1. Identify industries that fascinate you

Given the courage, hard work and long hours that go into starting your own business, you probably want your business to be in an industry that fascinates you, and that can utilize your skills and knowledge.

Identify industries in which your skills are best applicable, and your hobbies exploitable. Conduct an analysis of these industries to identify unmet customer needs, unexploited opportunities, and unaddressed inefficiencies.

2. Define the need or opportunity, and then brainstorm potential solutions

Once you have a good list of opportunities, needs or inefficiencies you think could be addressed, brainstorm potential solutions. Remember to think outside the box, and to record every single thought no matter its simplicity, or inconceivability. Crazy solutions are fine. Write them down. For instance, your conceived solution for helping companies reduce stress at the workplace could be manufacturing carpets that massage the feet! Maybe not too crazy! Innovative nevertheless. The solution you are seeking could be a combination of ideas from different fields, or it could be an improvement on already existing solutions. Apple came into being after the likes of IBM and Hewlett Packard had already envisioned mass marketed desktop and personal computers. Their different approach to design and to the user experience made them, not uniqueness that had never been visualized before.

3. Turn your solutions into value propositions

You now have a list of potential solutions for your chosen need in your chosen industry. Narrow them down based on criteria such as feasibility and sustainability, team skills and ease of implementation and opportunity for monetization. Research intensively and talk to experts about your idea, all the while using feedback and finding to redefine and refine your idea. Let your idea evolve. Do not be scared of ending up with a solution that differs from what you’d earlier envisioned. Ultimately, you should be able to express your solution in approximately 40 characters. Great! You now have a value proposition that defines what your business does.

4. Design a timeline for next steps

Having defined a value proposition for your business, now design a plan of action with tasks to be completed, and deadlines. Some of the important tasks at this point include creating a complete team that exhibits the skills needed to execute your idea, deciding how your idea will be funded and working towards that, working on the prototype, and researching the industry and the market.

5. Get going

You have probably come across frightening statistics about how many new businesses fail. That should not dampen your drive, but it should prepare you to be ready to learn from your mistakes and to go back to the drawing board.

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Even at SoftwareSuggest.com, the contribution of various web applications which helped us in our startup cannot be over emphasized. Here we give you an insight into those five applications which assisted us in our journey to the start-up of our company:

1. Outlook (the web app) – The first task we had to complete after purchasing our domain SoftwareSuggest.com was to setup the email ID. We had two options:

a) To buy the Google app and spend Rs 1000 per email ID per annum. 

b) To use the not-so-user friendly client provided by our domain provider (and curse ourselves for not spending on Google apps).

Well, we went for a third option instead and in stepped the outlook web app. Outlook gives 50 business ID free for any domain. Interestingly, not many know about this beautiful free app.

2. Asana- A week into SoftwareSuggest and we realized we needed a collaboration tool. We tried Trello, Basecamp and infinite different apps. Most of these tools had one of the following – were paid, had limited features for free usage, projects were limited to one or two or users were limited to 5.  We, however, found an end to all our problems with Asana. Benefits- Asana is free for 15 users, one can make unlimited projects, all features are activated even in the trial version and thus is perfect for a small team.

3. Apptivo-We soon needed a tool for client management, a CRM solution. Some of the tools we tried allow limited contact, others did not sync with email. We tried 3-4 different CRM and zeroed in on Apptivo. Benefits (for us) – It had unlimited web form integration, email client is perfectly synced, Gooogle app sync & the user experience (except the speed) is awesome. 

Though we started using Apptivo for CRM, we now are using it for lead management& recruitment.

4. Sendy– Mass e-mailers are evil necessity. Our first try was with Mail Chimp and Mad Mimi. Both allowed limited contacts in the basic plans & we did not want to spend on the enterprise plans as we had to save cost. Sendy was our answer. It has no limitation on the number of contacts and 10000 email costs just $1. Compare it with Mad Mimi which costs $42 per month or a Mail Chimp, which is $ 75 for the same number of contacts.

