DOs & DON’Ts: Launching and Developing Your Startup
How to transition from idea to business creation? Rémi Rivas, co-Director of the HEC Paris Startup Launchpad, shares the secrets that have enabled hundreds of students he has mentored to successfully carry out their entrepreneurial projects. From the importance of thinking globally to the value of user feedback and your team's insights, discover the DOs and DON’Ts for creating your startup.
Do & Don’ts is a new format from HEC Paris that features a series of articles based on interviews with experts, entrepreneurs, business leaders, and industry professionals. This practical and educational format offers concrete advice drawn from their personal and professional experiences. In this inaugural edition, discover the DOs and DON’Ts shared by Rémi Rivas, a specialist in design thinking and lean startup methodology, and Co-Director of the HEC Paris Startup Launchpad.
1. Think International from the Start
From the very beginning of your entrepreneurial journey, consider your business model from an international perspective. Anticipate that at some point in your growth trajectory, you will adapt the business model you have tested and validated in France for other countries around the world.
We have many inspiring examples of students who didn't stop at national successes and went on to establish offices in multiple countries. Therefore, do not limit yourself; do not be humble or modest in your ambitions. Aim directly for a model that could be replicated in different countries.
2. Test Your Solution in the Market
In entrepreneurship, the rules of the game are constantly evolving. Is it a good idea to launch a business on Amazon Marketplace? Ten years ago, it wasn't an option. Five years ago, it was a promising idea. Now, it has likely become a less favorable one again.
This highlights the importance of going into the field to test your solution with real users. Doing so will allow you to validate or invalidate your value proposition and adjust your offering accordingly.
The best startups emerge through close engagement with the market—during user interviews, mentor feedback sessions, interactions with customers, and in the pre-marketing testing phase.
Do not underestimate the value of this valuable user feedback to improve your product, project, or business model. It is through these trials and errors that you will gradually transition into a startup with genuine growth potential.
3. Surround Yourself with Experts
Engage with 'real' individuals who understand your market and are accustomed to dealing with the challenges you face. They will enable you to rethink your project, broaden your perspectives, and expand your network. This engagement is essential for gathering new insights, integrating new factors, and seizing opportunities.
For instance, joining an incubator allows you to tap into a powerful network of entrepreneurs, experts, and mentors. They will open the doors to their networks and create unique business opportunities to accelerate the development of your startup. Moreover, Incubateur HEC Paris leverages all the resources of the HEC Paris ecosystem to enable entrepreneurs to achieve in three months what they might have taken a year to accomplish on their own. Additionally, the various events that incubated startups can participate in serve as true catalysts for networking and growth for their projects.
Today, HEC students embarking on their entrepreneurial journey have an "unfair advantage": they can rely on a colossal ecosystem! This means they have access to individuals ready to assist them in advancing within their market, providing guidance, introducing them to the right people, accelerating their initial deals, and helping them secure funding.
The network is a significant factor for success.
4. Constantly Question and Be Resilient
Being an entrepreneur is like balancing on a tightrope. You must constantly have faith in your project, your vision, and what you want to create. Since you're just starting out, no one else will believe in you...
At the same time, you must be willing to doubt: you need to systematically recalibrate your understanding based on all available information, data, and market dynamics.
This is why your adaptability and resilience are essential!
You must maintain your drive and overcome discouragement, especially when decision-makers do not share your enthusiasm. This requires a willingness to continuously reassess your approach and stance, and to acknowledge that your initial plans may not be viable.
1. Isolating Yourself in Your Idea
Do not stubbornly believe that your idea alone will suffice to reshape the market and convince customers to adopt your solution. Understand that this will not happen.
Your idea must adapt to an existing market, not the other way around! Never remain confined to your initial concept; instead, strive to align your offering with the current market needs and the 'pain points' of customers.
Do not blindly cling to aspects of your project that aren’t working or that haven’t found their market fit. If an approach isn’t yielding results, be prepared to pivot towards something more promising.
At HEC Paris Startup Launchpad, we have never seen successful entrepreneurs presenting services or products that were strictly the application of the idea they had at the outset.
2. Undervaluing Your Team
Do not underestimate the compatibility and dynamics of your team. Entrepreneurship is primarily a human adventure.
Choosing your professional partners is a significant decision akin to marriage: it involves investing capital together, signing a contract, and can make it difficult to part ways, sometimes even leading to legal disputes.
Moreover, the stress and intensity of the startup environment can often put relationships to the test. Ensure that you build a strong and cohesive team.
3. Overvaluing Technology
Do not think that advanced technology guarantees the success of your startup, even if it far surpasses current offerings.
No, integrating ChatGPT into a management software will not make your startup the next unicorn. It is not the best technology or the best idea that wins; it is the project that is most aligned with what a particular segment of customers is actively seeking at the time you enter the market.
And that is a reality that you, as entrepreneurs, do not control. Therefore, it is up to you to adapt!
Discover without further ado why the HEC Paris Startup Launchpad is the program you need if you wish to embark on your entrepreneurial journey!
Associated program: HEC Paris Startup Launchpad