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How do I create a startup idea from scratch?

First, ask yourself these questions: What makes you tick? What would you spend your life doing if money was not an option? (Baking cupcakes? Walking dogs? Caring for the sick?). You should probably start by identifying what you’re passionate about and then grow your business idea from there. Out of the things you are passionate about, what are some of the problems that you have. For example, you could be passionate about traveling but always have a hard time finding who to travel with. This pain point could grow into a startup idea. But, keep reading, it’s not quite that simple!

Look for problems that that you have but have yet to be resolved.

For each problem, ask yourself: Am I truly passionate about solving this problem? Are there other people sharing the same concern? If not, toss it out!

Think of innovative ways to solve the problem. Look at current and future market trends, hypes, and technology to help you come up with the ideal solution.

Do you have the expertise or understanding of how to build the solution? If not, toss it out!

Who are your competitors? Use competitors’ product or service to better understand their edge. Do not assume you have no competitors and do not be discouraged by them. Instead ask yourself: What added value do you offer that your competitors don’t? If you don’t have a better solution to offer, toss it out!

How big is the market for my solution? You want to build a profitable startup so your market needs to be relevant. Search online for published industry surveys and talk to industry experts to analyze potential customers, market size, trends, and outlook.

Make sure you are keeping track of your analysis!

Problem Solution Potential Customers

Profile

Industry Market Size Market Trends

Market Outlook

Top 1 Competitor

Solution’s Edge

Top 2 Competitor

Solution’s Edge

Your Solution’s Added Value

Once you know your market, you have to segment your potential customers and figure out who your early adopters are. Early adopters are those that really need and want your solution, and are willing to provide you meaningful feedback. For instance, if you are building a security alarm system for homes, singles mothers may be a group of early adopters that you may want to segment, instead of every American!

Check that your Early Adopters fit the following:

They desperately need your product.

They want your product to succeed.

They will give you their time and their honest feedback.

How do I develop a strong Value Proposition? When you pitch your startup idea, you should have a compelling value proposition:

It is a one-line elevator pitch.

What you want to offer is clear and easy to understand.

It explains the benefits of using your solution rather than your competitors’.

Template: Our solution is a that provides for

.

(Our solution is an online social network that provides an engaged community to grow startup ideas from scratch

for early stage entrepreneurs.)

How do I create a strong elevator pitch?

Get out there and pitch your startup idea to as many people as possible! There are lots of benefits to talking to people. You will learn more about your industry and competitors, and get suggestions for improvements by talking to people. In case you are worried that someone will steal your idea, it is very rare that someone successfully steals a startup idea. This is because no one can execute your startup idea the way you can. You’re not going to give them your entire plan from start to finish are you? Let’s put it this way: It's one thing to say, "I want to start a chain of French pastry shops, featuring my secret cookie mix," and another thing to disclose the ingredients in your secret cookie mix!

How do I find Co-Founders for my startup team?

One of the most frustrating part of building a startup is finding the right teammates. There could be instances where a teammate shows enthusiasm in the beginning, only for it to quickly fizzle out. Other times, it could be that their teammates are diligently working, but lack the skills needed to perform their role. Remember that you and your teammates are forming a “marriage”, so to speak. It is best to choose wisely. Here are a few tips for finding the right people to partner with:

Pull together a PowerPoint or Prezi presentation with your market research and value proposition. This gives potential Co-Founders confidence that you know your stuff.

News flash: Your Co-Founders are not going to come to you! So, increase your chances of meeting them by networking.

Every entrepreneur must find out when the next Startup Weekend is coming to their city! Startup Weekends are 54-hour events where the startup community comes together to share ideas, form teams, build products, and launch startups.

Find out when startup events will be held at your local co-working and incubator spaces. The events tend to attract the best crowds. Please don’t miss these opportunities for exposure!

Find out dates for local university startup events. They tend to bring in guest speakers and a strong crowd of serious entrepreneurs.

Go to Meetup.com to find startup Meetups held in your city. This is a casual way to meet everybody in your startup community. You will see these people often, so get to know them!

Take a bold leap and plan your own Meetup and invite all the people that you have met through networking. You will be both networking and creating exposure for your startup.

Now that you have connected with an excellent group of Co-Founder prospects through consistent networking, you can begin to have serious conversation about their interest in joining your startup. Here are a few things to check off before making a decision:

Ask them what their vision in life is. If their vision is to become partner of the law firm they work for, then please don’t expect them to be committed to the startup like you are. If they have dreams of eventually working for themselves, doing many entrepreneurial things, then they may be more of a fit for your startup.

If this prospect claims to be the best web developer on the face of the earth ask them for client testimonials and to see apps they have built. Take a look at their LinkedIn. Look at their background. Does who they say they are match their product, their qualifications, and others’ opinions of them?

Ask them why they believe in your startup idea. Pay attention to why they say they believe in it.

