By: When we start any business. Biggest priority is to ensure this has right mix for profitable growth. This can happen when target customer feels some value proposition for startup in your offerings. Looks simple mathematics?
Customer Value Proposition for startup ->ƒ (Business Offering) ≥ Customer Perceived Total Cost for the Business Offering
Here comes the dilemma in front of entrepreneurs, where to focus on as in the beginning of the business most important thing is entrepreneur is passionate about solving problem and idea start dawning and one succeed to overcome other idea. And here paradigm shift in the mindset of entrepreneur starts happening. Now focus shift from solution to the customer to ‘the chosen’ solution! Entrepreneur starts defending how best is this ‘chosen’ solution over other. This is conviction, passion, motivation, inner drive and fuel to succeed, drive to do impossible, even achieve something never achieved earlier.
However, it has other side of the coin. Extrovert orientation of business proposition becomes introvert with entrepreneur’s shifting priority to technology for the sake of technology, resource gathering, creating quick win innovation without thinking about its profitable scalability and proving to the universe how good customer value proposition for startup can be delivered through the ‘original chosen’ solution! In short ‘idea’ of entrepreneur starts shifting the priority away from the original purpose. This is the pit fall of the same good qualities and must be avoided.
Looks so obvious to be true that this simple fact gets ignored. Looking at the dismal percentages of success among the start-up climate, this is one of the temperamental reason of entrepreneur’s dilemma.
As good qualities of entrepreneur due to which this start-up exists are turning against it. Frankenstein !! But bringing more objectivity, more measurements and analytics can play crucial role to act as solid check against good qualities of entrepreneur as business driver turning otherwise. So irrespective of the size and nature of the business one has to have Business Intelligence and Analytics plan for one’s business.
Well! BI and Analytics is not always a high cost Big data, Machine learning, AI, languages like R, Python, licensed software always. In good old days, businessman use to keep diaries (called ‘Chopadi’ in India) they were also BI tools in principle. Time, Resources and Purpose has to define BI strategy which is reasonably long term and religiously followed not because its fashionable to say we believe in data driven decision making.
Decide your time horizon, available resources and organization’s adoption rate and start your BI plan from day1 as simple as with excel file itself and take it to data ware housing, Big data, Machine learning, AI etc as your business demands and resources accept. But it is must for all start-ups to have their proper BI plan in place else there could be lot of opportunity loss. Follow Simple principle: ‘If something can not be measured, it is not worth an effort for profitable growth’
Below is the 2X2 matrix depicting what happens when BI & Analytics strategy is not in the place for start-ups.
Try to be in the right quadrant from this perspective at least.
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Business Growth Expectation |
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Did not meet the expectation |
Exceed Expectation |
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BI Stagey & Implementation |
Execution in place |
Reach your Island soon and will not allow to get lost in rough sea
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Getting to the real escape velocity |
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Not planned |
Accelerating towards no return black hole |
Sailing with broken compass may not reach the desired destination soon! |
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