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Author: harborcapitalgroupinc

15 Benefits Of Storytelling In Businesses

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 Why don’t more entrepreneurs use stories to explain their business? The reason maybe they don’t understand the important benefits of storytelling in business or how compelling stories are. But, defining, and crafting a story takes time, Another misconception is that stories are what the marketing department does. True.

But your story needs to start long before there is a marketing department. If it doesn’t, you could be trying to wordsmith your sales communications later for short-term tactical gains because you don’t have a competitive advantage. Why? Most companies have competitors, and everyone is selling the same product at the same price with the same service.

Here is what Ben Horowitz, venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz says: “The mistake people make is thinking the story is just about marketing, No. The story is the strategy. If you make your story better, you make your strategy better.”

The story is the engine that drives successful companies. And with today’s technology, you can tell your story, many times for free, to individuals anywhere in the world. That makes stories more important than ever.

Benefits Of A Storytelling Strategy

Stories will help you build and grow your company and your brand. According to Kevin Smith, the world’s most valuable, innovative, and fastest-growing companies, regardless of age, industry, or size – know the story behind the brand. (Airbnb, Apple, Facebook, Tesla, etc.) delivers success.

Or Simon Sinek, author of “Start With Why” put it another way, “Remember, people don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it, And what you do simply proves what you believe.” Simon Sinek, author.

The following are some of the benefits you will get from a well-crafted story.

Stories help you develop and sell your idea.  

  •  Stories simplify big ideas in a way that sticks in one’s mind.

  • Data can persuade people, but data doesn’t inspire them to act.

  • Stories help you attract and keep talent and then improve efficiency by keeping everyone on the same page.

  • Stories help you transfer your beliefs to your audience.

  • Stories help you keep all employees on the same page and focused on the same mission.

  • Stories give your company a short- and long-term advantage over competitors.

  • Facts are essential, but sories connect and motivate people.

  • People remember stories but not many facts.

Stories help you build a brand.

  • Stories  will build a foundation of trust, but a customers’ personal experience will cement that trust into something that lasts,

  • Buyers often look to the story to justify the purchase.

  • Stories can raise the value and, therefore, the price you can charge. If you can’t get a higher price for your brand, you need a better story.

Stories help you market your brand to potential customers.

  • Stories, when done right, can significantly boost lead generation by many times normal.

  • Stories grow your sales pipeline — stories make it easier for your ideal customer to recognize your value

  • Stories shorten your sales cycle and increase sale ratio

  • stories build your sales pipeline — stories make it easier for your ideal customer to understand your value

  • Stories Improve the quality of your sales forecast because they attract better-qualified prospects

If you are looking to take your startup to the next level, stories are a great way to accomplish that.

Also, see our blog,” Five Quick, Effective Ways To Tell Your Business Story.”

Jim Zitek/ Harbor Capital Group 

We empower entrepreneurs with information, insights, and the conviction they need to find, develop, and embed their stories throughout the development process to build successful companies.

Why Start Developing A Company Before Having Product-Market Fit?

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People have product ideas all the time. Many of them are probably not winners. The number one reason they fail is achieving product-market fit.  Yes, not enough money is also a big reason for failure, But money alone cannot make a startup successful. Remember Pets.com. They started with several hundred million dollars, blew it all in two years trying to find product-market fit, and went bankrupt.

So why would an entrepreneur want to start spending money developing a product before having a product-market fit? No matter how good you think, the idea is, you may be the only one in any zip code that thinks so.

So, how do you get a product-market fit? Don’t you need a product to show potential customers to see if it solves their problem and the problem is serious enough that they would spend money to buy it?

No, you don’t. However, you must have a product or service idea that solves a high priority problem, and a solution that makes sense to the buyer, and at a price, the buyer is willing to pay.

OK. What do you do? You start doing your homework. Mostly, your homework is a time requirement, not a cost problem. Be frugal and resourceful. Frugal people are generally more resourceful and, therefore, more creative than people with lots of money to spend.

Start by defining the problem, What is the problem you are trying to solve? That is not easy to answer because there isn’t a large market with a common problem. Geographic and demographic markets are filled with people who will interpret the issue in many different ways. Seth Godin, author, and entrepreneur, wrote in his book “Tribes” about how markets consist of people with a certain mindset in any zip code. Which mindset in which zip codes are you going to select?

