Startups – An Agile Strategy for Guaranteed Growth

Startups – An Agile Strategy for Guaranteed Growth

According to a study conducted by Harvard Business School, 3 out of every 4 startups fail. Another study, Startup Business Failure Rate, conducted by Statistics Brain, reveals that 50 percent of the startups get closed within 5 years of operations while 70 percent fail within their first 10 years of operations. These studies indicate that startups must have an agile strategy to avoid failure and to ensure success. In this article, we will talk about the ways in which this can be made possible.

The Reasons Behind Startup Failure

Before discussing what agile means and why startups must adopt an agile strategy for guaranteed growth, let’s have a look at why startups fail. Startups fail when they are unable to foresee any potential obstacles and when they don’t know how to respond. Not having enough capital and lacking good leads are other key reasons. Some other key reasons for failure include lack of agile planning, having inexperienced staff, messy work, and more. Even by not having mentors or having a risk-averse co-founder who is afraid to try innovative ideas and methods, are also key failing points for a startup. Another mistake is not to recognize the competitors. Being an entrepreneur, you might be wondering how to avoid these failure factors. The answer is an agile strategy. An agile strategy is one of the most powerful ways for startups to succeed.

The Meaning of Agile

Agile is a comprehensive term that is used to explain the practices and principles for the whole project life cycle. Under this practice, solutions evolve because of the teamwork and collaborative working environment.

Agile Strategy for Startups

Every startup needs to complete some key steps to be operational. The scale of the startup is generally small in the beginning and, therefore, requires speedy delivery on people’s part. Agile startups characteristically hire small teams concentrating on fast deliverables. They complete a portion of the project and continuously enhance and grow the product features based on customer feedback.

Some of the most notable features of Agile startup strategy include:

• Satisfying the needs of the customer via frequent and timely deliverables.
• Harnessing the changes for the competitive advantage of customers.
• Bringing the startup team together across the project life cycle to avoid redundancy in efforts.
• Focusing more on a shorter time scale for each feature-set.
• Conveying information to the development and other remote teams both physically and via software to maintain certainty and clarity.
• Promoting sustainable growth and maintaining a continuous pace, under all circumstances.

The Final Thoughts

Undoubtedly, an agile strategy is a new ray of hope for startups to ensure their success. Its proper implementation can lend to the startup’s visible growth. To make your startup successful, you must invest money, dedicate your time, and give thought and care to the business. Your customers want the best possible experience.

Agile transformation in a startup surely takes time to deliver results. Startups must embrace the changes and learn innovative ideas and processes. At times, it might feel like a dead-end; however, if you are passionate about your startup, you will find a way to succeed.