D Communication Guide Nov. 2013 | Page 4

Starting a company presents us with a lot of challenges. Ideas, financing, niche, strategy, marketing communication, legal registration, etc. A lot of question marks and not enough answers. Is there someone who can help us make decisions about company type, necessary registrations and patents, legal obligations? How do we define, reach and win over our target group? Let’s find out! Everything starts with an idea. What I want to do and why I want to do it. Defining your business is a serious task which many underestimate. Stating that you would really like to open a flower shop for example may seem as a definition of a business idea but it lacks weight. What is meant by that is that your business idea should be grounded in thorough research. Starting a business without researching who you are going to be competing with or who you would be able to sell to can mean your failure even before you start. Most startups pop up as a result of an idea reflecting a gap in the market. There is demand but no supply. If research has been thorough, and there for sure are no other companies offering a service or product demanded by consumers, such startup can easily become a success if no strategic mistakes are made. A word of warning though: the market is indeed becoming global with companies delivering all around the world free of charge, with consultants travelling around the globe and with flexible workforces allowing for maximal efficiency. As a result of that we observe that companies are able to achieve enormous savings of scale and workforce optimization. For startups that basically means that they will possibly have competition, no matter where in the world they are and no matter whether there are local providers 4 of the service or product in mind.