Business Startup Checklist: 13 Steps to Launch Your Business

Ideas are easy but the implementation is hard.

This is especially true if you’re launching a business. Getting your business off the ground takes much more than a mere idea. It requires careful planning, organizing, and fulfillment of a hundred different tasks.

Without a clear direction or roadmap, one is likely to get lost and miss critical steps.

That’s why you need a helping hand: A business startup checklist

This checklist is designed to guide you through every step, providing a structured path from the initial idea to opening your doors to customers.

Let’s explore the comprehensive checklist. But before that.

Why do you need a business startup checklist?

Launching a business isn’t practically a walk in the garden. It’s complex and if you don’t stick to a checklist you’re likely to have a haphazard start.

Here are a few reasons why you need a business startup checklist:

• Ensures that you address every critical aspect of starting a business, be it legal, financial, or strategic.
• Allows you to juggle multiple tasks and track their progress.
• Helps allocate monetary, physical, and human resources appropriately to build a successful business.
• Wins investors’ trust by demonstrating your preparedness and commitment towards business.
• Helps reduce costs and stress associated with starting new businesses.

Now before any ado, let’s move to what we’re here for.

Checklist for starting a business

This checklist details all the steps in a consecutive order to turn your business idea into a successful launch.

Step 1: Validate your business idea

As an aspiring entrepreneur, you must validate your business idea before investing any monetary or physical resources in it.

This way you invest in a business that has the potential of turning successful.

Now, you can use a business model canvas to quickly validate your business idea. Its thorough one-page structure allows you to evaluate the key aspects of your business and its overall feasibility.

Additionally, tech businesses can validate their idea by testing their MVP (minimum viable product) in a market. One can also run pilot tests and conduct surveys or focus group interviews to validate their business idea.

Step 2: Write a business plan

Once you validate your business idea, solidify it with a detailed business plan.

Writing a business plan makes you aware of the gaps and discrepancies in your current idea. It compels you to identify and address the otherwise overlooked aspects of your business helping you plan thoroughly.

A well-crafted business plan offers clarity, direction, and a roadmap to launch and grow your business successfully. It may include the following details depending on the depth it aims to cover:

• Executive summary: This section will offer a gist of your entire business plan highlighting its high-value points.
• Company description: This section will include details of your business structure, goals, milestones, and value proposition.
• Market analysis: To write this section you conduct in-depth research of your market, target consumer, and competitors. Also details the emerging trends, regulatory requirements, and potential market size of your business.
• Products and services: This section offers an in-depth detailing of your products and services, their USPs, and any intellectual property (IP) certifications you have obtained.
• Marketing and sales strategy: Here you outline your marketing plan and the sales channels. Details your marketing strategy, channels of marketing, budget, and other relevant information.
• Business operations: Outlines the business processes, resources and technologies, hiring plan, quality control checks, and much more.
• Management team: Introduce the key members of your team and talk about their achievements, experience, and expertise. Explains the organizational hierarchy of your business.
• Financial plan: A detailed plan outlining your costs, revenue, break-even, capital needs, and profits.

Now, depending on the purpose of your business plan, you may choose to eliminate certain sections or in-depth detailing.

As a matter of fact, avoid detailed plans right from the beginning.

Start with a lean plan outlining the problem, solution, goals, and business strategies. Then slowly detail the other sections as you place your business together.

Now, there are some legal considerations for you to establish a legally compliant business unit. Let’s discuss that in the following points.

Step 3: Choose a legal structure

Before registering your business, evaluate and choose the legal structure of your business. This will determine the registration process and tax filing requirements for your business.

Now, here are a few legal entities you can choose from:

• Sole proprietorship: This is a single-ownership business structure where you’re entitled to all the profits and responsible for liabilities.
• Partnership: Here the business ownership is divided into 2 or more than 2 people sharing profits and liabilities as pre-decided.
• Limited liability company(LLC) or Limited liability partnership(LLP): Here your personal assets are protected from business debts, making it a lower-risk option than sole proprietorships.
• S. Corporation: Here you establish your business as a separate legal identity owning all the assets and the liabilities.

Talk to business consultants to evaluate the best legal entity for your business.

Step 4: Register your business

Now, choose your business name and register it with the state. This will get you a business license and establish your business as a separate legal entity.

Also, obtain an employer identification number as this will allow you to open a company bank account, file business taxes, hire employees, and apply for licenses.

Check the small business administration’s guidelines and understand additional legal requirements for your business.

Step 5: Get the required licenses and permits

Depending on your business, its nature, and the state it operates in, you may need to apply for additional business licenses and permits.