Then, what is the solution? The solution is your story (which is also your strategy)  about the problem, solution, results, and why prospects should buy from you. If you define, create, and prepare a story to explain what you offer — your value proposition, you are ready to begin talking to prospects and getting their feedback before you spend development money.

You could prepare to present your story in many different ways. For example, you could do it with a slideshow, a white piece of typing paper with hand-drawn illustrations showing key elements ( I have done that, and it works perfectly) of your story. You could produce an animated whiteboard video that would allow you to show a five-minute presentation in less than two minutes. You could use an easel with paper and make key points as you tell your story. As I said before, be resourceful. A good story packed with facts and emotion plus a visual will enable you to tell a compelling story.

No matter how technical or complicated your product is, select a story format that allows you to tell the story without jargon, and without technical terms, the audience will not understand. An excellent simple story and some illustrations will enable you to tell a compelling story,

These simple presentations will get you the information you need to find out if your value proposition could be a winner. Also, the questions you ask, and they ask you will offer insights into how you can keep revising your product until they say, “you can do that?”

Once you get to a point where you think you have a product-market fit for this specific product design and this specific audience, you will have the confidence to begin the development process.

Also, see our blog,” Five Quick, Effective Ways To Tell Your Business Story.“

Jim Zitek/ Harbor Capital Group 

We empower entrepreneurs with information, insights, and the conviction they need to find, develop, and embed their stories throughout the development process to build successful companies.

 

Five Quick, Effective Ways To Tell Your Business Story?

Posted on by harborcapitalgroupinc

Some people find it hard to come up with an excellent way to get their story started. In the business world, you usually you would frame your story using the three steps of problem, solution, and results or outcomes.

Here is another quick way to get you started. Nick Morgan author, and coach tells people to use the story formats of famous and well-known stories as your framework, adapt the story to your business. Then explain your story within that framework,

You need to tell a story if you want to get someone’s attention and hold their attention until you get to your Call To Action (or as Jerry Weissman would say, to get them from point A to Point B).

You can do that with stories because stories work the way your mind works, Memory depends on attaching emotion to facts, Too many people try to use lists (3 of these, 6 of those) which do get people’s attention. Still, people have a difficult time remembering those lists. Stories do a much better job.

But if you are having a hard time creating a story, use one of the traditional story frames that have proved themselves over the years, Here are five frames you can use.

Quest is the most fundamental frame. In this scenario, the hero goes off to achieve a positive goal, but runs into a problem(s), generally finds a mentor, and then throughout the story reaches the goal.

The Stranger in a Strange Land is a much different story, The hero finds himself in a strange place where he is unsure of what to do (e.g., maybe a research task without any defined criteria), what the rules are, or even the path forward. But he runs into a mentor and finds a solution to something he didn’t know he was looking for in the beginning.

Rags To Riches is the classic story of stating out with nothing, and through hard work and some luck, you end up with fame and fortune.

Revenge is simply about a wrong done to the hero who, through no fault of his own, loses everything/. Then he prepares a plan and sets out to get revenge for the wrong done to him.

Love stories are about both love found and love lost. For example, a new great partnership  or a partnership that is being dissolved,

The main point here is that you can use the frame of a classic, well-known story to help you create your own story without having to create a new structure. Also, these are frames that people know and understand from the beginning, which makes your job and their ability to follow your story more manageable.

Do you have a situation in which one of these frames would make sense as a starting point to create your unique business story?

You might also like 15 Benefits Of Storytelling In Businesses

Would you like more tips on how to build a successful startup,  check out our free, weekly blog

or sign up for our startup success program HERE

 Jim Zitek, Harbor Capital Group

The strategy, development, and marketing
of successful startups begin with their story

How do you create a core story?

Posted on by harborcapitalgroupinc

 Your story cannot wait until you are ready to do marketing. It must be woven into your strategy from the very beginning.

Start by framing your story. Does it reflect the vision and values you are promoting?  You have to assume your competition has a story that you need to change. This analysis of the competition’s story takes time but is necessary. Then reframe the opponent’s story and reinforce your story to make sure you are not just restating your competitor’s story.

Keep it short and straightforward. Make sure it’s memorable and, therefore, easy to spread. Also, think about how you can encapsulate your message in a symbol, slogan, or metaphor that captures the essence of your story?

Make sure your story is emotional– includes values and deliver some emotional impact. One way is to articulate the  “hows” as verbs, not nouns.

