real customer are, and how to reach them.

Why do Niches, create Riches?

When you try to do everything for everyone, you end up doing nothing at all for anyone, so always going narrow allows you to go fast, and allows you to focus. Knowing your customer is one of the most important things and should always be considered.

Know the exact problem you are solving for your clients or customers, if you don’t know what problems you are solving and for whom, then there is a chance you may end up in loss. Be an expert on what your customers need, and how to reduce the gap which is in between your products and your customers.

When you thinking about your Niche, these are the few questions you should consider :

✔️ Who are your best customers?
✔️ What are their common characteristics?
✔️ What are their biggest fears, worries, and concerns?
✔️ What strengths exist with your customers to realize these opportunities?
✔️ What are the problems you solve?
✔️ What’s the result of your customer experience when working with you?
✔️ Who is your target market?

February, 2022 : Business Strategy

Feb 03, 2022: Understanding your niche

A niche market is the subset of the market, which revolves around the products and customers. The market niche defines how a particular product is featured in the market, how better it satisfies the marketing needs, who the real customer are, and how to reach them.

Why do Niches, create Riches?

When you try to do everything for everyone, you end up doing nothing at all for anyone, so always going narrow allows you to go fast, and allows you to focus. Knowing your customer is one of the most important things and should always be considered.

Know the exact problem you are solving for your clients or customers, if you don’t know what problems you are solving and for whom, then there is a chance you may end up in loss. Be an expert on what your customers need, and how to reduce the gap which is in between your products and your customers.

When you thinking about your Niche, these are the few questions you should consider :

✔️ Who are your best customers?
✔️ What are their common characteristics?
✔️ What are their biggest fears, worries, and concerns?
✔️ What strengths exist with your customers to realize these opportunities?
✔️ What are the problems you solve?
✔️ What’s the result of your customer experience when working with you?
✔️ Who is your target market?

February, 2022 : Business Strategy

Feb 10, 2022: User Interface & Experience

 
What is UX?  
UX stands for User Experience and is defined as all aspects of the product, such as a 
landing page, website, the product itself, the community, the service, all of it, as 
experienced by the user. 
  
User Experience can also be defined as any interaction a user has with a product or 
service. 
  
What is a UI? 
UI design stands for User Interface. It includes all sorts of visual elements, interaction, 
or animation, the buttons users click, the text they read, images, sliders, and all the rest 
of the items the user interacts with. 
  
Why is UX important? 
● A great UX could increase the conversion rate of a website by 400%. 
● Increase users’ willingness to pay by 14.4%. 
● Reduce users reluctance to switch brands by 15.8% 
● Boosts users’ likelihood to recommend a product by 16.6%. 
● Lower the support cost. 
● It also supports search engine optimization. 
● It also helps increase brand loyalty. 
● Having the right UX saves cost in the long run. 
  
 These six principles can help you improve your user or customer experience, your 
service or product, and hopefully increase your revenue. 
● Your product should be useful, it should solve a problem, it needs to have a purpose. 
● It should be usable and efficient.  
● It should be accessible so that users can find what they need in your product or 
service.  
● It should be credible, users need to trust your brand.  
● The product needs to be desirable. If you create a friendly experience and if it’s 
pleasant to use, the user will desire to use it. 
● All should create value. You need to make sure that your product is valuable for users 
and valuable for you as a business. 
Essential questions to ask when you starting or building your UX/UI design : 
 
Who are you designing for? 
What problem are you solving? 
How you can make it valuable? 
How is it going to solve the problem? 
How to make it user-friendly? 
What are the constraints? 

January, 2022 : Raising Funds

Jan 20, 2022: How you can find investors to fund your business

Before digging deep into finding investors, there are a set of questions about which one should be aware of:

● At what stage is my company at?
● What is my end game?
● Which types of investors will help me reach my goals?

While looking for investors one should :
● Ask family or friends for capital.
● Apply for a small business administration loan.
● Consider private investment.
● Try fundraising and co-funding platforms to find investors.

