If you own or operate a startup, you’re likely thrilled to see it get off the ground. You’ve probably planned this for a long time. Maybe you had this idea years ago, and now you’re not far from seeing it come to life.
Any realistic person knows that startup operations are not easy. You’ll need to put in lots of hard work and money as well. If you believe in your vision, though, there’s no reason why you can’t have a thriving company a few years down the line.
We’ll take a few moments now to discuss some things your startup needs if it’s going to succeed.
ISO 27001 Risk Assessment
Maybe your startup is an IT or SaaS operation. If so, you’ll want to look into ISO 27001 risk assessments for SaaS & IT organizations. An ISO 27001 risk assessment is:
1 – A way for tech companies to protect themselves
2 – How you can prevent phishing attacks, malware, and other computer-related threats
If you’ve got a tech startup, or you’re doing software as a service, and you’ve never heard of this before, you need to look into it without delay. There are companies who look at your business’s online platform and do a vulnerability assessment.
You’re trying to get an ISO 27001 certification. This means you’ve tested your company’s network and you’ve identified and evaluated any possible risks.
If a client sees you have this certification, they’ll feel a lot better about trusting you with their sensitive data, like industry secrets, credit card numbers, etc.
Funding
If you’re going to have a successful startup, you need funding for it. There are several ways to get it. Those might include:
1 – Getting a bank or credit union loan
2 – Getting an angel investor
3 – Approaching a venture capital firm
There are positives and potential drawbacks to any of these options. If you get a bank loan, you might have to put up something valuable as collateral. You’d better be sure you have a solid business idea if you do this.
If you get an angel investor, they’ll want to see a significant profit chunk if they’re going to put up their own money to support you. With a venture capital firm, it’s the same thing. The better you’ve studied the niche into which you’re getting, the better your success chances.
Insurance
You’ll also need to see what insurance varieties your startup will need. You will probably need commercial vehicle insurance, professional liability insurance, and property insurance. You will certainly need worker’s comp insurance as well.
In some cases, you’ll need product liability or business interruption insurance. This is a situation where you’ll need to study your niche and consult with an insurance broker. They can tell you about similar startups they’ve helped and what insurance types they’ve required.
There are probably minimum insurance amounts you need in your city and state. It’s different depending on where you are.
However, just because you need minimum insurance types and amounts, that does not mean you should always get the cheapest, bare-bones option. If you’re operating a more high-risk startup, you might want to get more robust policies.
Brick-and-Mortar Locations
You’ll need to figure out whether your startup will have some brick-and-mortar locations or whether it’s all digital. You might create products, for which you’ll need a warehouse or workshop, but you have a strictly eCommerce sales methodology. You might have both brick-and-mortar stores and also sell physical products online.
Since there’s a pandemic right now and the economy is in bad shape, you can probably rent storefront space with no problems. Many retail lending companies will even give you the first month free.
A Business Website
Regardless of whether you utilize an eCommerce business model, some physical stores, or both, you’ll need someone to create a business website for you. If you know how to use WordPress or Wix, you can do so yourself if you have the time.
If you’re not a website creation expert, you’ll probably want to hire someone to do it for you. You should tell them what kind of site visuals you want. You might hire a photographer to get some product, manufacturing, and employee shots.
You also might hire a social media manager for marketing help. There are almost no businesses now that don’t use social media.
Once you’ve got all this in place, you should feel good about your startup’s chances. With a little luck, you should be in the black by this time next year.
