I felt it was time to write about a topic that every entrepreneur can benefit from: funding.
Of course, you can't cover such a broad subject in just one article, so I'm dedicating a series of articles to it.
Sometimes just a few pointers in the right direction can prevent drastic mistakes down the road.
Every business needs a source of funding at some point to grow.
The types that usually come to mind are bootstrapping, bank loans, family and friends, angel investors, and venture capital, all of which I will discuss later in the series.
But which of these should you shape your business and revenue model to attract? Your best source of funding: the customer.
In the day in age where multi-million dollar investments make the headlines seemingly weekly, it is easy to lose focus on what matters most.
We often want to go from idea inception straight to dreams of raising large capital.
Inexperienced entrepreneurs end up not paying enough attention towards customers.
This can easily derail a business before it starts.
Many don't even see customers as investors, but why not? They are bringing their hard-earned money to your company in exchange for a product or service.
If they like what they receive, they'll continue to give you money and refer you to friends so their friends can give you money.
Customers are the largest group of investors in any successful business and rightfully so they should demand most of your attention.
In the past, I made the mistake of creating a business model that focused more on attracting investors.
It wasn't about the customers as much as it was about how I could get a huge influx of capital from an outside source.
It may sound strange, but sometimes it's easy to forget that the customer is always your best source of sustained funding.
Without them, you have no business and it's important to always keep that in mind.
With my latest company, I've learned from my mistakes.
I'm focusing solely on the customers.
Everything we've done at and will continue to do is an effort to create the best product possible that customers will love.
If the customers are happy then perhaps we will catch the eye of investors.
Maybe we won't need to at that point.
Either way, you can't go wrong putting the customer first when formulating your company.
After all, aren't they always right?
Of course, you can't cover such a broad subject in just one article, so I'm dedicating a series of articles to it.
Sometimes just a few pointers in the right direction can prevent drastic mistakes down the road.
Every business needs a source of funding at some point to grow.
The types that usually come to mind are bootstrapping, bank loans, family and friends, angel investors, and venture capital, all of which I will discuss later in the series.
But which of these should you shape your business and revenue model to attract? Your best source of funding: the customer.
In the day in age where multi-million dollar investments make the headlines seemingly weekly, it is easy to lose focus on what matters most.
We often want to go from idea inception straight to dreams of raising large capital.
Inexperienced entrepreneurs end up not paying enough attention towards customers.
This can easily derail a business before it starts.
Many don't even see customers as investors, but why not? They are bringing their hard-earned money to your company in exchange for a product or service.
If they like what they receive, they'll continue to give you money and refer you to friends so their friends can give you money.
Customers are the largest group of investors in any successful business and rightfully so they should demand most of your attention.
In the past, I made the mistake of creating a business model that focused more on attracting investors.
It wasn't about the customers as much as it was about how I could get a huge influx of capital from an outside source.
It may sound strange, but sometimes it's easy to forget that the customer is always your best source of sustained funding.
Without them, you have no business and it's important to always keep that in mind.
With my latest company, I've learned from my mistakes.
I'm focusing solely on the customers.
Everything we've done at and will continue to do is an effort to create the best product possible that customers will love.
If the customers are happy then perhaps we will catch the eye of investors.
Maybe we won't need to at that point.
Either way, you can't go wrong putting the customer first when formulating your company.
After all, aren't they always right?