3 TYPES OF COMPANY IN THE MARKET BEFORE THE FIRST CAPITAL DEPOSIT.
1. The company already has a Proven Model – A business model with a solid and successful direction
Characteristics:
a) Enough data to prove its brand and positioning
– Satisfying customer needs enough but not Any need is solved.
We meet a lot of aspiring Founders and they send us pitches with at least in our eyes more than (>1) business models.
With each of these models, if they focus on us, they will also lose a lot of time, effort, enthusiasm and even … investors’ money in the future.
The vision is bigger than the difficulty sense of the KD model, which means that their feet are not yet attached to the ground.
Therefore, they need to execute enough until the size is large enough to justify their orientation or judgment about the model.
b) Any customer’s needs are met, but:
– Lack of operational perspective, operating principle.
– Haven’t figured out how many resources I’m using (People, money).
– Is it worth doing, and if so, how much should you bid for the value you provide?
– Why didn’t the market do it, was it because the market was too small to be worth doing or it was too difficult, other competitors did it without making a profit, so they stopped… or not?
Don’t think they don’t do it, we’re doing it so we have an advantage.
Of course, there are companies that enter the industry just for a certain niche need, from which they convince customers and expand the product portfolio making customers more dependent on them over time and experience.
But prove to investors and CFOs that it’s your initiative in the long-term strategy, not the spontaneity and spontaneity.
Conclusion:
These companies have a good understanding of both customers, the principles of putting them into practice, and testing them long enough to get enough data (1 – 3 years) based on sufficient financial statements. (recognized) to forecast, it can be said that … This enterprise has finished its start-up phase and is about to transform itself into the self-operated stage, or become an icon/guru in the market without any problems I participate.
2. The company has a good orientation, but lacks data and time
These companies usually handle PGSB well.
PGSB is to understand:
– Pains: Customer pain
– Gains: Valued customers, what do we get from our products/services.
– Solutions: The key solution is different from other units in the market or the current state of the industry; for example market status Unsustainable development and chasing too much on sales … bad, brand building is discredited in the eyes of Users/End Customers or partners.
– Benefits: Other experiential, physical, and emotional benefits are overwhelming, clear, and quantifiable.
These companies are well aware of the saying: “If the model is proven, $5 million is still a small investment; if the model is not proven, $50,000 is a lot.”
They started their business very lean, manually and optimized almost all possible costs.
a) They don’t need nice offices.
b) They do not follow digital transformation or Digital Transformation in a movement.
c) They don’t like fancy things like newspapers.
d) They do not participate in honoring awards, contests (Which takes a lot of time but adds a lot of risk)
e) They are action and customer focused, they make the dictionary “Know the customer” of My company is thick and informative enough to convince my “Wisdom” to veteran professional investors who are more informed than they are.
f) They understand that if they are not a true Master in their field, they will be nobody (NoOne, Nothing) in a market that is full of challenges in knowledge and understanding, requiring them to have a focus If you are focused and determined enough for your child and worry enough, then you will be able to prove to others your “Wisdom”.
Only when they are really more informed than investors will they be able to reason and convince these hard-working minds in the project pitching meeting.
3. Companies are confused in orientation due to lack of perspective on business models
– These companies struggle a lot in the market after many years when the growth rate is not commensurate with the effort put in.
– Companies focus on too difficult needs, small market size, but the more effort they make, the higher their opportunity cost will be, especially the profit they make is less than 15-20%/year for 1 year. investment round; That is, even if the company is profitable, it is unlikely that they will receive the investment.
– These companies, if they receive money from investors, are very risky because they do not meet investment expectations for “Financial benefits”, but for other reasons.
When investors invest in you not for financial gain, you will have to pay back something else.. in the future, promise, affection, and most importantly the opportunity cost of your youth. surname; not only to them but also to their followers or employees.
If you are in this stage, my advice is to return to the very classic question:
a) Why did you enter this industry and not another?
Founders lack perspective on the industry value chain, so they make the mistake of joining an industry they like, not an industry where the players are not good enough, or the current state of the industry has not been resolved well enough; and of course, at this moment, these guys are good players with better abilities and resources… join in.
b) Founders have not been able to understand the customer pain big enough, the current state of the industry and what capacity do they have to respond and solve those pain?
So basically, Founders don’t get involved and care about other Fancy things like digital transformation or fundraising, really focus on market research and understand customers deeply to feel their pain.
And really answer honestly and wonder that the value you make and solve is convincing enough in the eyes of customers …. or not?
In particular, how much I want to market, how much I want to be taught by “Customers & Markets” so that I can understand them better, will also determine a lot of what they are dealing with a worthy need. to solve it?
Founders, please cherish our time, because you and your companions are also ‘investors’ for ourselves, if we can’t do it, we will have to pay it back. a lot of things, the important thing is …
… train the acumen to gather information, critique information and transform the model immediately if not meet and join the group with a sufficient business model attractive and can be … fundable (Fundable).
I wish you all to be wise and do not waste your youth on business models that are not different and creative enough in the market.
Starting a business is a difficult journey, and the market needs leaders and wolves that are confident and lead the market.
WOLF (founders)…
Now had a friendly chat with an investment guru who talked about wolves… and dogs… domestic dogs.
A domestic dog, no matter how many conditions it has, without AQ (Intelligence Index), can’t be a wolf… a true wolf.