5. Tumblr– This is quite popular option as a blogging option. But, we use tumblr for everything possible. It is our internal notice board & diary. All major events are recorded here. Event thoughts and ideas go on Tumblr. It gives us motivation when we are down and help us assess our progress.   

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They all have taught me one important lesson – to never give up on my dreams. We do face obstacles in our mission and whenever you are starting something new there is a high probability that might fail in your endeavour but as Swami Vivekananda said, “Take risks in your life. If you win, you can lead. If you fail, you can guide.” What is life without trying? It’s all that makes our life worthwhile. You never know what the future will bring. So what’s the harm in going a bit wild and exploring opportunities like never before?

It has definitely been a fantastic and educational year of blogging with some initial teething problems but our team has got much more than what we had expected. However, we are also sorry for not posting articles regularly. But we are back! And we promise to share some worthy and cutting edge articles for you!

In order to celebrate, we are going to list our 5 most liked articles by you guys. Enjoy!

1. 10 Things Entrepreneurs Are Really, Really Sick Of Hearing!

They say entrepreneurs belong to a completely different world. Entrepreneurship is hard. You have to put not just your every effort but you soul to build up a company of…continue reading

2. 5 Amazing Books Every Entrepreneur Should Read

As it is Book Lover’s Day today, I decided to list some books that can play an imperative role in the life of an entrepreneur. With their lives revolving around…continue reading

3. 5 Entrepreneur Ideas To Learn From The Mahabharata

Are you an Indian entrepreneur scrounging the likes of Forbes, The economist to eke out some much needed business strategies and entrepreneur ideas to better run your company? Look no…continue reading

4. 10 Quintessential Apps For Entrepreneurs

In the increasingly chaotic world that we live in one thing that has added to this frenzy has to be the smartphone. Right from the moment Steve Jobs unveiled the…continue reading

5. Clients from hell : The scariest horror story of your life!

Ever had those days when you wish you could just drop everything and escape to the Himalayas, bask in the glory of the mountains and even take up sanyas just…continue reading

Well, so this was our anniversary post aimed at celebrating the posts you all had liked the most. We are looking forward to another amazing year for Startoholics!

Thank you for your invaluable support and love!

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But in order to make our lives meaningful and beautiful, it is also necessary that we are in the best of health throughout our lives. Better health affords us to enjoy our lives to the brim and also makes our lives more satisfying, full of warmth and beauty, not only for ourselves but also for others surrounding us. There are certain tips that must be necessarily invoked in order to make our lives filled with good health, radiance and pleasure so as to render our own lives beautiful and joyous all throughout our glorious lives:

Tip Number 1: Physical activity is the key to better health

Unlike animals and other species that have to hunt for their food, we humans need not undertake heavy physical toils to earn our bread. When the body is under exercised, it becomes prone to various kinds of ailments and diseases since organs underperform and blood circulation is not what it should be. It is necessary for all humans to undergo daily physical activities like swimming, tennis, dancing or even walking for at least 45 minutes every day, without fail. Not only are adverse health conditions reversed with exercise, but the possibilities of fresh ailments or attacks are also reduced. Physical activities are the real key to better health, no matter how old you are or what your age is.

Tip Number 2: Exercise moderation in food, drink and leisure:

Paradoxically, the very food that humans consume to live on could be the cause of their own deaths, if excessively indulged in. We need to exercise restraint in our consumption of food and drinks, if we are to lead healthy lives and make our lives useful and beautiful. It is not necessary for a doctor to tell us that excessive foods and drinks cause excess fatty deposits in our bodies , which could narrow blood arteries, cause the heart to work overtime over long period, and finally give way. Excessive eating and drinking could damage our sensitive stomachs, harm the heart, kidneys, liver, pancreas and several vital organs that need to function optimally to provide good health and long lives to humans of all age groups.

Tip Number 3: Avoid undue mental tension, stress and highly demanding mental situations:

Our minds shape our bodies and it is necessary that our minds are at harmony and at peace always. An overstressed mind could cause lasting detriment to our bodies which is only too well documented in major health studies. Keeping the mind always at peace and contentment relaxes the body too and provides the basis for good health- always. While we also need to keep our minds alert and active, it should not be overstressed and should remain calm, cool and collected under all situations. Taxing the mind unduly could also tax the bodies, which may give rise to unhealthy concerns, too.

