3 steps to fuel your startup growth
Boosting your startup’s growth is no longer just about getting a venture capitalist to say yes to funding. That’s only a result of deploying resourcing strategies. In order to success, there are other steps and factors one needs to consider.
Upon reviewing 150 leading empirical papers about how founders secured various forms of capital, Bala Vissa, INSEAD Professor of Entrepreneurship, wrote a paper along with co-authors David Clough and Tommy Pan Fang, titled “Turning Lead into Gold: How Do Entrepreneurs Mobilize Resources to Exploit Opportunities”
He discusses the three steps to “mobilise business resources”:
Search for resources. Not just funds from VCs or bank loans. Find human capital in form of co-founders and employees. They come with their own set of social ties, connecting more bridges that you alone.
Persuade those with relevant resources to come onboard. Just like find a VC is not enough, you need to convince them by showing them value of your startup, you need to attract potential co-founders and employees to come on board too. It is a two-way street and treating initial employees as just employees will not lead to any good.
Deploy the acquired resources. When you receive funding, don’t just sit on the cash. That raises doubts about fraudulent intentions. Entrepreneurs may not always know how to use the resources, which is why it is good to have a plan in place. Show that you are spending the funds raised into accelerating your startups success, and the investors will be more trusting and warm to seeing you grow.
Read more about these three steps here.
