The startup level of any business is one of the most complex and, at the same time, most interesting levels in a business life cycle.
Will this startup succeed or fail?
Everything that you will build at this level will reflect on the strengths and durability of the foundations of your new business.
Here, I want to share 75 questions that will need to be answered by startup entrepreneurs.
Prepare Yourself as a Startup Entrepreneur
1. What’s something that you work on now as a startup entrepreneur?
2. How much time will you need to finish it?
3. What do you think about future customers?
4. How you spend your time when you prepare your first product or service?
5. Do you spend your time with your future or potential customers?
Human Resource and Team Building
6. What type of people do you need?
7. Do you know such people?
8. Where will you find them?
9. How will you attract your target candidates?
10. How will you keep them to stay in your company after you attract and select them?
11. How will they affect your work?
12. What are the next steps that you will need to take?
13. Are you ready to sacrifice your life for the team that you are building?
14. How big will need to be the team that you are building?
15. Can you succeed without them?
Finance
16. How much money will you need?
17. How will you find that money?
18. How will you pay back that money if you borrow them?
19. Can you use some other options to provide money as startup finance for your business?
Your Leadership and Vision as a Startup Entrepreneur
20. Can you notice some changes in your vision before you start to work on its achievement?
21. How can you ensure that all team members will follow your vision?
22. Is what you are doing bringing you closer or more away from your vision?
23. Do you need and what you need to change on the way that you are following to be closer to your vision?
Customers
24. Can you see how the customer uses your products or services?
25. Are they satisfied?
26. Are they asking you about when they can buy your products or services?
27. Can you notice some additional problems in their questions?
28. How much money is your customer ready to pay you to solve the problem that your product or service solves?
29. What real value are you offering to your customers as a startup entrepreneur?
Business Model
30. Do you have a business model?
31. Is that business model a sustainable business model?
32. How do all elements of your business model add value to your startup?
Pivoting, if You Need
33. Do you know what pivoting is?
34. Do you know when you will need to pivot?
35. Is there a need for pivoting?
36. What will you need to pivot?
37. What will come after pivoting?
Salary
38. How will you pay yourself?
39. Do you think that you are too much or too little paid as a startup entrepreneur?
40. How are you looking at your products as a collection of features or a collection of benefits?
Productivity
41. Do you have and use a to-do list?
42. How did you succeed in implementing your to-do list?
43. Do you succeed in finishing on time and with the right quality all your work tasks?
44. What about your team and their own to-do lists? Are they finishing everything on time and with the right quality?
Process Management
45. Do you have designed all your business processes?
46. How do your processes operate in a real environment?
47. Are there some bottlenecks in your processes?
48. What are the bottlenecks?
49. What do you need to do to eliminate those bottlenecks?
Your Competencies as a Startup Entrepreneur
50. Do you know your core competencies?
51. Do you have all the core competencies that you need for your small business?
52. Do you need to add more core competencies to your company?
53. How will you add more core competencies that you need for your small business?
54. What about knowledge?
55. How can you build knowledge for your business?
56. How will you share knowledge in your company?
57. How will you implement new knowledge in your company?
Key Performance Indicators
58. What are your key performance indicators?
59. How can you follow and measure your key performance indicators?
60. How do you decide as a startup entrepreneur according to that key performance indicators?
61. How much time will you need to decide according to that key performance indicators?
62. If you are out of your business building, can you follow your key performance indicators?
Sales Funnel Related Questions
63. Do you understand your sales funnel as a startup entrepreneur?
64. Do you know conversion rates in your sales funnel?
65. Is everything in your sales funnel as it needs to be?
66. Do you need to change something?
67. If you need to change something in your sales funnel, how will you change that?
68. When is the last time you test your sales funnel?
As a Startup Entrepreneur, You Will Need to Build a Business, not the Product.
69. Do you enjoy your work as a startup entrepreneur?
70. How do you spend your time for enjoyment when you are not occupied with your startup?
71. Do you have time for enjoyment?
72. If you are absent for a month from your business, can your company continue to operate in the same way as if you are there?
73. Do you know why your business can continue to operate without you?
74. Do you know why your business can’t continue to operate without you?
75. What do you need to do to ensure that your business will continue to operate even without you?