✔️ Angel investors are individuals who have a high net worth, strong network connection, who are willing to invest in early idea phase startups.
✔️ There is a number of platforms where we can find angel investors like Angel Investment Network, Angel Capital Association.
✔️ Venture capitalists are needed when a business is expanding and it’s already been established. The amount required for venture capitalists are typically much higher than that of angel investors, two big venture capitalists are Sequoia and Tiger-global.
✔️ There are also some online fund-raising platforms like Angel list, Seed-invest, circle-up, Crowdfunding Indiegogo, and Kickstarter.
✔️ Gust is one of the biggest angel groups in the USA that helps founders build investable companies.
✔️ Applying to accelerate or incubation programs can also help in business funding.
✔️ Attending start-up events are also a way to get noticed by the right investors, these opportunities can also turn into creating a successful pitch, especially for startups that require a lot of seed funding.

January, 2022 : Raising Funds

Jan 20, 2022: How you can find investors to fund your business

Before digging deep into finding investors, there are a set of questions about which one should be aware of:

● At what stage is my company at?
● What is my end game?
● Which types of investors will help me reach my goals?

While looking for investors one should :
● Ask family or friends for capital.
● Apply for a small business administration loan.
● Consider private investment.
● Try fundraising and co-funding platforms to find investors.

✔️ Angel investors are individuals who have a high net worth, strong network connection, who are willing to invest in early idea phase startups.
✔️ There is a number of platforms where we can find angel investors like Angel Investment Network, Angel Capital Association.
✔️ Venture capitalists are needed when a business is expanding and it’s already been established. The amount required for venture capitalists are typically much higher than that of angel investors, two big venture capitalists are Sequoia and Tiger-global.
✔️ There are also some online fund-raising platforms like Angel list, Seed-invest, circle-up, Crowdfunding Indiegogo, and Kickstarter.
✔️ Gust is one of the biggest angel groups in the USA that helps founders build investable companies.
✔️ Applying to accelerate or incubation programs can also help in business funding.
✔️ Attending start-up events are also a way to get noticed by the right investors, these opportunities can also turn into creating a successful pitch, especially for startups that require a lot of seed funding.

February, 2022 : Business Strategy

Feb 18, 2022: Product Pricing Strategy

 

How to Develop a Product Pricing Strategy for Your Business?

Pricing: is how you choose to price & advertise your product in the market.

Price: is the final exchange of value, it is not the advertised price.

Market Price Position: is an act of positioning your price which is within a defined price
range.

Pricing Strategy: is how you go about pricing your product.

Seven Pricing Strategies: You can use some or all of these for your business –

1. Price Skimming: Charging as much as possible when you start, then lowering the
price as the competition enters the market. Like Drug companies.

2. Market Penetration Pricing: Charging as little as possible when you start, then raising
the prices when you are established. Like social networking – Facebook and Netflix.

3. Premium Pricing: Always charging as much as possible to capture high margins but
fewer customers. Like luxury goods – Coach, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany.

4. Economy Pricing: Always charging as little as possible to capture as many customers
as possible. Like big boxes – Costco, Walmart.

5. Bundle Pricing: Combining high and low-margin products. Like fast foods – Combo
meals.

6. Value-based Pricing: Basing price on customer value. Consulting companies – KPMG,
Erst, and Young.

7. Dynamic Pricing: Adjusting the price based on supply and demand. Usually requires
artificial intelligence. Such as Uber charges more during rush hour and rainstorms.

Build your market pricing strategy by planning on what you are going to do, do it, then
check how your pricing went and see your results then adjust it.

To know more about building your business, and become a better Entrepreneur join our
weekly MentorConnect Sessions with our Mentor David Wagstaff every Thursday.

February, 2022 : Business Strategy

Feb 24, 2022: SWOT Analysis

SWOT is one of the tools you can use for thinking about your business. It’s a common business method, for looking at aspects of your business.
Small businesses should look at their strategies every 4 to 6 weeks and as a small scalable startup, you should look at what you are doing frequently.

Example on how to put things into different categories to understand or to create a SWOT analysis.

Strengths: Character of a business which gives it advantages over its competitors.

● Employees care.
● Low competition.
● Unique customer is demographic.
● Business model holistic.
● Trust in employees.
● Not overwhelming – small, peaceful.

Weaknesses: Characteristics of a business that make it disadvantageous relative to competitors.

● Classes revenue/profit & loss.
● Gym revenue/profit & loss.
● Communication within the firm.
● The customer demographic is maybe less geographically mobile.
● Front desk lack of person present.
● Software program redundancy – requires further research.
● Employee appreciation.

