Startup Evolution Curve

The book by Donatas Jonikas

Startup Evolution Curve is a marketing manual for entrepreneurs and startup founders. It is the result of research, analysis and surveys carried out on 1447 business founders and approximately 500 lengthy interviews with entrepreneurs from all over world. The result is a review of the main five phases which characterise a startup, as well as proposed methodologies and systems to save time, stay focused on the most important tasks and avoid potentially disastrous mistakes. In his book, Donatas Jonikas summarises and analyses those strategies which, if applied correctly and systematically, enable any startup to attract investors, secure their first sales, and accelerate their growth at just the right moment.

Key Ideas

  1. The primary objective of a startup is growth and its evolution curve involves five phases.

Small businesses vary widely in size and capacity for growth. They are characterized by independence of action, differing organizational structures, and varied management styles.Yet on closer scrutiny, it becomes apparent that they experience common problems arising at similar stages in their development.

Growth Phases

First, they assume that a company must grow and pass through all stages of development or die in the attempt. Second, the models fail to capture the important early stages in a company’s origin and growth; Each stage is characterized by an index of size, diversity, and complexity and described by five management factors: managerial style, organizational structure.

  1. Mistakes to avoid in a startup marketing startegy to circumvent failure:

 Mistake #1- Failing to have a master plan

Two things are required for great content marketing. First, you need an effective strategy. Second, you need great tactical execution of that strategy. Identify a goal and make sure it’s specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-based (SMART).

Now reverse engineer that goal. Break it down into small, measurable, and manageable steps. Now, you have a goal and a plan in place to reach that goal. We’ve written an entire post about incorporating SMART goals into every facet of your business. Take a look if you need help getting you goal-setting juices flowing.

It can be tempting to skip this step. Don’t do it. Going forward with marketing efforts without a clear goal and plan in place will lead to wasted resources and frustration down the road.

Mistake #2 – Failing to review the data and how it relates to your overall strategy

You need to be consistently reviewing your analytics, measuring sales volume, and evaluating your pay-per-click ads. Study your data, and you can find out what works and what does not work. Then, make changes accordingly. Marketing is not a static endeavor. It requires long-term care and attention to keep pace with the evolution of your business. Knowing the status and effectiveness of your marketing strategy is as important as the strategy itself.

Ideas are easy. Implementation is hard

Guy Kasawaki

  1. First and foremost we need to create a proposal that has value and analyse the potential market.
  2. Business Model Canvas: a clear and simple map that can be edited as our businesss grows.
  3. We propose hypoytheses and test them, create a prototype of our product and establish. whether potential clients are willinng to buy it.

We need to define our positioning and test communication and destribution channels. Fundraising can enable us to finance our idea and requires the right attitude. Choosing the appropriate financing from the many options.

  • How much cash is currently held? The company needs to consider the amount held in current cash balances and short-term investments, and how much of this will be needed to support existing operations. If spare cash exists, this is the most obvious source of finance for the new project.
  • If the required cash cannot be provided in this way then the company should consider its future cash flow. A cash budget can be prepared, but it is probably too detailed at this stage. A cash flow statement as shown in Example 1 would probably be more practical.
  • If the company’s projected cash flow is not sufficient to fund the new project then it could consider tightening its control of working capital to improve its cash position.

Pressurising debtors for early settlement, running down stock levels and lengthening the payment period to creditors could increase cash resources. Note however, there are dangers in such tactics. For example, lost customer/supplier goodwill and production stoppages due to running out of stock etc.

If the necessary finance cannot be provided internally then the company has to consider raising finance externally.

  1. The launch of a startup can only be successful if a solid foundation has been built.
  2. Growth hacking is a process through which our business can expand.

More about this Book, Here:

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