The problem is that even a real wolf is still… just very… wild; because there is no one to help these wolves.
So he told me that someone has to help those wolves… instinctive and wild to transform into a real wolf.
But the market has a lot of pains too, if these wolves are under pressure and pain in terms of finance and companionship, they can cause great consequences for society, employees and those around.
So hearing him say that, I’m glad I found someone who understands what I’m doing.
Some short ideas I really like and make quick notes for founders are as follows in the taste of choosing wolves from professional investment gurus (They are really rich Founders and become professional investors, you guys!).
– Me: What if we do it wrong?
– Do wrong for purpose or wrong for objective reason? It is important to aim for transparency, fairness, clarity and everything to be understood and supported.
– Me: Why do you expect anything from my team, are we limiting anything?
– Always aim for the goal and choose a win-win partner, carefully and for each other’s development.
– Me: Listen to my 3 principles of team selection, do you have anything else to share?
– If you want to go outside and also do great things, you must really do well inside (internally)
Businesses that develop according to the scheme have a stable growth rate and cycle but … rich and safe More than other businesses are shocked because according to our experience, internal strength is not enough, but wearing a shirt that is too wide to keep the throne, it is easy to fall.
– Me: What is the most important prerequisite in a business environment where there are many things that require ingenuity and delicacy, especially in the Vietnamese business environment.
– Transparency is a prerequisite in business, cooperation and investment (but there is a roadmap). Towards transparency is the most important thing.
If you can’t be transparent then (a) you don’t trust each other or (b) you don’t know each other.
– Me: What do you think about the unsecured loan market?
We are going in the right direction and creating a lot of value for the society, just focus on doing good Holdings, making loans for a full person, a hungry person is not… interesting with your investment point of view.
When a founder – a wolf really becomes good, they bring the goodness of other members of society: their managers, employees, partners, customers all benefit.
– Me: What is your opinion about the appearance of Founders for the media?
– Must focus on profitable financial statements, not make noise in the media, or focus on fancy things (beautiful offices, high benefits …)
But he does not deny that timely communication is essential, including crisis management.
– Me: What is your opinion on the focus of founders?
– They only need to be good at 1-2 things. They are not in our time (doing a lot and doing a lot), they need to be really good at 1-2 things, have a good compensation structure and then hunt people back and these keys are dedicated and enthusiastic, the results will be very different.
Competition and engagement has never been a matter of money.
If you only pay high wages to bring in employees, then:
a) The company is not big enough because it has never paid high salaries
b) If only high salaries and good benefits are paid to bring people back but not other factors such as vision, mission or core culture; this company really… has a problem; which means that there is no other value other than material things … besides the body.
There are business philosophies, judgment styles and investment choices that are very similar to yours, so I’m excited to write this, as a confirmation of my belief in what the Equitix Investing team is doing.
Come on, turn the temporary… wild wolves into real… leaders.
In fact, on this journey, I am also the one who learned… a lot from them.
Leaders sometimes have to fight and weigh everything because …
Trying to prove that she has to … ‘consensus’ with the staff.
But forget that the opportunity cost of doing this is much higher than being a true leader for periods 1-10.
When leaders help companies run themselves, they don’t stop working, but they do. There will be time to focus on only 4 things:
1. Really become a spiritual leader, not just a manager with the nature of killing and doing the RIGHT work.
When a leader acts as both a leader and a professional manager, it becomes difficult for a leader to be gentle to maintain an image of modesty or be strong to display majesty to pull the train forward. .
2. Build corporate culture with dedication, thoroughness and time to be careful in choosing who, hiring and how to behave if your employees do not follow the company’s core values.
Leaders realize that culture is a competitive advantage, but this advantage is not easily built in a short time without really getting it right and requires serious efforts.
3. Building relationships at the right level to have enough information about the external situation, to adjust the strategy to suit: Social, political, economic, technological and information trends from the front line. head (go to action) to argue against the vocational education and training levels or the head of the department.
4. Develop and finalize targets, goals, vision and strategies in the fourth quarter of each year based on data and strategic indicators (16 – 20 indicators) to come up with accurate, proactive and effective strategies. help all levels understand the strategy and implement, adjust, and prevent risks from happening or avoid things that they are not strong enough to burn money but not bring effective results correctly and maximum.
When the leader of a large-scale startup is part-time, self-aware, self-regulating, has instant access to information, and if there is a wrong decision, the leader corrects himself and the loss is less severe.
When the company is large and decentralized, a wrong decision of the leader can affect a lot:
– Prestige, image, gestures and behavior of the leader.
– Violation of core values of the organization
– Loss of money
– Loss of people
– And other unseen risks.
Therefore, from the 0 – 1 stage to the 1 – 10 stage, it requires a lot of change in approach thinking and old working habits, as well as the old competency dictionary into a competency dictionary. in the new period, which requires a lot of readiness of both the leadership, middle managers and employees.
Self-operating does not mean doing nothing, self-operating means that the organization realizes the responsibility, role and importance of liberating leaders so that their leaders do the right roles and tasks, right the ability to say no to what not to do in order to return them to their rightful place.
That is – Be a leader.
At the stage when you apply for a job and say … stop, boss, don’t do this, take care of your boss’s work.
Then perhaps the organization has had to go through a lot of stages of conflict, struggle and training and development, right?