Spend some time with them. See if you get along. If your prospect is a Sox fan and you’re a Cubs fan, don’t be quick to write them off. However, if your prospect gives you an unsettled feeling (seems slimy, cut-throat, has no morals, etc)…run!!!

How do I find Mentors for my startup? Congratulations on finding Co-Founders for your startup. Newbble wishes you great collaboration, camaraderie, fun memories and much success! Now that you all are gelling as a team, it’s time to think about Mentors for your startup.

Perhaps you have a mentor that you once worked with? Maybe you have a good relationship with a former employer? How about a professor from college or graduate school? If they know your work-ethic and respect you as a professional, it may be wise to ask them for some counsel in launching your startup.

LinkedIn.com is a great resource. Join groups and discussion boards related to your startup cause and familiarize yourself with its members. This allows you to research and connect with people you may be interested in having as Mentors.

Join both general business organizations and organizations specific to your startup cause. For example, The Executives Club of Chicago is a general organization that draws people from many backgrounds while the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless is specific to a particular cause. As you get to know these organization members, someone may stand out to you as a potential Mentor.

O-Hours Organization is a very popular place to seek counsel. This website is full of people who have volunteered open office hours to people who need advice on a particular matter.

Have your new Mentors commit to following up with you at least every 3-4 months. Make them hold you accountable on whether you have met certain goals you have set for your startup.

How do I protect my idea? Your team should consider getting a lawyer to draft a Founders Operating Agreement.

We also recommend that every Founder of your team sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement to ensure that the details of your solution stays protected.

If you would like to patent or trademark your solution, you can visit the USPTO website.

How do I know my idea is a good one?

You don’t want to waste your time and money building a solution that no one will use. So, the best way to be sure you will gain traction is to get as much customer validation as possible.

You can start by creating surveys using SurveyMonkey to gather feedback from early adopters. Ask them about their main “pain point” and how they would like for it to be resolved. Then, tell them about your solution and the key features that will solve their pain point. You should also ask them how much they would be willing to pay for your solution and how they have been coping without it. The survey should not take longer than 10 minutes, yet should validate your key assumptions.

How do I map out my idea?

From the feedback that you collected, start using your creativity to put together a “roadmap” as a guide of what you will create. Please don’t get stuck on your initial idea. Your idea must evolve based on what your customers need. Prioritize the needs of your customers and make a list of desirable features for your solution.

If your solution can be illustrated using visuals, “mockups” are a great way to assess whether you have a problem worth solving before committing yourself to building the actual solution. You can use tools like Adobe Fireworks, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, and/or Balsamiq to design the main parts of your solution. If you are building an app, it could be the main screens of the product. For the purpose of the mockup, focus on the features of your solution that will support your value proposition. Making your mockups as interactive as possible is a great way for your potential customers to feel as if they are using the solution. You can use tools like PowerPoint to link your mockups together and create a presentation of your solution. Follow up with your early adopters and showcase your mockups to them. Re-assess whether they are satisfied and whether your solution is still worth pursuing.

Here is a great list of Tools for Design Mockups: Here!

How do I create a landing page?

A landing page is a visually compelling page portraying your solution and your value proposition. Your landing page usually comes before a fully developed website and is made available to collect potential early adopters’ information. This is where visitors land after you have sent out your ads or other online marketing campaigns (See the Marketing section). With a landing page, you will be able to assess whether potential customers will use or buy your solution. Re-assess whether your solution is worth pursuing based on how many emails you collect. You can use tools such as Launchrock or Wordpress to create your landing page and monitor how many people signed up. Here is a great post that will guide you while creating your landing page: Here!

How do I raise money for my startup?

Do not believe the hype! Entrepreneurship is not about raising money from angel investors or venture capitalists. Less than 1% of startups get funded, so do not feel bad if you face rejection. Building a startup is about building customers and generating profit through sustainable revenue streams. So, are you wondering how to find the money to launch your startup? Well, here are strategies you can use to raise money to bring your idea to fruition.

Budget. You must have a realistic budget of how much you will need to build your solution.

How much does the solution actually cost to implement (it could be supplies, computer servers, fabric, office, etc.) Are you going to pay service providers or will your team members help you build it? Make sure to minimize your spending, focus on the cost needed to bring the simplest version (and/or lowest quantity) of your solution to life.

Love Money. You can pitch your solution to your family and friends to raise capital to build your solution. Make sure that you prepare a great pitch presentation (PowerPoint/Prezi) with mockups, samples, and whatever else you have under the belt. You can set up terms with them as to how you will pay them back or what you can give them in return.

Early-Stage Incubator. Look online for incubators in your industry and/or region that provide seed funding to early-stage startups. You will have to apply to be admitted and, usually, they require that you have a team. Getting into incubators can be very competitive so do not be discouraged if you get rejected.

