Business Start-up Tips

•Believe in your product

Buy into your own vision and don’t waiver it just for a pay check. You know your vision better than anyone else, and if you loose sight of it, the world will too. “It is your vision that will give you success, not your venture capitalist’s

vision.”

•Produce something of use

Build the best product you can, and make sure it has long-term value. This is something successful organisation always focuses on achieving. If you get into business solely to make money, you won’t. If you try to make a real difference, you’ll find true success.

•Invest in what's going to scale your business

Identify exactly what you need to grow your company. Is it technology, engineering, infrastructure, etc? Then put it in place. “Don’t put people on the ground for that sake of putting people on the ground.”

•Hire the right people

“If you get the input right, the output is far easier to manage.” Your organization should get to the point where people must be at the heart of everything they do, and are crucial to their success.

•Give everybody equity

Shared stewardship leads to collective

responsibility and increased passion. If you empower your employees to believe in the company like it’s their own, it's hard to fail.

•Think globally

Ensure your product is world-class and can compete with any competition, anywhere. But don’t just go global for the sake of it. Naveen explains that it was an

obvious choice to enter the US market, however it already had 16 competitors with more funding. So instead InMobi looked to South East Asia and Africa – competition was lower, but demand was higher. Find an opportunity and go for it!

•Decentralise

While it’s necessary to centralise your business structure in the beginning so that you can run a tight ship, it’s not scalable if you want to be global. To be successful in different markets your company needs to work on local time, understand local geography and culture, and attract the best local talent.