Today is the age of start-ups and small businesses. People are willing to take the risks involved, the government and investors are looking to sponsor good  ventures, and the user-base is ready to try out new offerings. Despite it all, according to Failory, 2 out of 10 new businesses fail in their very first year. 9  out of 11 startups end up having to shut operations.

Why is this the case? Is there a fundamental issue with the product itself? Most often, the issue is with product scaling.

Product Scaling refers to ensuring that a product is robust enough to survive the market scenario, and grow to make a healthy profit. While it is important that the environment is conducive for growth, here are five ways you can experiment and figure out what works for your product.

1. Plan your Idea as a Business model

The first step in setting up a company is to have a good idea, one that solves a pain point for the customer. The customer needs to care enough about the problem, and the solution must ease all or some aspect of it. However great the idea, it cannot succeed without a great business model. Effectively, this conversion becomes the first major step in your startup journey.

A good business model rides on the startup idea and aims to reach its customer ensuring they see value from the product. It takes into account the current state of finances and charts out a course that will enable you to keep up with the ups and downs in your startup journey. This process includes identifying the right channels to reach out to your customers, and setting up an infrastructure that can sustain business growth. The right business model will help you navigate challenges, while holding up the other ends stable.3

2. Visualize revenue entrance to signal confidence

How do you craft a business model that can sustain your demands? Let us look into some of the nuances to keep in mind while planning your business model.

• Target persona : What is the business segment you are targeting? Who is your ideal buyer?
• Value Proposition: What is the main pain point of your buyer? How are you going to address their issue? Will the solution/s completely address their problem?
• Marketing Plan: How are you going to reach out to your prospective customers? How are you going to interact with them at each stage of the  marketing funnel?
• Customer Success : How are you going to provide continuous value for your customer, once they decide to buy your product? What kind of support/assistance will you offer?
• Pricing Strategy: What price strategy are you going to adopt? How are you going to plan your pricing as your business grows?
• Resource Planning: What are the resources you need to keep your business up and running? Have you covered everything from labor to license’s?
• Business Planning: What are the activities you need to perform to ensure your product sees a successful run? Who are the people who can help you  here – be it advisors, partners, or third party agencies?

With all these pointers in mind, plan your basic infrastructure. Put together a cost estimate. Analyze. Repeat. Keep working on the infrastructure until you achieve a satisfactory mix of cost vs services offered.

3. Prototype to confirm adopters

Once you have arrived at a reasonable infrastructure setup, you need to test it out in the real world to understand if your assumptions and reasoning are correct. Put together a prototype and observe how your customer receives it. Get their feedback and you know what your next set of activities should be.

There is no set business model that will work for your company. Study popular and successive business models and use them to start with. Fine tune them according to your requirements. Iterate based on feedback and reception. Do these right at the beginning of your Go-To-Market phase. Change your entire model if needed. Arrive at the business model that works for you, and create your own story.

4. Locate your ideal 2 years ecosystem

You now have your business model and your first working prototype that has given you satisfactory results. What next?

This is where the real-world test comes into the picture. While so far the product has always been in your control, you start encountering factors like the environment that you put together your product in, your customer market scenario, market changes like new technologies and price fluctuations,
unaccounted for events like the pandemic, constraints with respect to money, resources, time, demand, supply……. The way to deal with this is to account for uncertainty in your business model, have room for change, and grab opportunities as they come, even if it means adapting your business model to newer events.

5. Declare your proofs to create further interests

Do not panic if your first prototype fails. Infact, panic if it works. Only the mistakes you make will help you make the right changes to your business model. Intensify the testing process as your pattern evolves. Plan, create, make mistakes, fail, learn, reiterate, repeat, succeed – This is the only successful model.

Ensure you document the hypothesis, reasoning and results at every stage. As your business model evolves, you have arrived at a successful strategy that works, with the needed proofs to show the world, or reach out to investors, if that's on your mind.

At the end of the day, keep your business model dynamic. A market shift, buyer persona change, or even changing the order of what you plan to work on next might be necessary as your product grows. After all, growth is based on the market and customer preferences, and these are factors that change rapidly in today’s world.

These are all you need to move from idea to a successful business. While it may sound like too many things, this is a natural order of process, and solves the most fundamental of all problems that new founders encounter.

The post 5 ways to flirt with your Product Scaling appeared first on TODAC.

A good product is built on a solid foundation – from idea to execution, technology to development. Product pricing is an often overlooked aspect, and most likely not one of the primary factors for a newly coined business. However, while this may not be the first thought during product creation, this becomes one of the most important decisions when it comes to taking a product live. This article tells you why, and how you should go about choosing the right price for your product.

Why is it important to make sure you charge the right price

In any business setup, there are two primary aspects from a customer’s point of view – the price and he quality. If you offer great quality, but at a steep rice, they will choose an alternative solution, or go to your competitor. From a business owner’s purview – there are again two important parts – the price, and whether they can break even from the sale.