Opportunity: Elements in a company’s external environment that allow it to formulate and implement strategies to increase profitability.

● Pricing appears lower than comparable: pricing to desired behaviours.
● Advertising effectiveness and building brand awareness.
● Measuring advertising ROI / Effectiveness.
● Complete the package: requires analysis.
● A financial analytic approach to decision making.

Threats: Elements in the external environment that could endanger the integrity and profitability of the business.
● Debt load.
● New entrants.
● Loss of key employees/backup.
● Lawsuits.
● Natural disaster.
● Additional capital expenses or expansion before the core model is solidly profitable and financial reserves built.

Entrepreneurs and start-ups should look at their strategies every 4 to 6 weeks but you shouldn’t change your strategies every 6 months, but you should revisit what you doing because as a start-up you are getting a lot of new data, and that could be used to improvise on trying different things.

Your SWOT analysis can be used to inform you about the things you have been doing in your business model.
Like working on your: Key partnerships, key activities, value proposition, key resources, channels, it can be used in multiple ways to organize the information.

In SWOT analysis what we do is, look at all the data points, then later we connect those points and segregate them based on high priority to low priority.

To learn more on how to build a team, and become a better Entrepreneur join us next Thursday, on our weekly Mentorship Program with our mentor David Wagstaff.

 

February, 2022 : Raising Funds

Feb 24, 2022: SWOT Analysis

SWOT is one of the tools you can use for thinking about your business. It’s a common business method, for looking at aspects of your business.
Small businesses should look at their strategies every 4 to 6 weeks and as a small scalable startup, you should look at what you are doing frequently.

Example on how to put things into different categories to understand or to create a SWOT analysis.

Strengths: Character of a business which gives it advantages over its competitors.

● Employees care.
● Low competition.
● Unique customer is demographic.
● Business model holistic.
● Trust in employees.
● Not overwhelming – small, peaceful.

Weaknesses: Characteristics of a business that make it disadvantageous relative to competitors.

● Classes revenue/profit & loss.
● Gym revenue/profit & loss.
● Communication within the firm.
● The customer demographic is maybe less geographically mobile.
● Front desk lack of person present.
● Software program redundancy – requires further research.
● Employee appreciation.

Opportunity: Elements in a company’s external environment that allow it to formulate and implement strategies to increase profitability.

● Pricing appears lower than comparable: pricing to desired behaviours.
● Advertising effectiveness and building brand awareness.
● Measuring advertising ROI / Effectiveness.
● Complete the package: requires analysis.
● A financial analytic approach to decision making.

Threats: Elements in the external environment that could endanger the integrity and profitability of the business.
● Debt load.
● New entrants.
● Loss of key employees/backup.
● Lawsuits.
● Natural disaster.
● Additional capital expenses or expansion before the core model is solidly profitable and financial reserves built.

Entrepreneurs and start-ups should look at their strategies every 4 to 6 weeks but you shouldn’t change your strategies every 6 months, but you should revisit what you doing because as a start-up you are getting a lot of new data, and that could be used to improvise on trying different things.

Your SWOT analysis can be used to inform you about the things you have been doing in your business model.
Like working on your: Key partnerships, key activities, value proposition, key resources, channels, it can be used in multiple ways to organize the information.

In SWOT analysis what we do is, look at all the data points, then later we connect those points and segregate them based on high priority to low priority.

To learn more on how to build a team, and become a better Entrepreneur join us next Thursday, on our weekly Mentorship Program with our mentor David Wagstaff.

January, 2022 : Raising Funds

Jan 13, 2022: Art of Pitching

Having great business ideas and winning concepts is not enough if you don’t have proper investors & team members. However, presenting your idea in a way that investors connect with your idea & team is important.

Here Art of Pitching helps.
Pitching is simply the art of talking about your work, in front of the right people (investors). Pitching timings varies from 1 minute to 30 minutes (depends on event & organizers)

Before pitching you should have an attractive pitching deck (presentation) about what you are going to pitch. Use graphics, pie charts where needed, It makes a great impact.

Here is how you can master the art of pitching-

✔️ Start with a short intro about you & your venture.
✔️ Asking a question connected to the solution that your product provides.
✔️ Problem statement & Value proposition.
✔️ Details of your product or services in sync with a problem you stated in the previous
point. (Be confident & try to create an epiphany moment)
✔️ Specify Market size & Opportunities (Use graphic charts)
✔️ Talk about competition & Define your USP.
✔️ Your marketing & Growth strategies.
✔️ Elaborate business model.
✔️ Define your team with key points.
✔️ Projected financials for the next three to five years.
✔️ Ask for Funds*.
✔️ Never end with thank you, It’s a turn-off.

