These are a few things you need to build a great start-up:
Slowing down the entrepreneurial enthusiasm to protect your assets is one of the smartest (and perhaps hardest) things you can do.
Avoiding financial mistakes such as spending money faster than you make it, dipping into your personal wealth or not setting a financial framework for your venture may be a signal of poor thinking and poor decision making.
Your start-up may be born from a big idea but if you want it to survive, then you need a plan.
My advice is to become acquainted – intimately – with your finances. Partner up with a financial planner and a good accountant so that you know exactly where you are today, and so they can help you map out your financial strategy for personal and business growth.
When you are in the early stages, it is hard to project what funding you will have for your business over time. Working to a plan can support you in understanding your loan repayments to creditors, goals and opportunities.
Some of the pitfalls I’ve seen is people using capital from their home to support their entrepreneur goal. While this might pay off for some, it is a huge risk to your personal protection and life outside of your business venture.
Financial planning is the process of meeting your goals through the proper management of your finances. And in business, this is more true than ever.
Embracing strict financial discipline isn’t always easy however working with a team can help you not go under both professionally and personally.