Another important aspect of pricing is the match between product image and product positioning. While deciding the price, it is very important to consider the brand image you want to portray and the market segment you are targeting. Say you are starting a hotel. If you want to target the mid market segment, you have to ensure good quantity at an affordable price. However, if your ambition is to set up a 5-star hotel, and you still offer high quantity at affordable rates with a mediocre ambience, you will not be considered as part of the high-end segment.

The last but not the least of it all is how the price fits into the overall strategy and objectives of your business plan. Does the price decided enable you to support organization goals? Will you be able to generate good income to cover the costs? Will you be able to make enough to garner a healthy profit? Are you looking for immediate gains or long term gains? In a nutshell, the final market price of a product can make or break your product.

How to choose the right price?

The price of a product is more than just calculating costs and adding a markup. Put together a pricing strategy that meets your requirements and budget. Here are some simple rules to consider:

• Charge more than what it costs to make the product, covering all base costs, add ons, services, employee salaries, office space, furniture etc.
• Be clear about your buyer persona. What does your target segment want? How big a problem are you addressing? What do they gain from your solution? Will they get good value for their money?
• Focus on your differentiators : The first step is to identify what it is that you offer that others do not offer, and what you offer better than others.
• Price elasticity: Identify what impact a price change would have on your product. The ideal scenario should allow you to just make enough to break even, even if the set price needs to be reduced.

Let’s look at some viable pricing strategies.

• Slab based pricing – Are you going to cater to different market segments – a start-up, a mid-size and an enterprise model? If yes, you can have a basic, medium and a premium version to start with. Called the anchoring model, this plan basically assigns prices based on plan tiers – Customers who can afford a higher plan get a little bit more.
• Consider A/B testing. Have two scenarios at two different prices and see how it works. If the higher priced scenario is doing as good as, or better than the lower setup, you have your answer there.
• Competitive Pricing: Do a competitor research and price your product based on the features and depth of your offerings. You can plunge just a bit lower (Price Skimming) to give your product a push at the start, or tip it a bit higher (Penetration Pricing) to indicate a better quality or an innovative idea.
• Pricing balanced with features/benefits : You can price your product lower, but provide attractive benefits in the form of coupons, discounts and other offers to increase traffic in a short time. However, transitioning from there to a market-even price is important to ensure your product is not considered cheap.
• Bundle pricing : You can offer packaged services or multiple products together at lesser cost than their individual. The customer pays less for both services together, while you end up making double the sale for a smaller profit on each item; a win-win for both sides.
• Anchor Pricing: Use a comparative pricing strategy – list an original price and a discount price. The comparative pricing evokes the anchor cognitive bias, leading the customer to make a decision based on the reference, in this case the original price.

The end goal of all businesses is to solve a problem, while making a healthy profit. Being too greedy or too shy will not serve the purpose. Let’s aim to hit the right note and achieve the economies of scale.

The post Pricing Sciences – How to Price your product right? appeared first on TODAC.

While you might have a great product or team, it will come to nougat if you lack clarity with the problem/solution fitment.

Your pitch is your company’s first chance to make an impression. To make it one that converts, you need to think like an investor; and this means 360 degree clarity on the what’s, why’s and how’s. The simple question is: If you were an investor, would you be convinced enough to invest in your own startup?

Here are some of the most important factors to consider.

What problem does my solution address?

The most important point of contention for startups is identifying the problem they are trying to address via their product/solution. While this seems like a given, we often notice many startups falter as they either try to do too many things, do not address a given problem completely, or are just one of the many other solutions that are already available in the market. A solution must be demonstrated targeting the customer’s pain  points or making an aspect of their life easier. If your product is niche, it is all the more important to provide data or evidence to support your claim.

Who is my target user?

A solution must always cater to a specific audience. The question is not about how broad or narrow your target audience is, it is about how well you understand them and offer a solution that solves their problem/s.  In order to achieve this, the most important step is to truly understand your target user. This includes a thorough understanding of the user persona, their buying behavior’s, psychograph, or their individual  characteristics, thus enabling you to build and market the right product at the right time.

What is the current state of the market?

An analysis of the market scenario is vital to position your product right and ensure you are not lost amongst the crowd. How big is your target market? Is it restricted by geography or trend? How large is your potential audience and customer base? Does it have the scope to scale? Do you have existing buyers?

The market does not have to be big. The more specific or focused the target market, the better it is to start with. Furthermore – the competition that exists, how long the competitors have been in the running, and what it is that your solution offers that others don’t — are critical for success. Investors are forever looking to get a sense of the opportunity in your startup space, understand your start- up’s potential, and gauge the product’s reach.

According to Marquee Equity’s blog, “No market need” is the second highest ranked
reason for a failing startup.

What is your image as a founder?

It is said that 6 out of 10 investors choose the founder over the product. Investors are constantly on the lookout for passionate entrepreneurs, ones who truly understand what their product uniquely offers and can convincingly make the sale. Also true is that they are looking for founders who are willing to invest their own money. This is an indication that you believe in your offering enough to invest in, and have it in you to take the business off the ground. A founder’s work ethic demonstrating their readiness for the challenges they are bound to face, goes a long way in establishing that they will work on continuous business growth and not stop soon after the first big success.

