People ask us all the time: how do you start a startup? There's an idea that starting a business requires a magical idea, gorgeous brand work, brilliant product development, and a deeply engaged community. Here's the thing: all of that stuff is really, really useful. But at the end of the day, businesses get off the ground through one simple factor: work.
Here at the HQ, we have created, built, launched, scaled, and transformed over 60 consumer brands since we launched almost 5 years ago. While every brand we've partnered with - from the fashion innovators to the beauty brainiacs, from the wellness whizzes to the food-and-beverage aficionados - had its own unique vibe, goals, and challenges, every single one of these businesses lived by the ability of its founder(s) to execute, every damn day.
So without further ado: I've decided that I'm going to spend 2023, little by little, sharing the playbooks we've built over the last five years. You're gonna experience a litany of lists and tasks and to-dos, but you're also going to start getting some (ahem, IMO) pretty stellar guidance on how to start a consumer product brand.
We're starting things off with the pre-launch activities required to start a consumer product brand. I'll link things in as I populate, so that you have this handy playbook to kickstart that momentum. (Oh, and if you see anything glaring that we're missing, shoot us a note or a comment - we'll revise as it makes sense.)
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So... before you get things going with an actual in-market situation, there's some critical admin you're going to need to kick off. And, for me, everything starts with a good old fashioned workback - set some dates, define your dependencies, and let's get rolling.
The Self Assessment
- The Not Sexy Stuff About Entrepreneurship
- Getting Your Head Around Your Why
General Pre-Launch Activity
- The World's Most Efficient Business Naming + Name Search Process
- Registering Your Business
- Business Design Framework
Product + Ops Pre-Launch Activity
- Product Development
- Product Sourcing
- Financing Your First Run of Inventory
- FInding a Good 3PL
- Demand Planning
Sales Pre-Launch Activity
- Determination of Channels
- Revenue Strategy x Channel
- Retail Pitch Decks
- Lead Generation
- Finding Distributor Partners
- DTC Strategy
- Amazon Strategy
Finance Pre-Launch Activity
- Revenue Channel Forecast
- P&L Forecast
- Investor Pitch Decks
- Raising a Friends and Family Round
- Raising a Seed Round
- Alternative Means of Generating Startup Capital
- Accounting System Setup
Legal Pre-Launch Activity
- Incorporating a Business
- Applying for a Trademark
- Applying for a Patent
- Protecting Your Intellectual Property
Brand Pre-Launch Activity
- Determining Your What // How // Why
- Analyzing the Competitive Landscape
- Defining Your Customer Personas
- Staging Your Brand Messaging
- Refining Your Boilerplates
- Developing Your Identity
- Selecting Your Colour Palette
- Creating Your Social Moodboards
Go-to-Market Pre-Launch Activity
- Domain Acquisition
- Set Up Team Emails
- Google Analytics Setup
- Klaviyo Setup
- Landing Page Setup
- Teaser Content Development
- Social Channel Setups
- Content Calendar Development
- Hashtag Strategy
- Organic Boosting Strategy
- Paid Strategy
So, what are you waiting for? Get yourself an Asana board going and let's build.
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