Tag Archives: startup

Being a Social Entrepreneur

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social impactWith the rising problems in the region, such as youth unemployment, the lack of social care services, and many others, we have been seeing an increase of civic responsible people wanting to remedy these issues with their communities. Social entrepreneurs are people who are not willing to watch the world around them deteriorate further and suffer. They see a problem and they want to fix it using business acumen to tackle the issues.

Not everyone can be a social entrepreneur. It’s tough and challenging and some difficult ‘Sophie’s Choice’ decisions have to be made along the way to make the business sustainable while achieving its mission. There are several things to consider before making the commitment to become a social entrepreneur.

What is the problem you want to solve?
You need to clearly articulate a problem and the solution to make it clear how your organization is part of the solution. Clearly state what the social challenge you want to solve is while developing your business plan, how you are planning to raise capital for it, and how you plan to implement your strategy. By knowing what is at the core of what you are trying to achieve, you could convince people to trust you and fund you, to leave better paying jobs to join your team, plus simplify engaging the public. By mastering this, you would manage to build the scale and sustainability of your idea for maximum social impact over time.

Is anyone else tackling the same problem?
Do your research. Chances are that someone else is already trying to tackle the same issue you have identified. Look into the approach that they are using. Consider if adding another group would help the cause or have the different groups compete over the same limited resources. Consider if your solution can support the others, rather than compete with them. If you still feel like your idea is better than the others, benefit from learning from their experiences in the field.

Consider your business model.
Many startups that focus on social impact tend to face unique challenges that other startups would not. Social enterprises have to continuously focus on profit and purpose. There are times when they are faced with decisions that pit profit against purpose. You need to consider the hard decisions you will have to make in such circumstances, for instance, would you compromise the social impact to make budget or tackle it so that you find other necessary cutbacks that will not harm your purpose? Generally, investors are focused on profits and growth and the business model needs to demonstrate that while remaining true to the mission. When looking for investors, find those who believe in the social mission and are passionate about it, so that when the time comes to make hard decisions, everyone on the team has the same values set.

Hire an entrepreneurial and flexible team.
You are a startup with limited resources. Having a team who think entrepreneurially, are capable of wearing different hats, and work flexible hours will pay off. Having a passionate team infused with an entrepreneurial spirit will jump shoot your startup leaps forward.

Be able to measure your social impact.
As a social enterprise you have to provide investors with financial projections and let them know how the business model contributes to solving an issue. Additionally, social enterprises have to constantly articulate to funders, supporters and the public the social impact of their solution. By articulating the number of lives impacted and accomplishments made through measurable and quantified indicators, you would help the enterprise to retain and grow its investment pool leading to maximizing the social impact.

Your readiness.
Starting a social enterprise is a demanding challenge that will affect your current life. You will have to invest long hours, battle challenges, constantly look for funding, and be persistent and patient until the impact is realized.

This list was not created to discourage anyone from being a social entrepreneur. If you have a great idea for solving a pressing issue, then society does need you. However, consider all of the above before you take that leap forward so that you do it right.

 

Lebanon’s Startup Ecosystem Combats Unemployment

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With a youth unemployment rate at around 35 percent, Lebanon presents its youth with the blatant choice to either emigrate and join a brain drain, or to stay and struggle to find a job. Many of them choose to migrate for job opportunities abroad. The majority of those who stay have a secondary education or less, around 40 percent have no education.

The country has little to offer to its over-supply of educated Lebanese. To absorb the growing number of job seekers, Lebanon needs to create 23,000 jobs per year over the next decade. For several years, the government programs designed to create new jobs have resulted in creating a couple of thousand jobs annually, most of which do not lead to additional hires, and are not innovative.

Many of the educated and eager labor force have decided to stay in their homeland and start something of their own, despite all the impediments. Such young firms and startups are the job creation engines. With the support of the BDL Circular 331, which gives banks incentives to invest in knowledge economy companies, we have observed a rise in the Lebanese startup ecosystem generating additional jobs. The development of the startup ecosystem would additionally increase job wages as they are all exposed to worldwide demand.

Usually, startups get started with just a handful of people, and once the seed money starts to flow in, they scale their business and start employing more people and aim to grow further. Realistically, Lebanon’s problems are too big for one relatively new and small sector to solve on its own, however, it can lead the way.

Companies that are innovative, disruptive, and scalable can support economic recovery and are the means to creating jobs, and sometimes an entire industry. Simply creating individual jobs without any future outlook is ineffective. One glance at similar examples around the world makes it clear that entrepreneurs lead the growth and not government programs.

One might think that only large companies such as Facebook create jobs, whereas all the small to medium size startups contribute to the overall job creation. Moreover, when individuals leave their jobs and found a company, they are not only creating a job for themselves but every person they hire.

Lebanese youth represent the future of Lebanon, and the most effective actions the government, education institutions, and society can take to combat youth unemployment is to create conditions as well as the appropriate culture that support individual entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs have the drive and vision to bring a company into existence, with civil society’s support, their collective creative output could impact the future of our youth.

Startup Branding 101

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Entrepreneurs invest a lot of time, energy and money into launching their startup. The hours are fueled with excitement and anxiety. There’s a sense of urgency to launch quickly and generate revenue before running out of seed capital. The marketplace is filled with an abundance of competition; hence setting a startup apart from the rest is crucial to its survival and success. This is where branding steps in; once the strategy and goals of the startup are well defined, companies start branding.

