Top Tips for Running A Successful Start-Up.

1. Understand your market.

Whether developing a tourism app or a health care app, the business foundations never change. You must be intimately familiar with your market. Understand your cost, growth, and demand drivers.

For example, Hello Socialyze, an online magazine targeted for the African and Middle East region operating to provide valuable intel on all things social media and how it applies to a region which is fundamentally different from the rest of the world and where there are "unique characteristic" that connect well to the problem that the company is trying to solve. Navigating the social commerce aspect in a region that has low internet connectivity as well as low coverage penetration although in the recent past it has been increasing.

The company realized there is great opportunity within the region if businesses are advised appropriately as there has been an increase in the number of SMBs operating and the fact that Africa and the Middle East has a larger number of millennials and Gen Z population than the rest of the world. These are recognised as early adopters of technology and want "new" things and experiences than their older generations.

Focus is essential and as an entrepreneur you have to get a very strong understanding of the markets and your primary emphasis should be on expanding your present market.

2. Create a strong team.

Although business basics are vital, entrepreneurs should anchor first on people.

This will help your business to provide the best possible solution to whatever problems your clients are facing, and your team should not necessarily have prior experience in that specific field of business, as you might want "fresh" eyes and new approaches to bringing solutions to the table. The world has seen some experts in one area reinventing their careers into newer fields thus affording start-ups to leverage on this.

However, this doesn't mean you must not hire experts in the field you operate in. You must lean on specialists so that you combine their experiences with new ones your team brings into the fold.

3. Learn and grow in focusing on the good things

Being an entrepreneur may be isolating, and you may receive harsh remarks, which will diminish as you build up your reputation and respect. Every entrepreneur understands that the first several months are difficult. You must be twice as proactive, more data-driven, and razor-sharp. Learn to take everything in stride and rely on those who matter. You must be able to shut out the noise and be alright with the intensity. It's thrilling in some ways but exhausting in others. Be honest, vulnerable, and upfront with your team. That, I believe, is the most crucial consideration.

4. Impact is driven by innovation.

What does the term "innovation" mean to You?  I believe, it's all about establishing an impression on users. At the end of the day, there's nothing greater than creating something from which others may derive a solution from. 

A new concept gives value to the customer. As additional entrepreneurs contribute feasible additions to adopted ideas, the value-add component of innovation differentiates organizations, justifies customers' switching costs, and propels our economy ahead.

Radical or disruptive innovation is not the only type of innovation available to startups. Various companies have brought great innovations over the past few years, for example, aircraft industry revolutionized how we travel from point A to point B, while firms such as Airbnb and Lending Club used the sharing economy business model to disrupt sectors through economies of scale, economies of scope, and social innovation.

Startups like Uber and Instagram, on the other hand, repurposed a validated business model to tackle new challenges for various sectors and user profiles. Bird and TikTok, for example, provided incremental advancements through new goods, price, and positioning.