From a home improvement project to writing a thesis paper, it’s hard to get started on any project when you don’t have a plan for how to do it.
Launching a tech startup is no different.
Imagine this scenario – you’re an early-stage startup entrepreneur. You have a great business concept and the entrepreneurial drive needed to start a tech business.
As a founder, you know that it is imperative to have a business roadmap to help you get from idea to MVP launch and beyond.
You may have even tested a few trial versions of software designed to help you map out product features and enhancements. Some of the tools you tested may have seemed great, but only IF you knew how to use them and had a point person assigned to manage them.
That isn’t realistic much of the time for startup entrepreneurs. Plus, many of these types of tools are not generally designed to help you with a total business roadmap.
Creating your entrepreneurial roadmap is critical to your success.
It will guide you through each step of getting your tech start-up business established and direct your attention to the most timely work needed to be done.
A well-designed roadmap, like the one offered by the Precursa platform, will include things like how to further your idea, what actionable steps to take to align each aspect of your business in a unified plan, how to secure the appropriate level of funding, and how to launch into the market when you’re ready.
A well crafted entrepreneurial roadmap can guide you throughout the startup process, from idea to MVP launch and beyond. To work though, it has to be a tool that you continually use and adjust as your business grows.
When your roadmap is outlined, you can more easily capture and prioritize your brilliant ideas – now and on an ongoing basis.
Once you’ve created the roadmap, you should be willing to change it…within reason.
The truth is that for most startups, success is rarely linear. Since “there’s no straight line from point A to point B”, change is necessary and good.
That may sound easy but change is often a tough concept when you’re in midst of the work of creating a successful tech startup.
Here are three ways that saying “yes” to change within your entrepreneurial roadmap can be good for your business:
1. Include it all.
Don’t leave any of your ideas off the table, but know that it takes time to plan for where they all fit in your roadmap. Google, and all of its offerings, wasn’t built in a day, and your company is no different. All of your ideas do not need to, nor should they, go into the first version of your product. However, they should go on your roadmap even if you periodically change where they fit. Further, new ideas will always find a home on an evergreen roadmap, never getting lost or forgotten.
2. Leave room for flexibility.
Fitting in a new or unexpected twist to your business roadmap can mean shifting priorities. It doesn’t mean you have to give up on strategic milestones but if you don’t allow your business roadmap some wiggle room you may miss out on complementary opportunities that the competition will eventually snag instead! “The mantra is pivot, pivot, pivot until a winning formula emerges…Having a roadmap helps.”
3. Shift responsibility.
Holding yourself accountable for the roadmap requires that management of it is assigned to a stakeholder in your company. Even with sophisticated AI and ML driving your roadmap, updating, reviewing metrics, the inclusion of new ideas, and communicating about each step of the roadmap must be the responsibilities of a human being. This is almost always the founder for early start-ups but it can change as the company grows. When the founder is pulled in multiple directions it may make sense to reassign the responsibilities to another leader in the company. No matter who looks after your roadmap, the key to success is to consult and maintain your roadmap as your business is accelerating.
In short, the successful creation and management of your entrepreneurial roadmap include a combination of three important concepts which all must change throughout the process.
- Be sure to include all of your ideas in the roadmap even if they are not put into action right away.
- Embrace fluidity while managing the roadmap so that you’re willing and able to make changes at the right times.
- And, lastly, ensure accountability is clearly appointed from day one of the process so your business roadmap never takes a back seat to other initiatives.
Say “yes” to creating a solid business roadmap. Then say “yes” to changing because “when you are open to change, you are open to saying YES to more.”
To learn more about how Precursa can guide your start-up to creating and utilizing a pragmatic business roadmap, apply for an invite today.
