7 Reasons Why Now Is the Best Time to Launch Your Start-Up?

Is there something like the best time to start a start-up? Have you ever considered a crisis-hit time as now, as an ideal phase to give wings to your business ambitions? This may not sound exciting. But, if you believe that entrepreneurship is kindled by problems, there is no better year than 2020!

Do you want another principle to inspire you more: what begins in harsh conditions has the stamina to thrive in any condition! Isn’t it exciting enough? If you want more convincing facts, here they’re:

As per the Kauffman study, more than half of the companies on the 2009 Fortune 500 list, and just under half of the 2008 Inc. list, began during a recession or bear market.

Let’s see some great examples:

• General Electric (GE) was started in 1892 during the sovereign debt crisis of the 19th century and successfully withstood a series of smaller recessions during the 1880s.

• General Motors was born in 1908 just after the 1907 Bankers’ Panic. It went on to become the largest American automobile manufacturer, and one of the world’s largest.

• The Hewlett-Packard Company (HP) was founded in 1939 in a one-car garage, in the peak of the Great Depression. It went on to become the largest computer company in the world.

• Disney was launched in 1929 and became a massive success as it could put a big smile on the dull faces during the Great Depression.

• Bill Gates and Paul Allen launched Microsoft in 1975 wading through the strong negativity caused by the oil crisis as well as a stock market crash.

• Groupon, the highly successful deal marketplace, was founded in the middle of the 2008 recession.

• Salesforce (1999), Google (1998), and Facebook (2004), though not launched during a slump, were all started right before major economic meltdowns.

Now, it’s time to see why we say that the doom and gloom years of the global financial crisis is a good time to start a business.

Looking to Build a Scalable Business? Here’re 5 Brilliant Tips.

1. You can take advantage of the inherent agility of start-ups

Startups have an innate ability to stay agile and navigate through any crisis. Constant reinvention or agility is the secret formula for any organization to thrive through thick and thin. Start-ups have the great power to stay responsive to the changing needs of the clients/customers. If they are ready for it, they need not fear the powerful currents that come in the opposite direction.

Startups are talented in making dynamic decisions to suit the rapidly-changing aspirations of their target audience. This is the greatest quality that established organizations lack and helps start-ups to survive and succeed.

2. See the vital pain points and start strong

We know that every idea addresses pain points of certain target market. If you are really looking to make life easier for lots of people, open your eyes and look around. This is the best time to identify the pain points and create the best ‘painkiller’ ideas.

As many new habits and things are becoming the ‘new normal’, I am sure that there are many new needs to be addressed. Discover the gaps between what’s needed right now and what’s available, and come up with a great business idea. Build a team, and roll out soon. BeFounder is a great platform that will help you in kick-starting your startup plan.

3. It is the best time to experiment while others give-up

You can observe sudden changes everywhere. See it as the best opportunity to breathe life into your entrepreneurial dreams. If you are daring enough, the best players will join you. You can acquire the best talents from failing start-ups. Many qualified people are looking for job as layoffs are common and you can hire them effectively.

You can even take advantage of the down sliding overhead costs. Things will cost less as many businesses might be selling their assets. You can also make use of the improved negotiation situation.

4. Time to make good use of lack of innovation

The crisis is the time established businesses stop innovations. Businesses tend to play safe by waiting the crisis to pass. You can take this as an opportunity to push into the market with your creative business ideas. Make this time to create an awesome product with the best architecture as there is little competition. It will help you to be ahead of the pack once the economy comes back to normalcy. Moreover, if you can offer reasonably-priced options to the target customers, people will consider you as a cost-effective option to stick to during a recession and even after it.

Read 3 Proven Ways to Inspire Big Brands to Innovate Like Start-Ups.

5. The ideal time to make your early customers fall in love with your business

Having a ‘Eureka!’ moment is not enough to launch a successful business. You need to act rather than daydreaming about your idea. Effective and early business incubation helps you make slipups, keep your idea flexible, and even be ready to face failure. An economic slowdown is the best time to focus on a small set of early customers. You can peacefully iterate on their most crucial needs and deliver them the best solution. You can decide on the core features and perfect on them to give maximum value to make your early customers fall head over heels with your business.

6. Best time to lend lean habits to your startup

A lean start-up is nothing but an efficient startup that builds products that customers actually want (an MVP with just enough features), rather than wasting resources on something nobody wants. Starting your business in a dull economic time will help to naturally build in all the lean habits into your business. It will help you and everybody associated with your business to consider the startup as a constant work in progress, where the offering has to undergo continuous analysis, adaptation, and refinement.

Companies that are founded during times of crisis have an innate ability to focus more on preserving cash. They will also be very good at automating their operations thereby cutting costs further down.

How about launching your product with an offshore team? Read here to know about Lean Distributed Startup from the Distributed Team specialist Hugo Messer.

7. Great opportunity for digital products

There is no doubt that the COVID wave has opened up a new era of opportunities for the digital world and innovations. Work from home, online/virtual classes, etc. have become a new life pattern. An accelerated shift to everything digital will emerge in every industry including retail, education, healthcare, etc. in due course.

Digital products that have experienced a spike in demand based on search engine searches are B2C education equipments, art, and craft sites, home gaming & entertainment, etc. Increased digital savviness is the most apparent habit that the pandemic has contributed to the human race. Therefore, let your idea brain spark ideas that cater to this newfound digital love.

A sensible aftereffect of all these is that the demand for IT skills in no-IT sectors will also rise. Take care to collaborate with talented software developers and reputed custom software development companies who can perfectly align with your business goals and offer tailor-made solutions that bring results.

Final Thoughts

Treat the present scenario as an opportunity. If you feel that the crisis has hit your business plans badly, reverse your thinking, and keep your plans going. Because ‘now’ can be the best time to launch your startup.