Startup - 5 Foundational Principles for Business Planning in 2021
5 Foundational Principles for Business Planning in 2021
What a year! We have survived the ups and downs, the challenges, and the opportunities! Without a doubt, 2020 belongs in the book of history. If you're a startup founder, you know this better than anyone.
As a founder, you carry the weight of making your startup a success. Do you see your startup expanding into new markets? Or going public? Perhaps you’re trying to elevate your social impact? No matter what your mission is, let’s take this opportunity to look back, reflect, learn, and plan for the future. In this article, we will discuss the five (5) timeless principles that will help founders prepare and plan for 2021.
1. Imagine the future and plan towards it
Albert Einstein once said, “In the midst of every crisis, lies great opportunity.”
As a leader, your job is to set the destination and to grab the wheel for your startup. Employees look to you for direction.
When you formulate a clear vision, everything else will naturally fall into place. Do you see your startup becoming the next market leader, like Uber? Is it heading towards an epic IPO, like DoorDash? Or perhaps it’s going to positively influence people’s daily lives, like Calm?
No matter what your vision is, your job is to paint a vivid picture of what you’re imagining and build a roadmap of the steps needed to get you there. The clearer the picture of your future is, the easier it will be to plan. To quote from Buddha: “What you think you become. What you feel you attract. What you imagine you create.”
2. Surround yourself with good people
Founders solve problems 24/7, either by solving problems on their own or by learning the lessons of others. When you surround yourself with good people, you learn and receive inspiration from them. It’s that easy!
Reach out to the people who inspire you and who are willing to lend a hand when needed. Many founders join startup communities to meet other like-minded founders, or to have regular meetings with mentors. As the great investor and business mind, Warren Buffett once said, “It’s better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you’ll drift in that direction.”
3. Absorb knowledge like a sponge
Startups are solving unique and new problems and, a lot of times, there are no perfect answers. To understand the continuously evolving business environment, founders need to assemble many bits and pieces. The ability to learn fast and adapt quickly plays a key role in helping startup founders to weather the storms they’ll inevitably face.
Looking back over the year 2020, ask yourself: What’s something you’ve learned in navigating through uncertainty? And what resources do you find yourself coming back to, continually?
As Winston Churchill, the wartime Prime Minister of England, said: “The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.” In other words, knowing history will help you, and your company, to foresee the future. Founders who can learn from the past -- and from a year as turbulent as 2020 -- and adapt quickly will enjoy competitive advantages in the startup world.
Learning from history, keeping abreast of industry trends, polishing your domain knowledge, brainstorming with people who inspire you, reading great books, and digging into stats and archives will set you apart from your competitors.
Absorb knowledge like a sponge, so you’ll have more tools to use when solving problems.
4. Stay laser focused on your goals
2020 has challenged many old norms, and businesses have had to adapt to many new norms. To name a few, we moved from traditional offices to work remotely; we used to store paper files and now our workspace lives online; and we switched from seeing each other in person for meetings to video calls. From the old to the new, we had to pause, think and figure out solutions. How do you proceed when there’s so much change?
With all these unprecedented changes, founders need to stay laser focused and not let these changes slow them down. As a founder, you’ll get pulled into tons of meetings and directions all the time. Disciplined founders know how to remain focused on what is important, such as growing their companies. When planning for your day, ask yourself, which task should you prioritize? What should you work on to achieve your goals today?
Learning to prioritize your to-do list, setting the most important tasks out ahead of the lesser ones, will help you to remain laser focused on achieving your goals.
5. Have a hobby outside of work
No matter how busy you are, having a hobby you enjoy allows you to destress, to recharge your brain, and even helps you to make you better at your job!
Peter Thiel enjoys hiking, Bill Gates is an avid bridge player, Warren Buffet has a love for ukulele, and Ray Dalio is a dedicated practitioner of medication.
Allow yourself to take a break from the busy life of a startup founder, and enjoy a few hours of your hobby each week. Studies show that having hobbies promotes better health and reduces the risk of depression. Remember, well-being and mental health are like gardens. They require upkeep, time, and no short supply of sunlight.
Takeaway:
A brand-new year is right around the corner. Surviving a year like 2020 can only serve to polish our abilities to learn and adapt.
Let’s envision the future we desire, make plans towards our goals, keep absorbing knowledge like sponges, and learn to “tune out the noise” to stay laser focused. So, surround yourselves with good people, and, along the way, enjoy the hobby that energizes you.