Finally, by keep our minds and bodies at peace, taking pleasures in moderation, exercising control over emotions and stress inducing factors, we could be better placed to have better health and could live long enough in the bosom of this beautiful Planet Earth and enjoy life to the maximum.

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Focus on things that won’t change

I am not sure whether 10 years from now we would be using Facebook wall to post things, but I’m sure that we would be using a calendar to schedule our days, weeks and months. The form of the calendar might change, but we are going to need it, now and always. For example, in Web and mobile, ‘speed’ is really important. Apps need to work fast, blazingly fast and we know, that 10 years from now, your customer is not going to wake up and say ‘I wish my apps worked slower’. They are going to say this today and 10 years from now the apps should be simple, fast, reliable and useful. Focus on things that won’t change and put your energies into that. The coolness quotient that comes with innovation wears off after some time.

Customers don’t ask for much

When we were at the drawing board for http://gridle.in, the core question we addressed was ‘how do we make a cool product?’ Our pitches talked about the new technology we had used and how the concept was innovative. Our potential customers didn’t understand that. Over a period of time, deducing from the questions they had asked, we realized that their needs were very simple. They have a really simple problem, they see a solution in us and it doesn’t matter what technology we use or how innovatively we do it. If they find it useful, they will pay for it.

Existing thought-processes

This approach is slowly becoming common sense, but applying this in practice is quite a rocket science in some cases. That’s where the Design Thinking as a framework, with defined models like IDEO’s 3I (Identify, Inspire, Implement) and British Design Council’s Double Diamond model work. Moreover, tools like Photo Safari (observe and document), Persona and Empathy Map, Mindmapping (keyword tree ),  Brainwriting ( silent brainstorming, replacing talk with post-its), Sketching, Storyboarding, Prototyping, Storytelling, User Testing definitely would come handy in the journey of creating “usefulness”. Useful things may not be sexy, but they will surely pay off.

If you disagreed with this article, we ought to talk on https://facebook.com/yashparallel .

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Getting our startup off the ground wasn’t easy. We didn’t have a blueprint already mapped up, so we paved our way as we went and relied on our skills and knowledge base to guide our path. Being full-time family men meant that every spare moment had to be used wisely, and for me it meant that I had to capitalize on all of the hours I spent coding. The beginning stages, with all of their challenges, were nonetheless very exciting. As a programmer, building the groundwork for our company, finding bugs, and debugging carried heavier meaning. Imonomy was my passion project, and moreover it was mine and Oren’s future company coming to life. Now that we have our own offices, and a team of dedicated employees I often find myself thinking about the garage days. It was a good time, and I think the strong relationship Oren and I developed over that period really set the tone for how we would continue to grow our business as partners.

Once we had a running beta, Oren and I felt like the imonomy ship had finally set sail. The next step in making this a successful voyage was getting a good team of people to support our idea and help us develop imonomy into a fully functioning business. Investors Inon Axel, Tal Shaked, Itai Levitan and Liron Rose came to imonomy’s support in the sum on $400K. The investment meant that we finally got our chance to move out of the garage and into an office in the heart of Israel’s Startup Center, Tel Aviv. Upon being handed the keys to imonomy’s next chapter, Oren and I knew that our duo days were coming to an end and the challenge of hiring talented employees was next on the docket.

As imonomy’s team continued to grow, so did the business itself. Today, imonomy is a team of more than twelve dedicated employees, who build and develop the partnerships we have with thousands of online publishers. Oren and I have our goals set high, and the early stages of our business have certainly shaped the way our startup has grown until now. As founders of a startup we certainly don’t shy away from a little leg work, but the imonomy team as a whole has played an integral role in the course of our thriving young company. If there is one thing that I am sure of every morning when I enter the office, and every night when I leave, it’s that I am so happy Oren came to me a few years ago with an idea.

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