Nowadays, entrepreneurship has become a rapidly growing trend. However, starting a business is always a journey full of challenges—fascinating yet risky—requiring persistent efforts and intense passion. To succeed, building a detailed and methodical startup process is critically important.
What Is Entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the process of starting a business or venture with the aim of generating profit. Though it is a risky endeavor, as entrepreneurs often face many challenges and uncertainties, it also provides great opportunities for creativity and financial freedom.
In fact, entrepreneurship is not just about founding a new company. It also involves developing a unique business idea, seeking funding, building a team, and implementing an effective business model.
Common Motivations for Starting a Business
Passion and desire for freedom: Many people start a business because they have a strong passion for a particular idea or field, and they want to turn that passion into a career that allows them to work on their own terms.
Financial opportunity: Entrepreneurship can offer significant financial opportunities, which is why many believe running their own business is the best way to achieve financial success.
Developing innovative ideas: Many entrepreneurs start businesses because they have high-potential, creative ideas and want to turn them into reality, even bringing them to market.
Creating social value: Some people launch startups to bring value to the community and solve social issues, rather than focusing solely on profit.
Career control: Many decide to start a business because they don’t want to be limited by the rules and regulations of large organizations.
Notable Entrepreneurs
Elon Musk: Started with a passion for technology and a desire to change the world. He founded multiple major companies including Zip2, X.com (PayPal), Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink…
Steve Jobs: Co-founder of Apple, passionate about technology and design. From a small garage, he built Apple into one of the world’s leading tech companies.
Mark Zuckerberg: Started his venture as a student with an idea to connect people globally. Facebook grew to become the largest social network in the world.
Nguyen Ha Dong: Gained success with the personal project Flappy Bird—a global phenomenon that made him a renowned tech entrepreneur from Vietnam.
The Importance of Building a Startup Process
Building a detailed and well-structured startup process is a key factor in determining a business’s success. The goals in the startup journey must be clearly defined, specific, and measurable.
Clearly Define the Necessary Steps
A tight and structured startup process helps businesses know exactly what steps to take to bring an idea from concept to success. This process saves time, effort, and optimizes resources by focusing on high-value activities.
Optimize Time and Resources
Clear direction: The startup process helps businesses define the tasks required at each stage, create work schedules, and allocate resources more effectively.
Risk minimization: With a clear plan, businesses can anticipate and manage potential risks in the startup journey, thereby improving adaptability to market and business environment fluctuations.
Feasibility and Customer Impact in the Startup Process
A methodical startup process serves as an important foundation for businesses to study and analyze market needs and trends, thus developing and adjusting products/services to be suitable and attractive to target customers.
Understanding your target customers and what they expect from a product or service helps businesses optimize marketing and sales strategies, thereby approaching and attracting potential customers more effectively.
Basic Steps in the Startup Process
A clear startup process enables a business to build a detailed plan to enter the market and achieve its business goals. With careful preparation and flexible adjustments, businesses can maximize their chances of success and minimize risks throughout the startup journey.
Step 1: Define Vision and Specific Goals
This is the first and most important step in the startup process. Businesses need to clearly define their long-term vision and specific objectives.
Strategic long-term roadmap: Identify goals to be achieved over the next 3–5 years.
Set SMART goals: Specific – Measurable – Achievable – Relevant – Time-bound.
Step 2: Market and Customer Research
Understanding the market is a vital step in the startup journey to gain deep insights into target customers, competitors, identify opportunities, and create competitive value.
Use tools and methods such as surveys, interviews, and real data analysis.
Analyze market needs: Identify target customers, their needs, and how the product/service meets them.
Analyze market trends: Recognize current and future trends to get ahead.
Analyze competitors: Identify direct and indirect competitors, assess their strengths/weaknesses, and strategies to build better business plans.
Step 3: Develop the Business Idea
Based on market research results, businesses develop business ideas into concrete products or services. This includes identifying key features and how to deliver them to customers.
Prototype and iterate: Create product prototypes, test with small customer groups, gather feedback, and make adjustments.
Define core value: Clarify the key benefits your product or service brings to customers.
Step 4: Develop a Business Plan
A detailed plan defines business goals, market and competitor analysis, required resources, and schedules to reach those goals. The business plan is a strategic document outlining all essential actions, from marketing to finance.
Marketing plan: Define customer engagement strategy, communication channels, and specific marketing activities.
Financial plan: Estimate costs, revenues, profits; identify needed capital and funding plans.
Performance indicators: Set KPIs to measure operational effectiveness.
Step 5: Build a Business Model
The business model provides a holistic view of how a company will operate and grow. To ensure sustainable development and a competitive edge, building a unique and effective model is crucial from the start.
Define operational workflows, services, and supply chain.
Distribution and customer reach: Identify sales channels (retail, online, agents, etc.) and the most effective ways to engage customers.
Step 6: Measure and Evaluate
Evaluating results from implemented activities helps adjust strategy and improve performance. This step highlights strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for enhancement.
Set performance KPIs
Monitor business activities: Collect data, analyze outcomes, compare with targets.
Adjust strategies: Make changes based on evaluation to boost efficiency.
Step 7: Prepare Resources for Execution
Adequate resource preparation is essential to ensure the business has sufficient human, physical, and financial resources to implement the plan smoothly.
Organize human resources: Recruit, train, and assign tasks.
Prepare equipment and infrastructure: Ensure necessary tools, office space, and facilities are available.
Financial management: Determine needed capital, create usage plans, and control costs.
Step 8: Seek and Raise Capital
Raising capital is a process where founders and businesses engage with investors to secure funding for operations and growth. This is a critical step in the startup process.
Participate in programs like Shark Tank: Prepare pitches and project documents to persuade investors.
Meet and negotiate with investors: Present your project’s value and potential, answer questions, and negotiate investment terms.
Step 9: Structure the Organization and HR
Building an effective organizational and HR structure is always a challenge. A suitable and stable structure is key to long-term business performance and sustainability.
Design the organizational chart: Define departments, roles, and responsibilities.
Recruit personnel: Ensure key roles are filled with capable people.
Train and develop staff: Provide training programs and skill development opportunities.
Step 10: Set an Operating Budget
The operating budget is a vital financial management tool to estimate revenue, expenses, and allocate resources effectively.
Plan budgets for business activities: Outline costs, revenue projections, and expected profit.
Control and adjust budget: Track actual expenses versus the plan and adjust as needed to meet financial targets.
Building a detailed and well-structured startup process is a fundamental factor for success. Businesses must begin their journey with thorough preparation—from market research and idea development to business model execution.
Source: National Agency for Science and Technology Information and Statistics