KickStarter | IndieGoGo | RocketHub. Start a fundraising campaign online by creating a profile for your solution and why it is worth investing in. You can invite your early adopters to donate in order to see your solution come to life. You will also be surprised to see that people you don’t know are willing to invest big in your idea.

Grant. Look online for state grants that may be given to certain projects. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation occasionally gives grants to certain startup projects that relate to education, world health and population.

Startup Competition. You can look online for startup challenges with cash prizes that may be taking place. For instance, Amazon hosts the AWS Global Start-Up Challenge ($50,000 cash).

Start Saving. Yes! The reality is that for most entrepreneurs, it is a luxury to work on their startups full time. Many have to maintain a job to pay for their idea. So save as much as you can!

Early Stage Investors. While there are few investors willing to invest in a startup at an early stage, some are willing to take the risk if you have gone through successful customer validation and have the right team to build the solution. You have to network in your startup community to find them!

How do I begin branding and marketing my startup? You and your team of Co-Founders should now sit down and craft a formal Mission

Statement for your startup. Facebook’s Mission Statement is the following: “Facebook's mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected”

If you want a tagline, you and your team should also craft one for your branding. Famous taglines are “Just Do It” (Nike), “I’m Lovin’ It” (McDonalds), “Are You In Good Hands?” (Allstate) and “Mmmm Toasty” (Quiznos).

Next, you should begin creating a great logo for your startup. Here are a few resources, Logoworks and 99designs.

Quickly set up a professional “landing page” announcing the coming of your solution. Launchrock is widely used amongst startups and it’s free.

As a startup with little-to-no marketing budget, you should be taking advantage of Social Media as much as possible. Social media marketing will allow you to better reach your early adopters.

Facebook has advertising capabilities that are being widely used with businesses all over the world. Pay-Per-Click (PPC) is very popular. Familiarize yourself with it here. They have tutorials on it. It’s quite easy to use. Here is another excellent video tutorial on why Facebook is the best platform to use in Marketing and Advertising.

Twitter is an excellent platform for pushing bits of information out in front of the public that you want to connect with (news, announcements, interesting articles, photos of your startup). It’s also an opportunity for you to tweet status updates that allow your audience to connect with you and feel apart of your growing startup.

Instagram, combined with Twitter is excellent! Your Instagram should be chronological photos of the development of your startup. In order to create “buzz” and encourage the public to follow, they need to feel a part of what you’re building. Don’t forget to engage with them when they comment and “Like” your social media posts. This is a great way to make your audience feel connected to your startup.

If your startup involves you creating something that you want followers to see (ex: baked goods, art, or videos related to your startup company etc.), Pinterest is a very popular tool to use for exposure!

Lastly, once your launch is fast approaching, you may want to consider releasing a “teaser”

video, a 90 seconds video or animation, which explains what your solution does and why people should use it. You can create affordable teasers at GoAnimate.com. You can use Facebook advertisement to spread the word about your startup. Send the teaser out to as many people as you can. Now, you must live up to what your teaser says you will do.

How do I prepare for my startup launch?

Now that your team has developed a solution and is ready to launch, here are a few tips:

With the large base of early adopters you have been engaged with, including your social media followers, you should have a pretty extensive contact list of people. Now it’s time to put those contacts to use and let them know of your startup Beta Launch.

What’s a Beta Launch? A Beta Launch is when you invite your early adopters to use your solution.

How do I plan an unforgettable launch party?

It is very common for startups to throw a “Launch Party”. A launch party is considered the “birthday” of a startup in a startup community. As a startup, it is critical that everyone knows of your startup launch. By now, your network should be huge so invite them all to the party.

It’s important that you strategically set the date (ex. Not during 4th quarter of the year where business people are buried under paperwork or taking off for holiday travels, etc.). Also, your location must be strategic as well. The scene of your launch party makes quite a statement. Some throw launch parties during the day at coffee shops, during the evenings at lounges or business venues. Some have even been able to save a lot of money by using non-profit spaces or schools as venues for their parties.

Marketing is critical. If no one knows about your launch party, no one will be there. Make sure you send out e-mail blasts to all your contacts. Tweet it, blog about it, and send out advertisements on Facebook.

The more entertaining the party, the better! Live bands, DJs, raffles, keynote speakers and live demos of your solution are encouraged. You want your guests to remember your party and leave with your solution having made an impression on them.

Lastly, but definitely most importantly. The more donations and sponsors the better! Talk with your Mentors and other business contacts in your network about helping you fund your launch party. You can ask contacts to donate the venue, food, drinks, and entertainment. If you can establish good relationships with the movers and shakers in your city and convince them that your Beta Launch will be a success, there’s a good chance that they would want to help you as a sponsor. In return, you can offer them to put their logo on promotional items and acknowledge them at the event. If your startup draws a significant crowd of the kind of people they are looking to reach, it could be a win-win for both you and them.

Congratulations! Now that you know how to successfully launch a startup, jump on Newbble.com and let’s Newbble together!