Some of the permits issued for common businesses include:

• Occupational license
• Health permit
• Zoning permit
• Food service license
• Sign permit
• Sales tax permit

This step is extremely important, as non-compliance with any licensing requirement may cause heavy fines. Ideally, you should take legal help to ensure you acquire all the essential licenses for your business.

Additionally, check with the local administrator to understand if there are any county licenses you need.

At this step, also, apply for the intellectual properties if any with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Step 6: Get business insurance

Similarly, you need business insurance to protect your business from unexpected or unforeseen circumstances, especially if you’re a small business with startup costs you can’t lose to damages.

It may seem like an unnecessary hassle in the beginning, but business insurance is extremely crucial.

Instead of going all out, just acquire general liability insurance and get umbrella coverage for different business aspects.

Additionally, if you plan to hire people, you would be legally required to get a workers compensation fund.

As the business grows, you may want to consider adding professional liability and other important insurance for your business.

Step 7: Set up business finances

Now, pull together some figures and determine the costs to launch your business. Evaluate the industrial estimates for your business and study the startup costs for similar businesses like yours.

In your calculations, include the fixed costs and operational costs for the initial 3 months. This will help you stay afloat and maintain operational efficiency.

In addition to this, prepare the sales and cash flow forecasts, and budget for the next year’s expenses. Ideally, you should have a detailed financial plan to guide the first year’s finances.

Further, open a business bank account, if you still haven’t, and also acquire a business credit card. This is important to keep your personal and business expenses separate.

Lastly, evaluate the business tax requirements and establish a system to pay taxes without disrupting your operational budget.

Step 8: Secure funding

Now, pull together the funds to kickstart your business. Evaluate how much capital you will invest on your own and determine additional required funding.

Evaluate different funding sources and determine the best funding choice for your business. Some of these sources include:

• Crowdfunding
• Small Business Administration (SBA) loans
• Business loan
• Investment from angel investors and VC firms
• Creditor lendings
• Loans from
• Friends and families

You may choose more than one method to fund your business. However, each of these funding methods demands separate documentation, applications, and timeframe.

It’s better to start with the funding process early on as it may take months to get your loans or investments approved.

Step 9: Build your brand

A brand is much more than a logo or a tagline. It’s how your target customer perceives you when they hear about you.

Now a lot goes into developing an immersive and consistent brand image for your business.

To begin with, determine the visual elements of your business. This includes logos, brochures, product packaging, and even the website. Ensure that the color palette you choose establishes a consistent brand image.

It also includes designing and developing your physical storefront. This is especially important if yours is a business where the ambiance and atmosphere dictate the customers’ perception of your brand.

Additionally, decide the voice you will use to communicate with your customers. This voice will remain consistent throughout your interactions with the customers—be it marketing copies, interactive videos, or your social media copies.

Create a document detailing everything about the image you want to create. Use it to communicate your brand values with the marketing team, front-line employees, and management.

Step 10: Set up operations

It’s now time to put together different pieces of your business by acquiring essential physical resources.

This includes signing deals for a storefront, office space, or a manufacturing unit as your business demands.

Additionally, acquire essential tools, machinery, and equipment to perform everyday business operations.

If your business demands investment in certain software like accounting software or POS, get them. Additionally, contact the suppliers and vendors and build partnerships with them. Negotiate a deal and get the contractual paperwork done.

At this step, you must at least have a setup that allows you to efficiently perform business activities.

Step 11: Market your business

Begin your marketing endeavors through a soft launch. Create brochures, marketing ads, social media copies, and email listings for the pre-launch. Create a buzz and build anticipation.

Reach out to your potential customers, beta-test your product, and get their reviews. Use the reviews to build credibility for your brand early on.

Refer to that business plan and execute your marketing plan to create awareness of your brand.

Step 12: Hire employees (if necessary)

Are you going to single-handedly run your own business? If not, this is possibly the time to build your team.

Start your recruitment process by hiring employees on a contractual, employment, and freelancing basis. Budget for their payroll and benefits and build the employment contracts.

Ideally, you should start with a small team hiring only for the roles extremely essential. Then as the business grows, grow your team to scale the operations.

Step 13: Launch your business

With that, it’s time to launch your business and start serving the customers. Don’t procrastinate the launch trying to perfect every detail. It’s better to launch as soon as you have a sustainable model.

However, make sure you market your business well before opening the doors for the customers.

Conclusion

Bear in mind that this is a general checklist applicable to most small businesses. Use it as a starting point to unravel more details specific to your business.

Now, build the foundation of your small business by indulging in in-depth business planning. While it may feel taxing and time-consuming, there’s nothing that can provide precision and direction quite like business planning.

With Upmetrics, you get thorough detailed guides, business plan samples, and forecasting assistance to help you navigate the crucial aspects of business planning. Its structured approach makes it easier even for first-time small business planners to turn their ideas into actionable strategies.

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