You can start creating your story by going through the following suggestions. These are from Wodenworks, a brand strategy company. Start building your story by:

 

  • Identify the critical components of the company’s journey from initial problem to solution to results and transformation,

  • Define the “Whys” behind the story ( Why are we doing this? Why should I join the company? Why should I invest in this company? Why should you buy from this company? The answer to why is the company story.

  • Organize, arrange, and put the essence of your story in writing and share it with everyone and every department in your organization.

 

This process takes time, but the time required will more than pay you back for the time it took to complete this task, Once met it will give you direction, get everyone on the same page and help make decision making easier.

Here s another way to go through this process. Jim Logan, a long-time ma\rketer, offers this kind of approach to get at your core story.   y

 

  • Profile your best customers. That customer group can breakdown into smaller sales funnels.

  •  Identify the things you do for customers.

  • list all the things that are meaningfully different about your offer compared to other offerings with similar benefits (including every facet of your product and business operation from manufacturing to experience to responsiveness to the comprehensiveness of your solution to service and support),

  • list key features and functionality of things you sell ( and tie a benefit to each element and function)

  • Answer the Why question: should I believe you and why should I buy from you.

  •  Create your story from the material you have gathered

  • Test your story to make sure it does what you expect it to do. If not, revise it.

Next, let’s cover some of the story structures that will help you tell your story.

Story Structures

Several traditional story structures have been proven to work. Sometimes they have different names, but the structure is the same. At this point, we are using the core story we constructed to put that core story into a bigger picture.

You can use one of the traditional story frames that have proved themselves over the years, Here are the five frames you can use.

Quest is the most fundamental frame. In this scenario, the hero goes off to achieve a positive goal, but runs into a problem(s), generally finds a mentor, and then throughout the story reaches the goal.

The Stranger in a Strange Land is a much different story, The hero finds himself in a strange place where he is unsure of what to do (e.g., maybe a research task without any defined criteria), what the rules are, or even the path forward. But he runs into a mentor and finds a solution to something he didn’t know he was looking for in the beginning.

Rags To Riches is the classic story of stating out with nothing, and through hard work and some luck, you end up with fame and fortune.

Revenge is simply about a wrong done to the hero who, through no fault of his own, loses everything/. Then he prepares a plan and sets out to get revenge for the wrong done to him.

Love stories can be about both love found or love lost. For example, a new great partnership or a partnership being dissolved,

The main point here is that you can use one of these traditional story frames to help you create your own story without having to create a new frame of your own. Also, these are familiar frames that people know and understand, which makes your job and their ability to follow your story easier.

You now have a testable hypothesis. Does the story support the business model?

What Information To Put Into Your Story To Make It Successful?  

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What Information You Need To Put Into Your Story To Make It Successful?  

 

Every story starts with a problem. Don’t put more than the problem, solution, and success or result in your story.

OK, but what information do you need to put into your story to get the outcome you want. The story must, at a fundamental level, explain why you exist? Why does the market need your company? Why are we need this?  And why is what we are doing important?

What do you want to tell people? This information is the crux of your story and the real reason why people will buy from you or invest in your company.

Start by framing the issue. Don’t let our competition frame the issue. You may have to reframe the issue, so you are attacking the right problem. Does your core story articulate and reinforce the vision and values you are promoting to identify and solve the problem?

Different people have different ideas about what should go into your story. Here is one version. Your vision should be distilled into a single sentence, broken down into three parts:

1 What is the best action word describing what the brand is doing to serve the customer (empowering, teaching coaching,etc.)? Remember, you are not the hero of the story. You are the mentor showing the customer how to solve the problem.

2 Who do you want to hear your story? Be specific. The better you can target your audience, the more effective you will be. But, the audience has to be big enough for you to make a profit. Also, if your vision is clear, you will attract the audience you are seeking.

3 What is the outcome or transformation the customer will receive by using your product or service?  What are the benefits short-term and long-term, what are the consequences if the customer does not use your product or service?

Here is another way to look at what you should include in your story. Define the problem you want to address. It might be one huge problem or several problems you need to address separately.

1 Focus on addressing the problem and the challenges the problem causes the customer

2 The results or outcomes of solving that problem and the benefits the customer will receive.

3 Explain the difficulties the customer will have to go through to solve the problem in a way that brings the emotional aspects of getting to the solution. Is it relatable, believable, stressful yet transformational once accomplished?

One last thing. The end of the story is not the end; it’s the beginning of your relationship with the reader.

