“Start-Up” (Beyond the Seed)

If you have decided to move beyond an informal business idea, you have entered into the second stage of the business life cycle, the Start-Up stage.

An important milestone of this stage is that you’ve made your new business legal.  During the Seed stage, you should have been thinking about your ownership structure and consulted a professional for guidance, if necessary.  Once the business is legal, you are free to start production on your product or service and start accumulating a customer base.

Although cash flow may be tight in this phase, you will want to hire an employee to help manage the workload.  You and your employee will spend your time nurturing the business in the market, satisfying your customers, and ensuring that you are profitable.  It may be necessary to make adjustments to your products or processes to maintain a steady cash flow.

With a lot of hard work and a little luck, this stage will leave you wondering – what’s next?  If so, the next stage is just around the corner!