UNAIR NEWS – Building a start-up is not only based on a validated business idea that solves community problems, or a strong will and resilient mentality. There are still many things that need to be prepared by someone who wants to develop a start-up business.
Dr. Achsania Hendratmi, SE or Achsania, Head of Business Incubator and Technology at UNAIR Start-up Business and Innovation Development Board (BPBRIN) explained that start-up founders also need to prepare various things, such as good team members, business models, financial projections, intellectual property, links to mentors, incubators, and business accelerators.
Develop the right team
Choosing a team is crucial in building a start-up. Good team members are members with competencies that are in accordance with their function and field of work, have the same vision, can build good communication and coordination, and ensure a startup business is run with good teamwork.
“What is common in business matching with investors or angel capital is that team composition is an important concern,” she explained.
Develop business model
A business model is the activity of compiling a stage or framework for how a business creates revenue. Business models are often used for business plan simplification. According to Achsania, the current start-up trend is compiling a business model using the BMC (Business Model Canvas) method .
“The business model is not a permanent framework. Businessmen must continue to improve their business models in line with rapid external changes, ” she said.
Prepare financial projection
The problem often occurs in students developing start-ups is the paradigm of ‘do it first, when it gets big, then make the financial projection’. According to Achsania, this paradigm is not quite right because starting up at an early stage also needs to prepare a financial projection.
Financial projection usually consists of balance sheet forecast, income statement, and cash flow forecast. In addition, the most important thing is investment analysis to find out the break event point (BEP), payback period, and other calculations.
“In several cases I often met UNAIR start-ups who did not prepare financial projection on the grounds that there was no team member from economics or accounting. Therefore, when compiling a team, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) should really consider recruiting a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to take care of financial aspects of the business, ”explained Achsania.
Preparing intellectual property
Intellectual property preparation is often forgotten by start-up founders, especially students because according to them, the business is still small, so there is no need for a legal entity and no need to think about patents for certain formulas or inventions.
According to Aschania, this perception is wrong. According to her, if you are serious about building a start-up, you must pay attention to intellectual property rights.
“Simply put, how about its company legal entity? CV or PT? Has the product brand been registered?” she continued.
It is important for the start-up CEO to pay attention to it. Start-up CEO should be visionary about protecting their businesses.
Intellectual property usually includes copyrights, trademarks, patents, trade secrets and other forms. Intellectual property is an important business tool, especially to strengthen competitive advantage and protect the business in the future.
Connection to mentors, business incubators, and accelerators
Startups need assistance from the right mentors because in general, start-up companies are very vulnerable to failure or bankruptcy, especially in the early stages of establishment.
In this regard, the technology business incubator institution has a very important role. Through an incubator or accelerator, start-up founders will find it easier to build networks, meet investors, access funding, access markets, and so on. (*)
Author: Galuh Mega Kurnia
Editor : Binti Q. Masruroh
