When developing new products and services to disrupt industries and drive innovation, small businesses and startups open themselves up to competition they may not be all that prepared for. Economic downturns, recessions, cash flow inconsistencies, attrition rates, and tax policies are some of the deadly things you are up against. In this article, I will discuss how a start-up or a small business enterprise should conduct their business to survive the trenches and thrive.
Improve Internal Efficiency
As a startup founder myself, I have learned that one must maintain a tight and agile team for getting the work done. Hiring less, but hiring for quality is the key in this situation while downsizing should be considered as a secondary option because it often comes with a sticky reputation. Prepare different financial scenarios and compare them to see which one works best for your company to get the answer to this issue. In addition, your focus should be on optimizing business models, executive efficiency, and serving creative solutions.
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Adopt Technology
Being tech-forward saves businesses of all kinds a lot of money. Startups may obtain a distinct advantage over their competitors and set themselves up for success in a downturn by utilizing technology. For example, if it makes sense for your business to hire a team of remote workers, embrace the idea of being a remote-first company. I happen to be a founder of one. Another instance of this kind of tech adoption would be AI tools such as ChatGPT. My company Marquee Equity runs almost 95% of our backend via AI.
Upskill Your Team
One of the most effective strategies for futureproofing your firm is upskilling, reskilling, or newskilling. Upskilling really offers a variety of significant advantages, according to studies, including greater employee engagement, productivity, flexibility, expedited cross-team cooperation, improved talent retention, and cheaper retention costs. Basically, having a talented staff will result in more startup success overall.
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Opt for Online Investments
At any point in your startup's growth, you can need capital. The best moment for you as an entrepreneur to focus on finding the right investors who will support your initiatives with the required funding and assist in maintaining a steady cash flow is right now. Entrepreneurs must develop their presenting skills as well as their ability to create flawless and captivating company proposals.
Apart from investor conferences, hackathons, and other offline modes, another rising method to secure funding for a startup is via tech-enabled fundraising platforms such as the one I have co-founded. Marquee Equity connects startups with their suitable ‘matches’ for startup fundraising. mergers, acquisitions, and other services.
Marquee Equity works as the online bridge between startups (irrespective of the stage) and angel investors. At our company, we are focused on making fundraising an effortless experience for entrepreneurs by providing them with a built-in network of every type of investor and end-to-end personalized support. We have helped more than a thousand clients succeed in raising funds, and the numbers usually range in millions. Add to that, since we are tech-enabled, remote, and online, our teams can get through entrepreneurs and investors from anywhere in the world with ease and safety.
If nothing else works, you can also launch crowdfunding campaigns which provide entrepreneurs and other people with excellent ideas the chance to publicize their projects and solicit funds from interested parties.
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Focus on building customer loyalty
The health of a startup, or any small business, depends on customer loyalty. It offers fantastic potential for word-of-mouth advertising as most customers associate a company's quality of goods or services with its level of customer care. Entrepreneurs should put more effort into enhancing their customer service since customer care and dependable sales are highly correlated across all company categories.
About Marquee Equity
A SaaS (Software as a Service) platform called Marquee Equity aims to make investor access a quick and affordable procedure. It helps entrepreneurs and startups find the appropriate investors and financial coaching so they can develop. Marquee Equity takes pride in claiming to be the most successful and efficient fund-raising agency in the world, with experience in four different business sectors.
