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How to start a business: 7 tips for a newbie entrepreneur from an experienced

investor Gabriel Kokuashvili
There is more than one step from an idea "on paper" to a full-fledged successful business. I have
traveled this path myself and discovered many pitfalls. And, as the founder of Finbert Investment
Company, I have been going through it all over again for more than 15 years with startups from the
United States, Israel, and recently Ukraine.

We help businesses at all stages of development with private equity and venture capital investments,
lending, and management participation. Among our clients are many newly minted entrepreneurs at
the stage of a promising idea or MVP (minimum viable product).

That's why I know from my own experience what mistakes young businessmen make the most. Here
are 7 tips for aspiring entrepreneurs that will increase their chances of starting a strong business.

1. Understand the law

If you want to build a serious adult business with the prospect of scaling, it must be official. To do this,
you need to familiarize yourself with the laws of the country in which your company will operate.

Starting a sole proprietorship or registering a legal entity, choosing a taxation system, obtaining all
permits, extracts and certificates, and organizing documentation requires time, patience and
inspiration. When it comes to starting a business, entrepreneurs are so passionate about their ideas
that they forget about their friendship with the law or put it off until the last minute. Then the
"paperwork" takes away their energy, tires them out, and eats up some of their enthusiasm and
motivation, and they will need them again and again in the next stages.

I advise you to have the contacts of a familiar lawyer who will enlighten you on all the intricacies of
the case and be able to explain them on your fingers so that you can prepare your business for legal
activities quickly and painlessly.

2. Plan your activities

90% of a company's success depends on numbers, plans, and calculations, and only 10% on the
owner's intuition. We all like to go our own way, but it's better to start a business according to a
proven scheme.

 Analyze the market

You don't have to be a super-innovative startup and reinvent the wheel. A new, untapped niche with
no competitors is a minefield. Think about why this happened. Perhaps there are still no players there
because no one needs such a product or the market is too small for the future.

There is no need to do something that no one has done before. If this is your first business, set
yourself the task of creating a product that will outperform your competitors in something specific.
This will be your unique selling proposition.

 Create a business plan

A business plan will help you not only assess the project's potential for yourself. It is usually the first
document that people pay attention to when you want to take out a loan from a bank, receive
government grants and subsidies, and attract investors.

By the way, when drawing up a business plan, I advise you to keep in mind the following thought: we
overestimate what we can do in a year and underestimate what we can achieve in ten.

 Calculate the financial model

Many businesses fail precisely because of financial losses, for which the owners have to pay for years.
A financial model puts budgets in order. It takes into account income, expenses, investments, prices,
etc.

It is important to be flexible and create different development scenarios: optimistic, basic, and
pessimistic.

 Define business processes

Each business process has a specific goal that is subordinated to the overall goal of the company; an
employee who is responsible for it; resources; a quality control and error correction system; and its
own KPIs. It is processes that determine how a company operates: looking for employees, solving
customer problems, manufacturing products, and scaling up.

Young entrepreneurs especially need clearly defined business processes: this will help them avoid
chaos and start working efficiently right away.

3. Do what makes money

Often, start-up businessmen try to grab hold of everything at once and build a "beautiful" business
from day one - with a pompous mission, vision, strategy, and creative identity. Moreover, companies
with well-thought-out communication are the most successful today.

I would not advise focusing on abstract things at the beginning. You should remember that the
primary task of a business is to make money by solving a consumer's problem. Coming up with the
perfect brand name, finding the right logo, setting up social media, and reading a few more popular
business books as a team is useful, but it's not something that makes a business profitable quickly.

Start with an MVP. In the beginning, you need to figure out one thing: can your business sell and make
a profit at all? Is your product or service needed by the target audience?

4. Take some rest

When you start a business, you start working 24/7. Especially at the startup stage, when you have to
think and foresee everything for everyone, and the responsibility for success lies only with you.

This is one of the most obvious but common mistakes. Enthusiastic entrepreneurs overwork, fill their
minds with thoughts about business, and this is the first stage of burnout. Irregular working hours and
too much workload lead to exhaustion and loss of any desire to go further.

In hiring, income is determined by the amount of time spent in the office. In business, it's the number
of things you do during that time. Define the boundaries of your working day and try to work as
productively as possible during this period. For example, set clear tasks: instead of finding a supplier,
make a list of 10 potential suppliers and contact the most suitable candidate.

Spend the rest of your time on rest, hobbies, and resource recovery. I advise young entrepreneurs to
learn to abstract themselves and distance themselves from work: the business needs a fresh leader.

5. Delegate.
Another piece of advice is not to take on too much. Beginners want to keep everything in their hands,
but the main resource of an entrepreneur is time. You shouldn't take on every process yourself: learn
to delegate.

A good business is one that can continue to operate effectively when its owner changes. To do this,
you should build a solid infrastructure inside, invest in people, and gather talented professionals
around you. Remember that looking for people to fill vacancies is not always a winning strategy. If you
see a valuable specialist in the market who will be useful to the company, hire him or her.

6. Find a business mentor

A mentor is an experienced businessperson with an unbiased outsider's perspective. They will see
weaknesses and suggest opportunities for growth. In addition, it is networking: useful acquaintances
and new contacts.

Usually, mentors have also been helped in their time, and now they want to share their knowledge.
Some entrepreneurs engage in mentoring when their business is off season. You can find them
through your friends, on social media, on paid services, or through competitive accelerator programs.

7. Don't forget about learning

Making mistakes and gaining empirical experience in practice is good, but having a theoretical basis is
even better. Take courses and trainings to improve your skills and gradually understand all aspects of
doing business: marketing, finance, management, sales, communications, recruiting, etc.

Moreover, a lot of free educational materials for start-up entrepreneurs are publicly available: on
YouTube channels, educational platforms like Prometheus, or government initiatives like Diia.Business.