If you ask a startup entrepreneur what’s on their mind, you better have plenty of time for their response. We all fuss over a never ending list of decisions to make, problems to solve, staff to deal with, contracts to sign, marketing campaigns to approve, etc, etc, etc.
Our challenges, decisions and opportunities all require thought followed by decisions followed by action. If we’re lucky, we have trusted peers and advisors to help us take action confidently and quickly but nobody has all the answers. We need a deep bench to draw from.
When an entrepreneur is just starting out, they may not have anybody to answer even their simplest questions. As time goes on, we build our bench with the people we meet who may be able help us with one kind of challenge or another. But the fact remains: It’s rare to have somebody to advise us for any and all challenges that come our way.
Startup Alliance Special Interest Groups (SIGs) give you the deep bench and the speed you need to succeed
SIGs are perhaps the most important piece of functionality Startup Alliance members use. Startup Alliance SIGs are enhanced mastermind groups where members safely gather in small groups with entrepreneurs they get to know and trust. Each SIG has a focus and members typically belong to the few SIGs that most precisely meet their current needs. As their needs change, their SIG memberships can change too.
SIGs cover 10 essential business topics providing entrepreneurs at all levels of experience opportunities to overcome challenges through interactions with their fellow SIG members.
Here are the 10 SIGs along with their particular focus:
- Business Formation – Choosing the right business structure and avoiding costly mistakes
- Capitalization – How to capitalize your business throughout its lifecycle phases
- Customer discovery, Growth & Marketing – GTM strategies and selecting marketing channels to attract validated customers
- Ideation, Product & Differentiation – Making the right product for your customers and how to stand out in your market
- KPIs & Analytics – Choosing key performance indicators (KPIs) and maximizing results through their use
- Mergers & Acquisitions – When and how to grow through acquisitions or by selling your company
- Ownership & Leadership – Structuring founder equity and avoiding leadership problems
- Partnerships – How to use strategic partnerships, co-marketing arrangements and joint ventures as growth drivers
- Pricing, Revenue and Sales – Value based pricing and sales strategies to maximize your revenue and profitability
- People & Culture – Recruiting and retaining talent and building the right company culture
SIGs are small and interactive with tools for real-time and non-real-time one-on-one and group interactions. Each SIG has a leader to facilitate interactions and make sure all participants get the help they need. SIG members can spell out their goals for accountability and to help their fellow SIG members provide the right kind of advice and assistance. And they can also post activity reports so they can chart their progress as time goes by.
SIGs aren’t just for new entrepreneurs. We all face challenges and we all need help quickly coming up with the right solutions so we can get back to business.
I’ll close with a quote I feel is relevant. It’s from Keith Code, motorcycle racing expert and author of the racing bible “A twist of the wrist”
“The things you don’t understand are the things that will take up most of your attention.”
And I’ll follow that up with the Startup Alliance tagline, which if you’ve read this far ought to make sense to you.