Other Highlights-
➤Initially, investors invest in people. They take risks on trust, integrity, team skills,
and ideas that can make people’s lives better.
➤Enthusiasm towards your work (project) will help, So be passionate about your
product or services.
➤One of our participants (Alice) was a former participant of Shark Tank.

March, 2022 : Building A Team

Mar 03, 2022: Workplace Culture

  • What is a Workplace?

It is the space where all individuals in a company interact.

  • What is Workspace Culture?

It is the environment that we work in.

  • Why is it important?

Setting the right workspace culture lets people know what we expect from them. People ensure workplace culture before joining in. It can motivate people more than money can.

  • How do you create a workspace culture virtually?

A workspace culture develops in the influence of the values that the company believes in. It is what the company stands for.

    • For example,

    • Eprenz believes in balance of purpose and profit.

    • Eprenz strives to make a meaningful, positive difference for our members and the world at large.

    • Epenz believes in responsible generosity and so on.

  • How to have a positive workplace culture avoiding non performance?

Setting clear expectations with the members and interacting with them on a regular basis. We need to be tough sometimes but always clear and positive.

  • What influences workplace culture?

Standards, core values and actions.  Everyone in a company impacts its workplace culture either working full-time or freelance.

 

Write down a list of values that you believe in. Interact with your team and abide by them. Remember, workplace culture is not a document, it is a way of life.

March, 2022 : Building A Team

Mar 10, 2022: Setting goals and objectives for your business

A goal should be

  1. Inspiring
  2. Exciting
  3. Realistic
  4. Motivating
  5. A dream of yours
  6. Having a vision
  7. Having ambition

After setting a goal, we need to work each day and each hour to achieve it.

The big goal is something that we plan to achieve in the next 5 or 10 years.

How do we plan to do that? By setting up daily tasks, towards our monthly and yearly achievements.

  What to look in people while hiring? Skills/experience or personality/ integrity?   

  1. People with personalities, integrity who are willing to learn.
  2. People who are ambitious and smart.
  3. People who share your goal and are interested in the work to be done.

  What do investors look for?  

Teams. Because the right team fights to achieve the idea. Only one idea isn’t enough for investors to invest in. When they find more people believing in the same cause and are willing to work to achieve it, they invest.

  How to build a team?  

Hiring people with the mentioned qualities is not enough. While building a team, diversity plays an important role. The more diverse the team is, the more vision they will have. One person can miss 10 things but when there are 10 different people, they won’t miss a single thing. We have discussed that hiring people with the same goals and interests is essential but it is also important that we don’t hire people with the same skills and interests in our team. That cancels out diversity and affects productivity.

  How to set team goals?   

For a team, there needs to be a BIG GOAL. A Big Goal/vision is something we want to achieve in the next 5 or 10 years. But we work our way through it by making lists of tasks to be done.

The tasks depend on our short term and long term goals.

  • Short term goals: Like a day to day goals, week goals, month goals.

  • Long term goals:  Half-yearly or yearly goals.

These short term and long term goals will finally add up to the big goal.

While working for short term and long term goals, it is common for us to blur out the big goal from our minds often. But that goal should always be remembered. It is the goal that inspires and motivates us to go through each task.

Set your goals and objectives and that will be the only leader you will need to follow to succeed.

To learn more on how to build a team, and become a better Entrepreneur join us next Thursday, on our weekly Mentorship Program with our mentor David Wagstaff.

 

February, 2022 : Raising Funds

Feb 24, 2022: SWOT Analysis

SWOT is one of the tools you can use for thinking about your business. It’s a common business method, for looking at aspects of your business.
Small businesses should look at their strategies every 4 to 6 weeks and as a small scalable startup, you should look at what you are doing frequently.

Example on how to put things into different categories to understand or to create a SWOT analysis.

Strengths: Character of a business which gives it advantages over its competitors.

● Employees care.
● Low competition.
● Unique customer is demographic.
● Business model holistic.
● Trust in employees.
● Not overwhelming – small, peaceful.

