Timing is everything in entrepreneurship. Entering the market at the ideal time is like uprooting that rock to precede an avalanche. Timing sets up your business’ momentum and gets it rolling towards success. But when exactly is the best time to launch your small business?
When You Have the Funds Necessary
You need to have amassed the necessary capital to get your business off the ground. You will need that capital to invest in the assets your enterprise needs.
There are many ways to finance your business. You can use an SBA loan collateral to receive the funds from the Small Business Administration. You could approach angel investors and venture capitalists, or partially fund the business out of your own pocket.
When You Know Who Your Target Market Is
You can’t start a business without knowing who you’ll be selling to. You must have done your market research and feasibility studies before you can launch the business. These studies are crucial in identifying your niche, and your target audience. You’re ready to launch the company if you have pinned down this important detail in your business plan.
When You’ve Nailed Down What to Offer
This step talks about the unique proposition. This is the product or service that you offer to your target market that will make you stand out among your competition. You and your team must have identified a specific customer pain point, or multiple pain points, that you will endeavor to address before you can get the company off the ground.
When The Response to the Soft Launch is Favorable
You can try launching a prototype or a test model of your business idea to test your target market’s reaction. If the response to this soft launch is positive, it is a concrete sign that your business is ready to break into the market. You could start small and then scale the business up considerably once you’re convinced that there is a market to sell to.
Soft launching your business could also be a way to raise capital for the formal inauguration. You could generate invoices that you can use as collateral for invoice factoring, for example. You could even make multiple soft launches just to see how the market reacts.
When You and Your Team Are Confident
You and your team are the only people who know the ins and outs of your business. You are the ones that are familiar with and have tested the workflows and systems you use within your organization. You are also the best judge of whether these details are ready to handle the influx of customers after launch.
Get everyone together and evaluate your readiness. When your team says “Yes,” you’re more than likely ready to kick the business off.
Conclusion
There is no perfect timing to start any business. There are always issues that pop out only when the enterprise has been fully launched. What’s important is that you and your management team have taken care of obvious kinks that will materially affect the business when it starts operating. With these problems out of the way, that’s when you can say that you’re ready to launch your small business.
