The 10-Point Checklist to Launch Your Business

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Starting a business can be a daunting yet rewarding endeavor for an entrepreneur. Begin with a checklist to ensure you stay organized and hit the right milestones from the beginning. Follow this checklist to guide you through your business’s launch:

1. Vision

Your vision is the long-term outcome desired for your business. Setting a clear vision ahead of your launch helps align your team, holds you accountable, and sheds light on the resources needed for your strategy (see #2).

Set Aspirations

• What is the future state of your business in 5-years, 3-years, and working backwards to today? (revenue, locations, notoriety)
• What will your key customer engagements look like in 6 months? 1-year? (exclusive contracts, business wins)
• What does success look like? (Good Scaling Goal Example: “By 2023, Acme will help 30 million homeowners save $1BN in air conditioning energy costs”. Bad Scaling Goal Example: “Acme will be the biggest air conditioning company in the country”)

Decide on Values

• What are your business principles? (values that should remain beyond growth)

2. Strategy

Your strategy conveys the resources you’ll use to reach your vision (see #1). Having a defensible strategy gives you the best chance to excel above competition in your industry.

Establish Your Differentiator

• What 3–5 strengths from your background will propel your business? (technical expertise, track record)
• What is your value proposition for customers? (Value Proposition Detail: “We help [customer in need] / do [remove problem -or- create benefit] / doing [business offering]”. Value Proposition Example: “Acme helps homeowners reduce energy costs on air conditioning through smart motors that attach to existing equipment”)
• How will your existing or potential investors advance your business? (fundraising, marketing, recruiting)

Conduct Market Research

• Have you spoken to 10+ individuals in your industry to understand the day-to-day of this type of business? (typical costs, customer needs)
• Who is directly competitive with you, and why are you different? (how customers solve the problem without you)

3. Viability

Calculate the minimum capital needed to scale and obtain viability. Acquire this capital through fundraising, loans, lines of credit, or customer revenue.

Collect Capital Reserves

• Do you have enough capital to sustain your business through year 1? Years 2–5? (aim for ~4x more than your costs — for example, if your annual costs are $200K, you will need $800K in capital reserves through fundraising or customer revenue)
• What are your total costs to run the business? (Start up costs: research, development, marketing; Operating costs: labor, cost of products/services, supplies, rent, utilities, equipment; Opportunity costs: loss of revenue to reassign staff)

Assess the Market

• Is the market size large enough to grow your business with new customers over 5-years? (potential sales in the market)
• What are possible hurdles, and how do you remove them? (data needed, certifications, deadlines, regulations, etc.)

4. Business Basics

Refine the basic elements of your business as you prepare to expand. Having a clear structure feeds into your overall messaging with new hires, and while you fundraise.

Form Your Team

• Who is a part of your leadership? (number of founders)
• How many employees will you have? (full-time, part-time, contractors)
• What are the economic allocations between founders, advisors, and employees? (equity, options)

Structure Your Company

• How is your business organized? (headquarters, remote)
• Who are your customers? (number of customers now and in the future, customer profile, customer buying power)
• How will you make money to start? (fee-for-service, annual contracts, advertising, etc.)
• Who are your investors? (type of investor, number of investors, max percentage ownership)

5. Fundraising

If you need to acquire capital reserves through fundraising instead of direct customer revenue, creating a fundraising plan allows you to effectively raise the money you need.

Prepare to Fundraise

• Assign a point person
• Set a fundraising start date and overall timeline

Build a Long Prospect List

• Qualify the right prospects
• Search personal databases and gather introductions

Create Fundraising Materials

• Draft a pitch deck
• Draft a teaser deck, one-liner, elevator pitch, and company description paragraph
• Prepare supplemental diligence documents

Pitch, Finalize Legal, and Close Round

• Continuously pitch and manage your prospect list
• Engage a lawyer to execute fundraising documentation
• Complete your fundraising close

6. Legal

A lawyer will help you understand the legalities of becoming a business owner and the significance of forming a company. Enlist a lawyer to design the optimal business agreement that protects you and your investors.