Weaknesses: Characteristics of a business that make it disadvantageous relative to competitors.

● Classes revenue/profit & loss.
● Gym revenue/profit & loss.
● Communication within the firm.
● The customer demographic is maybe less geographically mobile.
● Front desk lack of person present.
● Software program redundancy – requires further research.
● Employee appreciation.

Opportunity: Elements in a company’s external environment that allow it to formulate and implement strategies to increase profitability.

● Pricing appears lower than comparable: pricing to desired behaviours.
● Advertising effectiveness and building brand awareness.
● Measuring advertising ROI / Effectiveness.
● Complete the package: requires analysis.
● A financial analytic approach to decision making.

Threats: Elements in the external environment that could endanger the integrity and profitability of the business.
● Debt load.
● New entrants.
● Loss of key employees/backup.
● Lawsuits.
● Natural disaster.
● Additional capital expenses or expansion before the core model is solidly profitable and financial reserves built.

Entrepreneurs and start-ups should look at their strategies every 4 to 6 weeks but you shouldn’t change your strategies every 6 months, but you should revisit what you doing because as a start-up you are getting a lot of new data, and that could be used to improvise on trying different things.

Your SWOT analysis can be used to inform you about the things you have been doing in your business model.
Like working on your: Key partnerships, key activities, value proposition, key resources, channels, it can be used in multiple ways to organize the information.

In SWOT analysis what we do is, look at all the data points, then later we connect those points and segregate them based on high priority to low priority.

To learn more on how to build a team, and become a better Entrepreneur join us next Thursday, on our weekly Mentorship Program with our mentor David Wagstaff.

January, 2022 : Raising Funds

Jan 13, 2022: Art of Pitching

Having great business ideas and winning concepts is not enough if you don’t have proper investors & team members. However, presenting your idea in a way that investors connect with your idea & team is important.

Here Art of Pitching helps.
Pitching is simply the art of talking about your work, in front of the right people (investors). Pitching timings varies from 1 minute to 30 minutes (depends on event & organizers)

Before pitching you should have an attractive pitching deck (presentation) about what you are going to pitch. Use graphics, pie charts where needed, It makes a great impact.

Here is how you can master the art of pitching-

✔️ Start with a short intro about you & your venture.
✔️ Asking a question connected to the solution that your product provides.
✔️ Problem statement & Value proposition.
✔️ Details of your product or services in sync with a problem you stated in the previous
point. (Be confident & try to create an epiphany moment)
✔️ Specify Market size & Opportunities (Use graphic charts)
✔️ Talk about competition & Define your USP.
✔️ Your marketing & Growth strategies.
✔️ Elaborate business model.
✔️ Define your team with key points.
✔️ Projected financials for the next three to five years.
✔️ Ask for Funds*.
✔️ Never end with thank you, It’s a turn-off.

Other Highlights-
➤Initially, investors invest in people. They take risks on trust, integrity, team skills,
and ideas that can make people’s lives better.
➤Enthusiasm towards your work (project) will help, So be passionate about your
product or services.
➤One of our participants (Alice) was a former participant of Shark Tank.

March, 2022 : Building A Team

Mar 17, 2022: Take risks, experiment and learn from failures

 

Risk-taking comes naturally to entrepreneurs. It is important to take risks to grow, but do make sure to talk to humans about it.

 Pre-work: De-risking / reduction of risks 

The risk can be reduced through surveys and conversations. Asking people what they want is aware of their problems and hopes. It is crucial to know about the customer, their problems and expectations before putting money in a process.

To know about the customer and the market, the questions should be specific. As an example, in a scenario where you want to set up a coffee shop in a region, a question like “what do you think of this business idea?” cannot add value. A better question would be “where do you go to have coffee in this region?’, what do you don’t like about your regular coffee shop? how many times do you buy coffee in a week? These questions will help to understand competitors, customer problems and demand.

Divergent Thinking:  

Divergent thinking is a process where the mind is not limited to facts. It is rather focused on questions and ideas. Developing lots of ideas and solutions to solve the problems of the customers and then finding out the best option.

 A/B Testing 

A/B testing means to test two different ways of doing something. It helps to identify which is better liked by consumers in the field. After, developing lots of ideas, A/B testing fixes the pin on the best idea which in turn reduces the risk of failure.

How to take calculated risks and learn from them? 

