The steps to start a new business are not as linear as they may appear on this page. Your own sequence of steps may involve jumping around between some of these topics, building up and improving each area of your business over time.
State your business purpose. This purpose is the reason you are starting or operating the business. The business purpose can inspire you, your customers, and your employees to keep going in difficult times. It might affect what kind of business it is and how you manage it.
Identify the market. Who will you be serving?
Market research. Find what problems your customers have.
Product development. Pick a problem you’re going to solve, develop a solution, and test it with the market until you find a product-market fit. This process may involve prototyping, customer interviews, pre-orders, and even actual sales.
Create a business plan. The business plan defines your business and includes plans for each aspect of your business including personnel, research, marketing, sales, operations, logistics, innovation, and finances. It also involves a comparison of what is needed to operate this business with what you have, and a plan for getting whatever you don’t have yet — including money to start the business.
Execute the business plan. This involves the day-to-day operation of the business.
Learn and adapt. Identify problems in your business and solve them. Add what is missing. Remove what isn’t needed. Change what isn’t working. You can go back to any prior step to apply what you learned.