5 Questions for every entrepreneur

As an entrepreneur, I have filled many business plans for investment decks, incubation and acceleration applications. Most of them ask for detailed business plans right from the founder’s education experience to five years projected cash flow statement.

It took me almost a month of research and consultation with experts to fill the incubation application form at Kerala Startup Mission. Even though we succeed at getting incubated, those valuable time should have spent better on product validation and initiating product development.

At Zartek, when we meet entrepreneurs who are looking to create apps and products, here are 5 questions we ask them to understand their product and market quickly.

The Lean Business Plan.

1. What is the Value Proposition?

This statement defines your product. The more clarity entrepreneurs have on this, easier it will be to communicate to customers, vendors and employees. Most mass consumer technology products should be able to define their core feature in 3–4 words.

2. Who is the Target Audience?

Knowing your exact target audience or person can help to:

• Creating the customer journey and user experience flow
• Identifying optimal marketing channels

3. How do you reach out to this target audience?

Spending on the right marketing channel to the target audience can bring down the cost per click and customer acquisition cost.

4. How do you monetise?

Most products ignore the importance of monetization and setting the revenue channel at an early stage. Monetization shows that your product is adding value.

5. Whom are you competing with?

Competitor analysis is usually ignored by most early-stage entrepreneurs. Your competitor will define how much money needs to be spent on marketing and the efficiency you need in operations to compete or beat them.

Conclusion

Releasing the product to the target audience quickly is important for product validation. Once your core feature is ready, do not wait to have a great UI design and interface. Release it immediately into the market or within your friends and family network.

I hope this article would help you to build a business plan without spending too much time on it. If you have any questions or want us to help you develop an app or a product, don’t hesitate to contact us.