The Startup Checklist for Businesses

If you’ve found your way to this blog post, then the chances are you’ve had an awesome idea for a new business and are wondering what steps to take next. Great! You’re pumped enough about your idea to start bringing it to life and growing it as a business. So now what?

The jump between having a business-related light bulb moment and making it a reality is no mean feat. Whether you’re feeling a bit like a headless chicken not knowing where to turn, or you’re feeling pretty organised but looking for a sense check, welcome!

Below are six important steps to add to your startup business checklist.

1. Validate your idea

One of the hardest truths to hear as an aspiring business owner is that just because you think an idea is great, it doesn’t necessarily mean other people will, or that there’s demand for what you’re cooking up. That’s why the very first thing you need to do, before anything else, is to research and validate your idea.

Research the industry you’ll be in

Dig into the industry and market you’d be entering to establish how stable it is. Is it a growing marketplace with ongoing advancements? Or has the market or demand in this area plateaued or even started to shrink?

Take a closer look at your potential customers

We don’t mean you should get into their personal space (unless, you know, you’re an optician or therapist or something). No matter how great your idea is, your business will struggle without customers. Make sure you’ve got a clear idea of who your target customers are and how you’re going to reach out and convince them they can’t live another day without your product or service.

You could even conduct surveys or hold focus groups to ask people from your target audience for feedback on your entrepreneurial idea.

See what your would-be competitors are doing

Looking at what your prospective competitors are doing, as well as what they’re not doing, will give you a solid idea of how you could approach your business. It sounds horribly corporate and “blue sky thinking”, but this is the bit where you find your niche and figure out how to frame your USP.

After doing these things, hopefully you’ll find there’s a huge gap in the market that your product or service is about to plug. If not, at least you won’t have wasted too much time and money, and you can readjust your next steps.

2. Give your business a name and a brand identity

Naming and branding your business with a logo and colour scheme is an exciting part of launching your startup, but it’s not all fun and games. Your business name needs to be unique and available to avoid any legal problems, and your brand identity should be strategic enough to set you apart in your market and engage the right customers.

At this point, some people choose to work with a branding expert. If this is something you’ve got space for in your budget, it could be something you consider.

3. Choose a legal structure for your business

Before you can make your business an official legal entity, you’ll need to select which business structure you want to be registered under. This essentially dictates how your business will be categorised by HMRC and has an impact on how you report your earnings and pay taxes.

The most common options are:

4. Write a business plan

A business plan isn’t completely necessary for getting your business off the ground, but it’s a very useful step. This is especially true if you know you’re planning to pitch for investment, loans, or business partners – all of whom will expect to see the current status of your business, and what you have planned for the future.

Overall, your business plan should outline your idea, explain why it’s a viable venture, and map out how you plan to achieve your objectives. This tends to include things like:

It’s a useful document to refer to from time-to-time, helping you make decisions which will lead to the goals you’re trying to reach (or give you a better idea of what plans you need to reconsider).

5. Hire an accountant

While hiring an accountant isn’t a legal requirement, we recommend it, especially if you’re launching a startup or are new to business ownership. Amongst many other things, including bringing you peace of mind and freeing up your time, an accountant will:

An accountant can also help you write and refine your business plan if this is something you’d like to get expert eyes on. This will be particularly beneficial if you want to apply for funding, loans, grants or investment, and need your business plan to be tip top.

6. Choose accounting software

Oh yes hi, how are you? We’re going to act all casual because we make accounting software. Anyway, rather like hiring an accountant, bookkeeping and accounting software isn’t a legal obligation but it will help. Software is quite literally designed to make your life easier as a business owner and to ensure your financial information stays accurate, up-to-date, and organised.

You can do things like record expenses, upload receipts so you remember to claim your expenses, manage invoices so you get paid, and send late payment reminders on the go. All good stuff.

Learn more about using Pandle to make business accounting easier. Create an account today and decide what to do with all the extra time you get back.