5 Start-Up Strategies You Need To Know
Published on Nov 18, 2015
Bill Bain, founder and CEO of ScaleOut, shares in his interview with Inc.com writer, Peter Cohan, his top five tips and strategies for entrepreneurs and start-ups.
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5 Start-up Strategies you need to know
by peter cohan, Inc.com
Peter Cohan interviews serial entrepreneur and ScaleOut founder and CEO Bill Bain in this article. As a result, Bain gives us his top 5 pieces of advice for your start-up.
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Serial entrepreneur Bill Bain, founder and ceo of Scaleout,
offers his top tips for start-ups.
Bill Bain is working on his fourth, and current start-up, ScaleOut, which he is founder and CEO. He earned a Ph.D. from Rice University in electrical engineering and has worked at Bell Labs research, Intel, and Microsoft.
Bain has an active role in the Alliance of Angels, Seattle's angel investor community (which has funded his current start-up, since the founding in September 2003). ScaleOut is seeing lots of growth within their company, and their customers.
Bain has an active role in the Alliance of Angels, Seattle's angel investor community (which has funded his current start-up, since the founding in September 2003). ScaleOut is seeing lots of growth within their company, and their customers.
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1. Start a company when you can pass
these three tests...
Bain believes that you need to pass three tests before you start a company.
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2. pursue a big market that has an unmet need.
look for opportunities that are "Scalable" and address a "customer's pain point"
When Bain refers to "scalable," he is discussing the current state of the market; it is either big and getting bigger, or it is small but is getting big fast.
A "customer pain point" refers to your product. Does it provide a solution to a painful problem of your customer that has yet to be solved?
A "customer pain point" refers to your product. Does it provide a solution to a painful problem of your customer that has yet to be solved?
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3. to get customers to try your product, do research before you build it.
gain a deeper understanding of what your customers need.
Bain explained, “To get a customer to try your product, you should do considerable market research before you start to build it" and that "timing is also important."
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4. to build your team, put two in a box.
You can't do it alone; look for a partner.
"Bain believes that most entrepreneurs lack all the skills needed to get their venture off the ground."
Because of this, you need someone who is experienced and skilled in the things that you aren't so skilled at.
Bain also believes that you need more than just the two in a box concept to make good decisions for your start-up. You also need skills in sales, PR, human resources, and engineering management.
Because of this, you need someone who is experienced and skilled in the things that you aren't so skilled at.
Bain also believes that you need more than just the two in a box concept to make good decisions for your start-up. You also need skills in sales, PR, human resources, and engineering management.
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5. build a culture that reflects clear values.
define what matters the most to your start-up.
Bain believes that a start-up’s culture is very important.
He explains this by using his own company, ScaleOut, as an example: “We are angel funded and I want to keep our priorities straight. Everyone who works in our company knows that we have other peoples’ money and we need to use it wisely. I also stress the importance of quality in everything we do - from our product, to customer service, to communications with our employees, customers, and investors. Unlike Microsoft, we cannot fall back on a great reputation. We need to earn our customer’s trust by doing everything with high quality.”
He explains this by using his own company, ScaleOut, as an example: “We are angel funded and I want to keep our priorities straight. Everyone who works in our company knows that we have other peoples’ money and we need to use it wisely. I also stress the importance of quality in everything we do - from our product, to customer service, to communications with our employees, customers, and investors. Unlike Microsoft, we cannot fall back on a great reputation. We need to earn our customer’s trust by doing everything with high quality.”
Photo by Kay Gaensler
learn more:
@petercohan | www.inc.com/author/peter-cohan
Read the whole article by Peter Cohan here: http://www.inc.com/peter-cohan/5-essential-start-up-strategies.html
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