Early-stage startups - how fast can you grow? (Part 1)

You have this awesome tech that solves a growing problem for customers.

You want to release the beta in the market.

Your product is about to make millions.

But wait. You are a new venture, with no manpower and an untested piece of code.

What do you do?

First job? Hit the button below.

With that out of the way, realize that you are not the only startup founder with the same idea. There are others with similar ideas, developed products or traction which you may not realize. You may have a idea, product or early-stage traction, but you are still without a product-market fit at this stage. This is called pre-seed stage which essentially separates startups that has their product validated by customers and are scaling rapidly.

At pre-seed stage, you are yet to sow the seeds of your business, or just about to.

The question is: how fast can you grow?

The answer is: your customer demand will determine your growth at pre-seed.

If you stumbled upon an industry that faces a painful problem, your customers may jump to your solution at the first opportunity they get.

If however, your solution is already present, and the problem isn’t particularly suffocating, your traction won’t be as steep without customer awareness. This means marketing spending.

That’s it. Your growth depends on the problem you are solving, it’s acceptability by customers and the budget you spend on it.

At this stage, you are going to have to test your product through a marketing funnel to get customer attention.

You can ask them to sign-up for a reward (like free loyalty points, cashback, or voucher). There are several growth strategies associated at this stage. They will be addressed in the upcoming article.

If you have read so far, this was an appetizer of what I will be talking about. Part 2 of this will be released on Tuesday (UTC+6). I will delve deeper into how your startup at pre-seed stage can grow using marketing strategies.