Branding is what distinguishes companies apart through a process of creating a unique name, logo, and the experience delivered to customers to attract them and retain their loyalty. The essence of branding is not merely a logo, slogan and a color palette; it is the psychology that is behind a business, the connection between the company and the customer, and understanding your customer and their love for your product.

Many entrepreneurs tend to fail to understand the essence and create a poor identity for their brand. It is important for them to understand that all aspects of branding are critical to their business. They sometimes tend to spend so much time creating and perfecting their startup and don’t allocate the sufficient time and resources to this important step. Some spend a vast amount of time on their beloved idea, which they fall in love with, and end up creating a brand identity based on their thoughts, emotions and visions, completely neglecting to get feedback from customers. They simply assume that customers will love the startup as they have packaged it ignoring their customers’ brand experience.

The branding process should be considered similarly to the product development process; consider customer experience in the design process, gather feedback, adapt, iterate, and repeat until the brand created will resonate with the target. Through receiving customer feedback, resources would be utilized to only improve what customers care about rather than being wasted on items the customer doesn’t care about. Focusing on brand identity while neglecting brand experience is rather pointless when the customer won’t care about the product being promoted.

By a startup improving their brand experience and tweaking flawed products/services, they will gain a clan of passionate and loyal customers who will push the company to grow and thrive. Ignoring that fact could lead to a quick diminishment of any startup.

Guide: First VC Meeting

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Entrepreneurs often seek out venture capitalists (VCs) to seek early stage fundraising for their startup. The process of finding the right VC for their startup, getting through the door, and leaving an impression often proves challenging. Below is a set of guidelines to prepare every entrepreneur seeking funding:

Find the right VC: Do your research and focus on identifying firms who prefer to invest in your stage, industry and technology. Avoid presenting to investors who don’t understand your industry and technology.

Request a meeting: Send the VC an email requesting a meeting that includes your elevator pitch and your presentation attached. This gives the VC the chance to go through your decks and think of it and do the required research ahead of meeting you.

Who should attend: The CEO must attend the meeting and can be joined by a co-founder, if one exists, and one or 2 valuable team members provided that they are good with people and all have a role to play at the meeting.

Presentation: Make sure you have prepared a great deck and rehearsed your delivery as well as how to reply to potential questions before attending the meeting. Do not deliver an overly detailed and lengthy presentation. It is crucial to deliver the perfect pitch, with confidence, passion, and knowledge. Check our post on what your presentation should include and how to deliver the perfect pitch.

Experience: Highlight your relevant past experience and those of your key team members. This helps the VC to decide whether you and your team are capable of implementing the next steps.

Time management is critical. Spend a fraction of the time focused on your presentation and postpone all questions until afterwards. The remainder of the time would be used for discussions. If you are not prepared and focused, the VC will take over the pace of the meeting and lead the discussions.

Don’t expect to get funded: Don’t try to use the first meeting to get funded as soon as possible by throwing in all sorts of information during the initial meeting. What you should be looking for is a request for a next meeting. Usually, VCs would study your presentation and discuss it with their team and would then contact you for a follow-up meeting.

After the meeting: Email the VC after the meeting to thank them for the time and attention they gave you. Do not pester them by constantly calling afterwards. They would get back to you. You can politely call or email a week or two after your initial meeting to follow up.

The intent of a first meeting with a VC is for them to explore if the opportunity you offer is interesting enough for their firm to seriously consider as an investment opportunity. If you have left the meeting with the VC informed on what you do, how you do so, your customer base, your marketing strategy and financial overview, you would have succeeded. Remember, you might never get the chance to meet this VC again, be prepared!

For a better understanding on what VCs look for, read our post on How To Attract Investors.

The Benefits of Entering a Startup Competition

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Entrepreneurs can achieve a lot by competing in startup competitions, even if they don’t win. A primary motivator for startups to enter competitions is usually the chance to acquire additional funding. However, the benefits of entering a competition, let alone winning, are myriad.

Validation:
Usually, the companies/organizations that host startup competitions are the foremost leaders in their fields. When you are selected by them to pitch at their competition, this adds to your reputation with a third-party validation.

Exposure:
The companies/organizations that host startup competitions usually tend to have a strong PR arm. It’s great publicity. If you win you will get a great amount of exposure and recognition, and even if you don’t win, your name will still get out there in the media. These competitions are designed to bring investors and entrepreneurs under one roof so you would also get your name out there to top industry names.

Networking:
As mentioned, the people who attend these competitions are seasoned investors, mentors, and entrepreneurs. It is a great way to meet them and expand your professional network locally and globally; you would also meet and interact with peers who have faced your current challenges. These relationships may be able to help you grow and develop your startup, gain investors, meet a mentor, and keep you in the loop on what’s happening in your field.

Feedback:
When pitching your idea to an audience, you gain the opportunity to receive valuable feedback from prospective investors and clients on your startup, providing you with knowledge on how you can adapt or develop your idea further.

If you have a startup and these benefits have enticed you to participate in a competition, apply to compete at the BDL Accelerate 2015 Early Stage Startup Competition before November 9th. You can read all about the additional benefits of competing and all the BDL Accelerate 2015 stats.