Startups are usually so focused on selling more of their branded product or service to their own customer base (organic growth) that they don’t consider the more indirect methods (non-organic growth) of increasing revenue and market share. Non-organic growth would include OEM relationships, finding strategic partners, “coopetition,” as well as acquisitions. This initial focus is usually driven by limited financial and people resources, as well as the bandwidth of the executive team
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Think big. Thing new. Think again. In other words, make sure your solution will scale up. Professional investors will tell you they look for business plans that can credibly project revenues of at least $20M within five years, or they won’t justify an investment.
Use the Internet to outsource staff.
Hiring virtual assistants for each specific project can be a lot more efficient and cheaper than hiring and managing employees. Start with sites like Elance.com and Guru.com for specialized tasks you can’t do yourself. Pay others to handle small stuff, and keep your time available for bigger priorities.
Organic Growth Startups Won’t Scale Competitively
Government support and incentives
Numerous government agencies support investors. Through the Board of Investment, the government offers a range of tax incentives, support services and import duty exemptions or reductions to an extensive list of promoted activities. Companies receiving investment promotion privileges from the Board of Investment are not subject to foreign equity restrictions in the manufacturing sector, and there are no local content requirements nor export requirements, as Thailand’s investment regime is in total compliance with WTO regulations.
The Million Dollar Idea, and how to make it work
Identify and act on leading measures first. Some actions have more impact than others when reaching for a goal. Hold the lag measures for later (results available after the fact), and focus on lead measures first (predictive of achieving a goal). For example, more customer leads is predictive of more sales revenue later.
