5 Steps for a Start-Up

Topics: Articles, Business

I was reading in a magazine the other day called Franchise Update. It's geared towards CEOs of franchising companies. There are a lot of great articles in each of the magazines. You can actually read back issues online.

I would like to discuss one of the articles I read. It's in the issue for quarter 2 in 2011, page 8. The title of the article is "Anatomy of a Start-Up." The reason the article is so interesting is because it's about a company that usually buys existing franchises, meaning they buy the corporate office. This time they decided to start their own company, a frozen yogurt franchise.

Keith Gerson, the COO in charge of creating the entire business from scratch shared these steps that he used.

1. Develop a Plan - Meaning a business plan (he recommends a website called www.gazelles.com)
2. 4 C's of Funding
   1. Competitiveness of the Idea
   2. Character of Individuals Behind the Idea
   3. Chemistry Between Investor and Individuals Needing Funding
   4. Cause - Is it the right cause or idea for the market?
3. Get the Right Team - 98% of business failures are because of incompetence, unbalanced expertise, and inexperience.
4. Develop the Brand
   1. Have a vision of where the brand is going to go.
   2. Have a story for the company (no, don't make it up).
5. Take it to Market

Please share this with others.