Form Your Business

• Set up your legal business entities with your lawyer (LLC, limited partnership, for-profit, non-profit, etc.)
• Create business formation documents with your lawyer (or use a business formation platform like Stripe Atlas)

Learn Your Industry’s Rules

• Familiarize yourself with state and federal registrations/regulations
• Identify conflicts of interest

7. Finance

Financial management is an important part of tracking your business’s performance and informing investors. Knowing your financial standing can also alert you to disaster early, to keep you in business.

Hire an Accountant and Verify Their Responsibilities

• Accounting
• Cost and expense management
• Financial operations
• Inflows and outflows
• Financial statements
• Investor financial reporting
• Tax services
• Audit services

Understand Financial Returns

• Performance, valuation, and projections

Set Up Financial Needs

• Banking and credit cards/lines of credit

8. Investor Updates

Investor communication is a critical part of running a business. After completing your fundraise, begin regular communications with investors to build a long-term relationship with those who believed and invested in you.

Send Investor Updates

• Schedule recurring investor updates to send
• Set your investor annual meeting/update
• Send investor diligence and reporting (upon request and as required by information rights in your business formation documents, if any)

9. Operations

Operations is how you run your business efficiently. Use operational planning to manage costs and save money over the lifetime of your business.

Budget Your Primary Operations

• Business Set-up (accounting, legal, banking)
• Logistics (office space, travel expenses)
• Data (cloud document storage, CRM)
• Branding (website, online presence, marketing)
• Content (designer for pitch deck and materials, copywriter)

Budget Your Maintenance Operations

• Technology (internet, telecom/phone, virtual scheduling, productivity tools)
• General Administration (supplies, furniture, fixtures, and equipment)
• Advisory (audit, insurance, research)

Budget Your Growth Operations

• Human Resources (payroll, 401k benefits)
• PR (media relations)

10. Customer Service

Strong customer service is a critical part of retaining customers, and growing your business. Studies show that if you can successfully retain just 5 percent more customers, you can increase your profits by over 25 percent¹.

Research Your Customers

• Analyze data, survey experiences, and assess standards

Show Customers They Are Valued

• Empower VIP customers, form a customer advisory board, and create upselling rewards programs

Respond to Customers Proactively, Quickly, and Often

• Answer support tickets and build community

Educate Customers

• Streamline onboarding, give demos, and have FAQs

Use a new business checklist to make sure you cover all your bases as you launch and expand. Focus on the most important areas of your business and pave the way to a successful and sustainable company.

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¹ Harvard Business Review, 2014

Kaego Ogbechie Rust is CEO at Foresight Advisors — working with foundations, investment firms, non-profits, and for-profit ventures — offering comprehensive support across vision & strategy, investing & financing, and operational planning during critical periods of your growth.
If you’re looking for help, contact kaego@foresightadvisors.com or visit www.foresightadvisors.com.

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Read More:

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Pitch Decks & Messaging
• How to Make a Pitch Deck for Your Fund
• How to Write an Investor Update (With Example)
• How to Write a One Pager
• Building Your Fund’s Investment Thesis

Launch & Growth
• 12 Steps to Scale a Business
• The 10-Point Checklist to Launch Your Business
• A Launch Checklist for Emerging Manager Funds

Market Size & Viability
• How to Calculate Market Size
• Know Your Niche & Cost
• How To Measure Results
• The 9 Point Due Diligence Checklist for Fund Investments

Sales & Operations
• 7 Steps To Assess Your Competition
• Competitive Advantages That Last
• Developing a Go-to-Market Plan (GTM)
• 5 Ways to Productize Your Business
• Finding The Right Customer Profile

Finance, Tax, & Legal
• How To Choose a Lawyer For Your Fund
• A Simple Way to Track Your Business Finances