 

Why A Core Story Is Critical To Your Success

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Why A Core Story Is Critical To Your Success

When you look at startups that have developed into very successful companies, you find that one of the things that make them so successful is that they have a core story, which is also their strategy. These core stories sound deceptively simple but are extremely powerful. You should be able to tell your company’s story in one sentence or even a tweet.

Here are a couple of examples:

Google’s core story is Google: provides access to the world’s information in one click.

Apple’s core story is: Apple empowers individuals with well designed, easy-to-use computers.

Your target audience will be able to “get it” immediately if they don’t get it; they are probably not in your target audience. Once prospects understand who you are, what you do, and the benefits of what you do, expanding on your story is easy. You can direct the conversation in many different directions, depending on who’s in the audience.

Now, you need to implement this core story/strategy into everything you do, from product design to hiring people, to operations, marketing, and after-sales service.

If you live your story, you will have the ability to grow and add to your product line over time. It will be easier because you will have loyal customers who trust you. Think about how Apple and others have expanded over the years with the same core story/strategy and maintain a loyal customer base.

Now, for the hard part. Defining and creating your core story/strategy is challenging to do and takes time, But, take the time. It might be the difference between success and failure.

Now, let’s look at defining the core story/strategy in a little more detail. There is additional material on the different aspects of creating and telling your story that you will want to read as well.

What is a core story/strategy

Simply stated, a core story is a powerful narrative about your company, which explains what you do (problem, solution, benefit, or results) plus why you do what you do.  In other words, your core story is your strategy, and it drives success.

A core story also creates an emotional impact, will hold the reader’s attention over time and is flexible enough to be able to explain your company in different ways to different audiences.

This core story is not a  story about you, its the company’s story about your customers. Carmine Gallo, the author of “Talk like TED,” states that a company story is the company strategy, and the CEO is the keeper of the story. You are creating a clear and compelling vision and story around the “why,”  which is a fundamental task of leadership.

Answering the why question is how you build trust and eventually loyalty,  Business books are full of advice on how to achieve specific objectives and goals, but they are light on the Why questions. Carmine Gallo, the author of TED Talks, says to ask the following questions, Why are we doing this? Why should I join the company? Why should I invest in this company? Why should you buy this product or service from this company? The answer to why is the company story.

A core story also motivates employees, defines company culture, and provides a vision to attract investors and even define future product development. However, your story must be authentic or the results could turn customers away.

According to Christan Riedal at Mind Caffeine, a core story is the basic narrative that structures why we believe something is meaningful. It is the story you live by. The core story of a company can be an experience, a specific moment in time, or a belief that shows the real purpose of the enterprise: why you are doing what you do.

It is also a story that is designed to create relationships and gently persuade an audience into suspending their cynicism to buy into an emotional point of view. We make decisions with emotions.

 If you take the time to refine your story, you refine your thinking and the company strategy, Companies that don’t have a clear, articulated core story don’t have a clear and well-thought-out strategy.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that the story is just about marketing. It’s bigger than just marketing. The story is your strategy. If you make the story better, you make your strategy better.

 

The Elements Of Your Business Plan

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Your business plan is the primary document you will use to convince investors and others to work with you or invest in your startup. This business plan is not a one size fits all. You will want to tailor your material to what the audience wants. For example, if it is a venture capital company with recently raised funds, they will be looking for a longer-term view. If it is a venture capital company that has been investing for a while, they may be interested in more of shorter-term outlook and faster exit, 

Following is the typical format for a business plan. It is intended as a guide because different kinds of companies will have different requirements. 

1 Executive Summary

Describe (summary only) what your company is, what it does, and why it will be successful. Include your story, products and services, goals, company leadership and team, growth plans, financial information, and why and use of the funds you need.  

2 Company Description

This section goes into more detail about your company. What are the problems you are solving, how you solve them, and the benefits to the buyer from buying your product or service? You can go into detail here with a list of specific customers, markets, organizations you serve, and any partnerships you have established.

Explain the competitive advantages your product has over the competition and if that advantage is long term—for example, Intellectual property, Patents, Trademarks, .etc.

Describe the strengths of your company, including product, market, or industry expertise.

3 Market Analysis

What are your target industries and markets?  What is the outlook for size and growth in each target market?  Who are your competitors, and how do you compare to them. Do any of them have a significant advantage (market share, business model, IP, etc.) over the others in the market? What about pricing and market share?

Why is your solution to the problem better, faster, cheaper, etc.?  Are there any barriers to entry?