What are your next steps going to be?

A clear vision is the biggest driver for any organization. Communicate your ideas and plans for the future, with evidence of why you think it will work. Go into the nitty gritties of why you should choose a certain solution, and project the numbers. A well-informed founder who has done their study can never be ignored. Hand in hand goes the plans for the company’s financials. How much has already been invested, what is the expectation, how and on what is the investment going to be used, what are the short term and long term investments plans – these are key contributors to a company’s image.

How are you planning to market your solution?

Last but not the least, the go-to-market strategy! As good as your offering is, no product or service will make profitable returns if not well-marketed. Here are some aspects of a progressive GTM strategy.

• Outreach : Marketing strategy focusing on pitching your business to influencers of your target audience
• A/B testing: Split testing experimental technique that helps you make a result-based decision between two plausible options
• Campaigns and Promotions: Activities that aim to make users aware of a product, service or brand as a whole to entice audiences.
• Process Automation : Marketing process automation which brings together marketing tool and technologies, and automates the process of creating digital campaigns to build traction

The process of creating a pitch deck starts much before you start building your prototype. Answering the questions discussed in this article is the first step to setting up a successful business. Clarity of thought in the initial stages will translate to conveying the right information, attracting the right people and making the right sales.

The post Be your investor before creating your Pitch deck appeared first on TODAC.

Start-up founders are constantly on the run. If it’s not a technical issue they are looking at, it’s the finances, the legal requirements, or the sales strategy. They are constantly having to keep up with changes and work on multiple requirements at a given time – from documentation to overall organization.

The best option to manoeuvre this maze is to use tools/services that can pick up the slack for you. However, the biggest challenge to this approach is the problem of plenty. Take any requirement and you have a zillion SaaS options available today. Navigating this multi-SaaS mess is an art by itself. Let us understand why.

Founders use multiple tools for internal work

Consider the tasks lined up in a day of a startup founder. A flurry of mails to begin with, and multiple actions for each. Planning the day’s calendar. Interacting with internal employees. Working with client issues. Tracking client engagements and new leads. Reaching out to customers at various stages of their journey with appropriate artefacts. Analysis of all the data. Technical simulations to assess product performance, even if the actual development is left to the coders.

These are just some of the major day to day activities. To perform each of these tasks, the founder adopts a purpose-specific exclusive tool, one that makes it easier to manage and keep track of the concerned assignment; easily amounting to over 10 different tools in all— intercom for customer feedback, mailchimp for mailers, amplitude for analytics — to name a few.

There is no tool that makes a single dashboard for founders

With so many tools in place, a major chunk of a founder’s time and effort is taken up by switching from one application to another, especially if it involves a long setup process or involves some preparatory time to get into the right mindspace.

When in need of particular data, there is no one place they can look at. It is like saying you have multiple excel sheets for every task, and you need to search multiple workbooks for one single analysis. Founders have to switch between multiple applications to arrive at a single informed decision. This is a never-ending juggle.

Product KPIs are not connected to effort

Sadly, the multi-app juggle goes unaccounted for in the long run. The effort and time spent in navigating between tools is simply your loss. A product’s Key Performance Index (KPI) overrides all these trivial  activities, while focusing only on activities, revenues, costs, and usage. Simply put, effort that converts is the true measure of performance. The KPI is what drives a product’s success or failure, and in turn, decides the business venture’s fate. The final statistics is what matters, and most often it is not a direct reflection of the effort involved.

No good tools available for managing investor relations or raising funds

Furthermore, adding to this burden, is maintaining a good relationship with investors and your sponsors. While founders can easily be overburdened by regular tasks, it is critical to maintain regular cadence with the stakeholders. The onus is on you to effectively share the data they need to understand your journey and support your venture. Which brings us to our next hurdle.

Data sharing with stakeholders is also not clear.

While we have established that regular cadence with stakeholders is important, founders are often left in the lurch when it comes to the actual cadence. The right information can pave the way for long-lasting relationships, which can then convert to funding, valuable advice, and even reliable marketing.

It is important to structure the cadence with carefully chosen regular updates, ensuring you handpick the stats they want to see. The best way is to ask them what they are looking for and match your updates accordingly. On a broad scale, the regular cadence must include KPIs , portfolio valuation updates, deals under valuation and leads closed. These must include both the highs and the lows for a realistic picture and feedback for betterment. Sadly, most founders lack this clarity when it comes to information sharing, thus not being able to position their work and efforts correctly.

The need is an all-in-one bundled tool which connects company internals to externals reliably.

The one solution to avoid all these problems is an integrated tool. While there is plenty of software available to address each of the above discussed problems, they are siloed. Thus, the onus falls on founders to integrate data between these software manually. A single bundled tool can serve as a center point for all data, making it easier to handle data and also easier to present to stakeholders.

Todac’s Sherpa provides a platform that can integrate all your data into one place, enabling one-touch access for all data and related analytics.

The post Roadmap to the Productivity success avoiding Multi-SaaS mess for Start-up Founders appeared first on TODAC.