Start-Up

What do we call Start Up?

Start-Up is the temporary organization formed for the purpose of rapid growth, using an iterative and scalable business model. Otherwise "Start-Up Business is a company designed to grow fast". A common feature of the two definitions is the growth rate of the company. If we fill in the term innovative then we end up with the basic features of a Start-Up. This type of business, although already several decades old, has recently come to the fore again due to the recent international crisis, and in fact for most markets is undergoing re-research and development.

Historically, start-ups first appeared in the late 1950s, mainly in Silicon Valley, California, USA, the birthplace of hundreds of innovative companies that continue to change the world today. The reason for their creation was a dispute between the employees of Shockley Semiconductor and its founder. The employees left the company and started the establishment of companies, with their fresh ideas that brought new data to the market, data that even their former employers were forced to follow.

The Start-Ups method was spreading rapidly, and what had begun as a "workers' revolution" at Stanford University Research Park was soon turned into an avalanche by Start-Ups. This avalanche began to "roll" again near the dawn of the new millennium, when what is called the "bubble of the internet" and the "dot com" businesses, based on the rapid growth and spread of the Internet.

 

The criteria that characterize a company as a start-up are the following:

1. The initial form of the enterprise is temporary, as the investment plan that has been prepared foresees its development into a normal / formal enterprise. The average "life" of a Start Up is one year as in two years at most it should have acquired the structure and functions of a normal business. Essentially, with the implementation of the investment plan, the owners will have to decide what kind of legal form their project will take. The most common legal forms adopted by Start-Up are Ltd. and PC although they have the potential to then evolve into all other corporate forms.
2. The meaning of repetition referred to in the definition has to do with the fact that the product or service that will be created, can be used or used by the customers of the company without conversions.
3. The target audience of the product or service should be large enough to meet the requirements of rapid - dynamic development.
4. It has an innovative position: its purpose is to offer a solution to a specific problem or a desire of its customers and is usually related to technology products and services.

 

According to the above, the term "start-up" could be associated with a number of companies. In Europe and consequently in our country, it is used to describe companies that are associated with high growth, have a technological orientation and many of them seek to create a new market or to dynamically develop an existing one.

 

Establishment

Creating a Start-Up Business can be summarized in eight steps. The process begins with the conception of the idea and ends with its implementation. It necessarily includes the detailed design of the business model, finding financing among any other features. In short, starting a startup includes:

1. The idea - identifying the business opportunity.
2. The control of the business perspective (Creation of a founding group, development of an initial product).
3. Finding funding.
4. The building of the company and the internal (corporate) culture.
5. The clarification of procedures and organization through data management systems.
6. Product development based on the business plan and market evaluation.
7. The creation of a sales network based on the characteristics of the product and the development of its promotion plan.
8. Customer support and service.

 

Start-ups present very low implementation costs which are combined with high risk and high return in case of success. This combined with the possibility of expanding them with low capital expenditure and limited needs in manpower and facilities, attracts investors from all over the world. Finding and eventually getting financing for a Start-up business can be done through funds that specifically finance the establishment and development of such businesses, such as Openfund and StartTech Ventures of various banks, as well as funds from special financing platforms Crowdfunding such as Give & Fund etc.