 4 Organization and Management

Start with your legal structure (incorporation or Limite Liability Company), which be essential depending on the type of investor you seek. Mostly, angel investors are with LLCs, but venture capital companies want companies that are incorporated.

Explain your company’s structure and who will head up each department. Use an organizational chart, if possible, to talk about how each department head is qualified to run that department.

5 Service or Product Group

Explain your line of products or services in some detail, including their features, functions, and benefits. Describe how each of these products benefits the customer. What is the product life cycle? How long will you be in Beta?

Do you have any plans for future patents, trademarks, or other product designs that will protect the uniqueness of your products or services?

6 Marketing and Sales

What is your sales story? Describe how you plan to get, keep, and expand sales to your target audience. What marketing methods will you use? Will you be using outside agencies or inhouse personnel for marketing and sales. What kind of experience do these marketing and salespeople have? 

 How long is the sales cycle? What kind of funnels will help develop prospects? Will you be using any distributors or wholesalers. If so, who are they, and what procedures and compensation are involved?

7 Funding Request

Describe your funding requirements in as much detail you can. If it is for one year, five years, or are you planning to fund by milestones? What type of funding are you looking for: debt, equity, loans, or some combination. Are you looking for a strategic partner or multiple investors?

How do you plan to use this funding: product development, sales, marketing, equipment, facilities, salaries, etc.

8 Financial Projections

Sone of the documents that will be requested includes the capitalization table, income statements, balance sheets, cash flow statements, capital expenditures, and budgets. Also, you will need to prepare a Pro Forma which uses assumptions and hypothetical events that occurred in the past and may occur in the future. This comprehensive financial overview gives outsiders a good look at your business from an economic viewpoint going into the next five years.

 9 Appendix 

Thie appendix includes documents that support your business plan like resumes, licenses, patents, legal documents, permits, any contract documents, etc.

 

A Quick And Effective Way To Tell Your Story

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Some people find it hard to develop an easy way to create a story or get it started. We usually use the three steps of problem, solution, and results or outcomes. Here is another way to get you started. Nick Morgan, author, and coach, tells people to use the story formats of famous and well-known stories as their framework, Then explain their story within that framework,

Before you start, don’t confuse a story with an anecdote, which is more of a description of something that happened. Nick says a story has three parts: a situation, a complication, and a resolution,

You need to tell a story if you want to grab someone’s attention and hold it until you reach the Call To Action (or, as Jerry Weissman would say, get them from point A to Point B).

You can do that with stories because stories work the way your mind works, Memory depends on attaching emotion to facts, Too many people try to use lists (3 of these, 6 of those) but people have a difficult time remembering those lists. Stories do a much better job.

But if you are having a hard time creating a story, use one of the traditional story frames that have proved themselves over the years,

Here are the five frames you can use.

Quest is the most fundamental frame. In this scenario, the hero goes off to achieve a definite goal but runs into a problem(s), generally finds a mentor, and then, throughout the story, reaches the target (for example, a new solution to a problem).

The Stranger in a Strange Land is a much different story; the hero finds himself in a strange place where he is unsure of what to do (e.g., maybe a research task without any defined criteria), the rules, or even the path forward. But he finds a mentor and a solution to something he didn’t know he was looking for initially.

Rags To Riches is the traditional story of starting out with nothing and, through hard work and some luck, ending up with fame and fortune. Maybe an investor pitch showing the investors how your startup started with nothing, is now at milestone B and is ready to scale.

Revenge is simply about a wrong done to the hero who, through no fault of his own, loses everything/. Then, he prepares a plan and sets out to get revenge for the wrong done to him. For example, this could be a public relations story about a company getting its reputation back after some false stories about it. This happened to one of our clients years ago.

Love stories are about both love found and love lost. For example, a new great partnership being formed or a partnership is dissolved,

The main point here is that you can use a story’s frame to help you create your own story without having to create a new structure. Also, these frames are familiar and understandable from the beginning, which makes your job and their ability to follow your story easier.

Do you have a situation in which one of these frames would make sense as a starting point to create your unique story?

 

How do you restart a stalled early-stage company

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 Often startups are launched before the founder(s) have determined the viability of their business idea, and eventually, for many reasons, the startup runs into trouble. Other times, there are Initial revenues, but they are irregular, don’t last, or they don’t grow as expected. How can you fix this?

