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Stage 2 begins the transition of the
company into an entity with real employees, product
development and/or, as soon as possible thereafter,
some revenue flowing.
A different management
style and focus must be implemented. This first
shift in style is needed to support more employees,
customers and other complexities that start to build
with your product launch, or large product
development efforts. It is
not likely that you really have your "secret sauce"
down yet, as you are still experimenting with what
the market and customers want, how much they will
pay for it and how to get to the customer for an
efficient sales and marketing plan and process that
can generate a profit.
Time can become the enemy at this stage as a real
burn rate is established, which might grow.
Typically the senior executives are wearing many
hats at this stage. There is much leverage in a
quality, experienced management team to shorten this
part of the corporate life cycle and to limit the
burn of capital by figuring out everything you can
ASAP.
The key to success is being adaptable to the
market and quickly identifying what customers will
pay for that you can deliver as quickly as possible.
There is trial and error happening daily and yet
keeping up the front to employees that you know what
you are doing can be a challenge. The heat seeking
missile is a good analogy for the iterative process
that will hone in on the market niche, target
customers and value proposition that will
support the business with real revenue quickly. |
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