Calculated risks can be taken by setting up preliminaries. Diverse thinking and A/B testing make the risk calculated. Before taking the risk, one should be clear about “how much is at stake?”

How to learn from failures? 

Identify the things that are not working and change them in a better way. Sometimes risk leads to failures. But that isn’t the end of the story. Identifying the failures and learning from them is the most valuable experience. A failure makes the vision clearer, it can lead to identifying more changes that are required to be made to make the business successful.

How to push your team to take risks and experiment? 

Always try to make things better. When we try to make things better, it changes. It includes testing new things and experimenting. It is the only way to make a business grow to its maximum potential. Take risks, experiment and learn from failures!

 

March, 2022 : Building A Team

Mar 23, 2022: Nurture leaders not workers

Developing an efficient team requires nurturing leaders, not workers, as leaders can take things off your plate and help you focus on things of higher importance, for which the following pointers could assist in your search for the right skill set and potential candidates.
1) Nature of skills vs. skill cultivation
2) The distinction between the nature of embedded skills and the nature of nurturing or developing new skills
3) observing innate natural abilities and their potential for developing new and relevant abilities
4) Among the steps involved are attracting and motivating potential team-mates.
5) Their alignment with the company’s values and larger purpose, in order to avoid a drop in motivation.
6) How to deal with personal and professional issues.

To learn more on how to build a team, and become a better Entrepreneur join us next Thursday, on our weekly Mentorship Program with our mentor David Wagstaff.

 

February, 2022 : Raising Funds

Feb 24, 2022: SWOT Analysis

SWOT is one of the tools you can use for thinking about your business. It’s a common business method, for looking at aspects of your business.
Small businesses should look at their strategies every 4 to 6 weeks and as a small scalable startup, you should look at what you are doing frequently.

Example on how to put things into different categories to understand or to create a SWOT analysis.

Strengths: Character of a business which gives it advantages over its competitors.

● Employees care.
● Low competition.
● Unique customer is demographic.
● Business model holistic.
● Trust in employees.
● Not overwhelming – small, peaceful.

Weaknesses: Characteristics of a business that make it disadvantageous relative to competitors.

● Classes revenue/profit & loss.
● Gym revenue/profit & loss.
● Communication within the firm.
● The customer demographic is maybe less geographically mobile.
● Front desk lack of person present.
● Software program redundancy – requires further research.
● Employee appreciation.

Opportunity: Elements in a company’s external environment that allow it to formulate and implement strategies to increase profitability.

● Pricing appears lower than comparable: pricing to desired behaviours.
● Advertising effectiveness and building brand awareness.
● Measuring advertising ROI / Effectiveness.
● Complete the package: requires analysis.
● A financial analytic approach to decision making.

Threats: Elements in the external environment that could endanger the integrity and profitability of the business.
● Debt load.
● New entrants.
● Loss of key employees/backup.
● Lawsuits.
● Natural disaster.
● Additional capital expenses or expansion before the core model is solidly profitable and financial reserves built.

Entrepreneurs and start-ups should look at their strategies every 4 to 6 weeks but you shouldn’t change your strategies every 6 months, but you should revisit what you doing because as a start-up you are getting a lot of new data, and that could be used to improvise on trying different things.

Your SWOT analysis can be used to inform you about the things you have been doing in your business model.
Like working on your: Key partnerships, key activities, value proposition, key resources, channels, it can be used in multiple ways to organize the information.

In SWOT analysis what we do is, look at all the data points, then later we connect those points and segregate them based on high priority to low priority.

To learn more on how to build a team, and become a better Entrepreneur join us next Thursday, on our weekly Mentorship Program with our mentor David Wagstaff.

January, 2022 : Raising Funds

Jan 13, 2022: Art of Pitching

Having great business ideas and winning concepts is not enough if you don’t have proper investors & team members. However, presenting your idea in a way that investors connect with your idea & team is important.

Here Art of Pitching helps.
Pitching is simply the art of talking about your work, in front of the right people (investors). Pitching timings varies from 1 minute to 30 minutes (depends on event & organizers)

Before pitching you should have an attractive pitching deck (presentation) about what you are going to pitch. Use graphics, pie charts where needed, It makes a great impact.

