It’s not uncommon for senior executives to get an itch to leave the organization they’ve been serving in to start their own company. To improve their chances of finding success with their new endeavor, there are several crucial things they should carefully consider before taking the leap.
Will the new business not only fulfill a real need in the market, but also their own need to sustain the personal drive and passion it takes to grow a successful business? Here, 14 professionals from Forbes Coaches Council weigh in to discuss how senior executives who are intent on launching their own companies can fulfill both consumers’ needs and their own.
Forbes Coaches Council members share tips for senior executives wanting to start their own companies.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.1. Combine Gifts, Passions And Innovation
Know who you are today by doing a fresh analysis of your gifts and passions. Use the results of your analysis as your lens for identifying unmet needs in the business world. Think outside the box by breaking away from conventional wisdom. Combining your gifts and passions with innovative ideas is foundational to a successful business that meets your and your consumers’ needs. - Ron Young, Trove, Inc.
2. Gain Clarity And Choose Metrics For Success
I’ve had numerous pro-service clients do this, and most of them have considered it. The most important thing is to have clarity about why you want to start a business. The second thing is to very carefully choose the metrics that will indicate to yourself that you are succeeding. Your “why” and your metrics will keep you grounded when the going gets tough—and it will. - Randy Shattuck, The Shattuck Group
3. Leverage Your Experience And Do A SWOT Analysis
Know your strengths, be clear on your personal motivation and leverage your current experience and insights that you have developed over the years in your industry. Think about the pains and gains your clients have experienced and gaps that have not been filled. I also recommend doing a SWOT analysis to gain clarity and alignment and to determine the value proposition. - Breshana Miller, Kairos Coaching & Consulting, LLC
4. Brainstorm With Close Friends
You can’t hesitate or keep your new business too close to your chest. You need to brainstorm with your closest friends, your professional network and those whom you trust. Bounce your ideas off of others and see if they resonate. What do they think your new business is worth? Who do they think the customers would be? Do they know someone who would buy? Have that conversation 100 times and get to work. - Jacob Warwick, ThinkWarwick
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5. Match The Commercial Proposition With The Value You Offer
It is important to match the commercial proposition with the value that you are offering. Before leaving, start researching the potential market to ensure there is a real need. When you are clear on the commercial viability, you can reverse-engineer the process to ensure the proposition fits with your personal drive and passion. - Claudine Reid, PJ’s Community Service
6. Have A Strong Support System In Place
Being an entrepreneur and working for a corporation require different mindsets. To sustain the personal drive and passion, it helps to have a strong support system in place—people who are just as passionate and driven as you and believe in the success of the new business, such as friends, a mastermind group or an experienced coach who can ensure there is a balance between work and personal well-being. - Masha Malka, The One Minute Coach
7. Don’t Follow Your Passion—Bring It To An Opportunity
Don’t follow your passion. I’d rather you bring your passion and drive to an opportunity. The first step is finding a way to improve lives in exchange for profit, then apply your natural passion and drive to improve as many of those lives as possible as efficiently as possible. Because when you do that really well, vision, momentum, growth and, eventually, profit are the results. - David Robertson, Growthpoint Coaching Co.
8. Leverage What Makes You Irreplaceable
You need to clarify the market need for what you do via research, interviews and more. In regard to fulfilling your own needs, a reflective, holistic approach is required to uncover your own personal wants, needs and values to be successful. And above all else, you must uncover something that makes you irreplaceable in the market that you serve. Get all those right and then go for it! - Linda Martin, Linda Martin Results
9. Connect With Your Four Selves
First connect with your four selves—intellectual, emotional, spiritual and physical—and be crystal clear about your purpose and commitment to it. Launching a new venture requires all your energy and commitment. Sometimes, it’s rough. Second, get deep input and feedback from those around you—both your trusted network and your more fearless critics. The wider the scope, the richer the insights. - Luis Costa, Luis Costa - coach · facilitator · speaker
10. Enroll Clients To Help Craft Your Company Vision
Get connected to your purpose, build a business plan around your core values and enroll the customers you want to serve to help craft the company vision. In doing this, you will likely find that your needs and the needs of your future customers are very aligned. Trust that a successful launch will follow and that you will have a tribe of allies ready to offer guidance and support when needed. - Emily Rogers, Emily Rogers Consulting + Coaching
11. Outline The Customer Journey And Your Sales Funnel
First, outline the customer journey to define the scope of their need. Second, outline your marketing and sales funnel. If you are not excited to do that, hire someone who is or don’t launch. If the idea of selling and marketing for hours every week does not excite you, pursue a hobby instead. Third, if you don’t have the drive or passion to build a business, get a dog. The dog will love you back every day. - Kelly Tyler Byrnes, Voyage Consulting Group
12. Experiment With A Minimum Viable Product
Take small steps. Too many people get sucked into the entrepreneurial dream without realizing how tough it can be. I would suggest experimenting with the product—take a minimum viable product (MVP) to the market and get feedback. Leaning on your personal drive, experiment with your own business identity. Too many people overestimate their passion and drive and underestimate the challenge. - Devika Das, CORE Executive Presence
13. Take An Inside-Out Approach
Start with your mission and vision. I believe, as a coach, taking an inside-out approach where executives can start exploring their passion as well as what they would see as success for this new endeavor is key. Then, we can explore the marketplace and how this would be sustained as a successful business by developing a strategic business plan. Allow your personal drive to set the tone for success. - Bryan Powell, Executive Coaching Space
14. Build A Business Around Your Retirement Dreams
Start by thinking about your retirement. If you grew your business and sold it for a killing, what would you then be doing in life? At that point, when you wouldn’t have to think about money and profits, what would you be doing with your time? That’s what you should build your business around. It’s bound to be an area where a strong customer or market need is coupled with your own passion and drive. - Vinesh Sukumaran, Vinesh Sukumaran Consulting