In either case, you need to start diagnosing the problem by using the same analysis you would use to determine the viability of your business idea initially. If you haven’t launched yet, you need to assess the feasibility of your business idea before you launch. However, if you have begun, this same analysis would be the fastest way to diagnose the problem and see where you might be able to change, modify, or pivot to restart the pathway to success. 

First Look At The Market  

1 What is the market size or demand? If you don’t know, you can get some idea from Google Keyword Learning Tool (number of people searching for a keyword) https://ads.google.com/home/resources/using-google-ads-keyword-planner/

Also, Buzzsumo ( https://buzzsumo.com/ (number of people each day talking about your product).

2 Who are your competitors?  

The more you know, the fewer surprises. This analysis also gives you an enormous amount of information about products, pricing, various business models, etc 

3 Is this market trending, and in which direction?  

Which direction is market headed. Google Trends, https://trends.google.com/trends/?geo=US can help you learn if a trend is growing or not.

4 Who are your target customers?

Who is a buyer, influencer, disrupter, etc.? You can use websites like Quantcast https://www.quantcast.com/ and Alexa https://www.alexa.com to find out more about demographic information of the potential market.

You can also learn about people in your target audience from Twitter. Who follows your interest, demographics, age, sex, etc.? Hashtag your keywords.  

5 What does it cost to acquire customers?   

Acquisition costs are critical.  How will you acquire customers, and what will it cost to get them? One way is to find out how to use Landing Pages. 

Using social media, AdWords, etc., test for people searching for your product and your messaging, and drive them to a landing page. Make sure you have a strong Call For Action based on your value proposition aimed at getting the information you want, email information, or potential sales. From these click-through rates, you can begin to estimate conversion rates and costs. Plus, you can continue to correspond with them for more information.

 

6 Challenge your assumptions

You likely will get some information with which you will disagree. You don’t want to accept everything at face value (in discussions with prospects also), but you have to challenge your strong held biases, You are looking for something different. Something that will lead you to a better way to position or operate your company.   

It may take many trials and evaluations to get all the information you need, so keep at it until you are confident you have insights that will lead you forward.

Has your market assessment changed?   

This blog is the first of three blogs on this subject I plan to write in the future. The next one will deal with product viability.

You might also like 15 Benefits Of Storytelling In Businesses

Jim Zitek, Harblor Capital Group Inc

We empower entrepreneurs with information, insights, and the conviction they need to find, develop, and embed their stories throughout the development process to build successful companies.

Do You Know When To Scale?

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The goal of every founder is that moment when you have product-market fit

and you are ready to scale the business, But understanding when that moment has arrived is difficult.

Many startups jump the gun and begin to scale too quickly and end up just burning cash.

Net; getting the timing right is critical. If you have discovered a pathway to repeatable revenues,

you are beginning to get organic revenues (proving product-market fit) and are convinced you are ready to scale.

In general, you are correct about product-market fit,

But these early sales are most likely from early adopters.

You still have one or two obstacles to get over. According to Steve Blank, if you are introducing

a new product in a new market, you don’t have a market. You have to create the market.

So, as you run out of early adopters, about 16 percent of the market, you will have to educate

buyers who are unfamiliar with you, your product, and its benefits. That will take some time and money to accomplish.

Therefore, after that early revenue peak, your new revenues are likely to begin slowing down rather

than speeding up until you have the mainstream market educated.

So timing is critical because marketing costs from scaling up are rising, and revenues are not.

A lot of companies have been caught in this trap.

If you are introducing a new product into an existing market, your goal is

to take sales away from your competitors. The market is there.

Therefore, you should be able to keep revenues growing with your better product.

However, you still have to cross the chasm from early adopters to mainstream customers,

and they are more skeptical than the early adopters, and it takes time to convince them to switch over to your product.

Therefore, your Scaling should be more in sync with your revenue growth.  Unless, of course, money is no object.

For startups, timing is an essential element that you must always be conscious of.

 On the other hand, Scaling isn’t the same as increasing sales.

Scaling also means enhancing and improving your capacity and capability; scaling requires a well-thought-out plan

(written down) that includes all of your sales and marketing, operational systems,

the technology that will help with both revenue generation and operations,

financial requirements necessary to scale, and potential risks.

At the same time, Scaling also requires that you continue to focus on your customers.

It would be best if you thought like Amazon, which puts billions into infrastructure

and operations to take care of its customers. Is your goal to have your startup scale?

If yes, do you have the profit margins and market size to scale?

If not, you can still have a great business, but it will be hard to attract investors.