You Ask, We’ll Answer
Addressing Growth Challenges for Startups and Small Business
In business and life, there is no shortage of adversity. Entrepreneurs realize quickly that’s there’s always a challenge to face at any given moment; the successful ones learn to prioritize which challenges to focus on.
In order to tackle a challenge, one has to know how to solve the problem. For some, this may come easy based on the network and who you know. Reading up on Thomas Edison and his life, one of his useful tactics was organizing get-togethers of scholars and notable people to engage and share (a mastermind group today), to discuss issues and get updates on what was going on in the world.
Networks, leveraged properly, allow us to move past our limitations by sourcing what we don’t know from others. Ideally, it’s through their own experience addressing the challenges, or at least connecting us to someone who can help.
But not everyone has the network to ask, and in that situation the possibility of getting stuck increases. Sometimes when we get stuck, we despair and circle around the problem; in extreme cases, we find a band-aid solution without tackling the root of the problem…and we are none the wiser!
To be frank, we need to be intentional and make time to network and build authentic relationships. When issues arise we cannot solve ourselves, having the ability to reach out to someone is crucial to keep moving forward. Without a good relationship, it’s hard to get them to answer right away.
The reality, however, is that entrepreneurs may not be making the time.
As we continue to engage with entrepreneurs and business owners, there is a gap in the ability to scale advice. The challenges can be infinite and varied at any given time, but there’s only so many people, time in the day, etc. to address it all.
How can we help entrepreneurs 1:1 with limited capacity and time?
Helping One Entrepreneur at a Time
In the spirit of #GiveFirst,#MLKDay 2019, and to dovetail with regional efforts to help businesses reach #Beyond5 years of operations, SUEGO is launching a beta program called the #MovingForward video series. Every week we release a video tackling a growth challenge that we receive from the public.
It’ll focus on real problems form real entrepreneurs, and address their specific problem. As we address their issue, others may also have a similar problem. Our focus is more on the digital reach and mass consumption, so that we can help 1:1 and scale impact. Not everyone can come to an event, or an advising session, but they can get back to it when they have time or when it’s relevant.
To get started, submit a question below or check out the website for more info.
Tracking Growth Challenges
Over the years, we’ve come to see that the challenges businesses face across the entrepreneur’s journey. The challenges vary but tend to fall across twenty thematic areas. These buckets are:
A | BUSINESS CONCEPT
- Business Idea
- Product Portfolio
- Revenue Model
- Customer Portfolio
- Market Position
B |CUSTOMER RELATIONS
- Networking
- Marketing
- Sales and Service
- Communications and PR
- Branding
C | OPERATIONS
- Financials
- Funding
- Production and Deliveries
- IT Systems
- Facilities
D | ORGANIZATION
- Legal Issues
- Business Processes
- Partnerships
- Employees
- Ownership and Board
With this framework, we can begin to analyze and draw insights from the data to guide our efforts.
Shifting Focus in 2019
Since its inception in 2016, SUEGO has been morphing more into a content resource platform, though not in the traditional media sense. We aren’t writing and editing stories of what’s happening in the DC, Maryland, Virginia region; we have Technical.ly DC, DC Inno and slew of other capable companies who have that covered.
What we are finding is the need for more individualized content. As the mantra for 1 Million Cups (Startup Huddle internationally) goes, the goal is on helping one entrepreneur at a time. Most of the media content out there is helpful to an extent, but it’s not speaking directly to an entrepreneur’s unique situation.
We were fortunate to learn from launching both the 1 Million Cups chapter in Washington, D.C., as well as the international version called Startup Huddle, where we first picked up this mantra to help one entrepreneur at a time.
As we begin 2019, our focus is shifting towards helping one entrepreneur at a time, but at scale. The video series is our first attempt, crowdsourcing our in-house knowledge as well as our ESHIP network in the Greater Washington, D.C. Region to help entrepreneurs and business owners grow and accelerate their business.
If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
#MLKDay Commemoration
We were originally going to launch this earlier in January, but it made sense to launch in commemoration of #MLKDay. Despite being a little under a decade afterwards, we still have a ways to go.
Our KPIs are evolving, focusing more on measuring impact.
Did our work actually help the entrepreneur?
It’s much more powerful to be able to highlight how many entrepreneurs we helped get unstuck, than saying how many events we had in a year.
We have helped organize (and in some cases launched) some of the DMV region’s premier startup and business celebration initiatives like Techstars Startup Week, WeDC Fest, National Entrepreneurship Week, and Global Entrepreneurship Week. While these are becoming integral components of a thriving ESHIP (entrepreneurship) ecosystem, events alone are not enough.
Entrepreneurs need more individualized support. And this is our way to help with regional efforts to grow and accelerate #NewMajority businesses.
If we can help businesses move past their challenges, then they can move forward in increasing revenue and towards the next challenge. Let’s help them get #Beyond5 years in operations, the benchmark to them being sustainable.
How are you helping the entrepreneurs in 2019? Any synergies where we can collaborate?
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SUEGO is a content platform designed to mobilize the mindset and culture of entrepreneurship, as well as to develop skills and abilities for entrepreneurs, helping to break down barriers in the creation and growth of companies through the crowdsourcing of knowledge and entrepreneurship. It is focused on potential and current entrepreneurs, teachers, students and anyone interested in learning.
Originally published on the SUEGO website.