Here is how you can master the art of pitching-

✔️ Start with a short intro about you & your venture.
✔️ Asking a question connected to the solution that your product provides.
✔️ Problem statement & Value proposition.
✔️ Details of your product or services in sync with a problem you stated in the previous
point. (Be confident & try to create an epiphany moment)
✔️ Specify Market size & Opportunities (Use graphic charts)
✔️ Talk about competition & Define your USP.
✔️ Your marketing & Growth strategies.
✔️ Elaborate business model.
✔️ Define your team with key points.
✔️ Projected financials for the next three to five years.
✔️ Ask for Funds*.
✔️ Never end with thank you, It’s a turn-off.

Other Highlights-
➤Initially, investors invest in people. They take risks on trust, integrity, team skills,
and ideas that can make people’s lives better.
➤Enthusiasm towards your work (project) will help, So be passionate about your
product or services.
➤One of our participants (Alice) was a former participant of Shark Tank.

March, 2022 : Building A Team

Mar 31, 2022: Employee recognition and retention

Just as it is important to find the right co-founder and team members, it is equally necessary to consider their recognition and retention in the due course of time.
1) Look into websites that assist in the search for co-founders.
2) Your approach, considerations, and challenges in selecting founders from your inner circle
3) How and When to Award Equity, as well as Relevant Book Recommendations
4) Team recognition to keep them motivated and, as a result, reduce attrition.
5) Recognizing that people work for reasons other than money.
6) Non-monetary rewards have a significant impact and sense of satisfaction.

April, 2022 : Role of technology in business​

Apr 07, 2022: Effective Communication

Technology, as we all know, has made the world more connected, immeasurable time saved and life so much easier, all at our fingertips.
Communication is a part of our daily lives with different people for various reasons: to share, express, and voice our feelings, thoughts, and ideas, but if it isn’t effective, it could cause more chaos through misinterpretation.
Get a sense of how integrating technology can allow you to be able to communicate effectively and make it work wonders for you.
1) The role of technology in the business world
2) The significance of having clear business-specific requirements and conducting a thorough review
3) Examine an effective mode of communication from the numerous options available to meet your needs.
4) Describe how the integration is beneficial, particularly during pandemics and/or overseas business operations, as well as for Global Reach.

February, 2022 : Raising Funds

Feb 24, 2022: SWOT Analysis

SWOT is one of the tools you can use for thinking about your business. It’s a common business method, for looking at aspects of your business.
Small businesses should look at their strategies every 4 to 6 weeks and as a small scalable startup, you should look at what you are doing frequently.

Example on how to put things into different categories to understand or to create a SWOT analysis.

Strengths: Character of a business which gives it advantages over its competitors.

● Employees care.
● Low competition.
● Unique customer is demographic.
● Business model holistic.
● Trust in employees.
● Not overwhelming – small, peaceful.

Weaknesses: Characteristics of a business that make it disadvantageous relative to competitors.

● Classes revenue/profit & loss.
● Gym revenue/profit & loss.
● Communication within the firm.
● The customer demographic is maybe less geographically mobile.
● Front desk lack of person present.
● Software program redundancy – requires further research.
● Employee appreciation.

Opportunity: Elements in a company’s external environment that allow it to formulate and implement strategies to increase profitability.

● Pricing appears lower than comparable: pricing to desired behaviours.
● Advertising effectiveness and building brand awareness.
● Measuring advertising ROI / Effectiveness.
● Complete the package: requires analysis.
● A financial analytic approach to decision making.

Threats: Elements in the external environment that could endanger the integrity and profitability of the business.
● Debt load.
● New entrants.
● Loss of key employees/backup.
● Lawsuits.
● Natural disaster.
● Additional capital expenses or expansion before the core model is solidly profitable and financial reserves built.

Entrepreneurs and start-ups should look at their strategies every 4 to 6 weeks but you shouldn’t change your strategies every 6 months, but you should revisit what you doing because as a start-up you are getting a lot of new data, and that could be used to improvise on trying different things.

Your SWOT analysis can be used to inform you about the things you have been doing in your business model.
Like working on your: Key partnerships, key activities, value proposition, key resources, channels, it can be used in multiple ways to organize the information.

In SWOT analysis what we do is, look at all the data points, then later we connect those points and segregate them based on high priority to low priority.

To learn more on how to build a team, and become a better Entrepreneur join us next Thursday, on our weekly Mentorship Program with our mentor David Wagstaff.