Startup Marketing Journal

12 Oct First 100 Days: The Checklist Every Startup Should Use

I really like this article, by Megan Dunsby, the Features Editor at Startups.co.uk.  It outlines tips about what Startup Founders need to get done, gathered from the UK’s fastest growing startups.

“With the help of some of the country’s top start-up businesses, we’ve compiled an essential checklist of the key tasks and activities that need to be considered in the first 100 days of starting any business.

As most people aren’t familiar with the steps to start a business, this checklist covers everything you need to know pre-launch and post-launch; from market research to domain names and business banking. If you’ve got a business idea, then this checklist will help ensure your start-up hits the ground running…”

Two things that should be done in the first 30 days that stick out for me are:

Research the market

Rebel Kitchen founder Tamara Arbib says it’s integral that you “do your homework, sense check your idea, research the market place and make sure you get impartial advice.” Snaptrip head of marketing Sean Thompson encourages start-up entrepreneurs to “list all the assumptions you make and don’t risk going forward without validating them.”

Assess the competition

Try out potential rivals as a customer to gauge their costs, what they do and the service they offer, and use this background research to find out whether your idea already exists. Qudini’s Wethered says this process can be scary as you don’t want to find you can’t do your “great idea” but says “it’s better to do it now than find this out later”. At the same time, Wethered says not to let competitors deter you: “Remember that if you thought about an idea, something in the atmosphere/contemporary times influenced this so there’s always someone else who thought of doing it too. The trick is to get out there and execute ASAP.”

Check out the source article for the complete checklist.

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Jim Berkowitz

Jim is a startup growth consultant and technology coach. Over the years he's assisted hundreds of organizations with getting, keeping and growing customers.

 Now his focus is on helping startups.

With experience in agile marketing, lean canvas, growth hacking, digital marketing and CRM technology, Jim and his team at LaunchHawk Marketing offer a comprehensive range of consulting services designed specifically to help startups successfully scale their businesses.