The Entrepreneurial business Life Cycle

In general, the entrepreneurial process includes several key stages or some variation of these stages. Keep in mind that these stages do not always follow a sequential pattern, as circumstances and opportunities change. One popular method of understanding and connecting to this entrepreneurial process is to think of your new venture as similar to the human life cycle, the major stages that humans pass through in their life development, and the different growth processes in between. You might start a venture from the idea-generation stage or from infancy as part of the pre-launch stage. Or you might join the process after someone else has already completed the early stages of the business—for example, by purchasing an existing business or entering into a partnership. You might not have been around when the business was launched, but you can continue with the development of the business from the present moment. Just as each stage of human experience involves different concerns and milestones, the same holds true for your venture. The venture is your responsibility to manage during each stage of the life cycle.

Figure 14.1 provides an overview of each stage in the business life cycle and the associated decisions that you might consider or encounter for the entrepreneurial process.

Stage 1: Startup

At this stage, the crucial activity is defining the opportunity to develop your concept into a realizable business venture with a strong potential for success. In this stage, you work on developing the idea more thoroughly to determine whether it fits your current and future circumstances and goals. You will also work through exercises to distinguish ideas from viable opportunities. Key activities include:

• Idea development and researching the market opportunity
• Opportunity analysis and business model design
• Resource Planning

Stage 2: Launch

Market entry is often undertaken in a soft launch, or soft open, within a limited market to minimize exposure to unforeseen challenges. As an entrepreneur, you are presenting your new venture to a specific market to see how well it is received and supported. You might make last-minute adjustments at this stage, but the crucial part is to see how the market reacts to your venture. This is an excellent time to scrutinize all aspects of your business for solutions to unexpected problems and improvements in efficiencies, and to track customer reactions to your venture. Key activities include:

• Assessing management structure and needs
• Managing cash flow
• Monitoring progress and making adjustments as necessary

Stage 3: Growth

The growth stage includes making decisions that support the future growth of your venture. In the growth stage, your decisions reflect the scalability of your venture. There is a big difference between a small-scale venture and a venture that must handle significant levels of sales. At this point, your organizational structure needs an update. You might need new functional levels, such as a finance department, or a human resources department, or perhaps an assistant manager. Other considerations include the size of your facilities. Is the current size, or capacity, appropriate for the growth of the venture? Other questions relate to the appropriateness of your suppliers or inventory providers. Are quality and delivery time meeting your needs? Is the payment system appropriate for your venture? In this stage, you should also monitor the growth of your venture and make appropriate adjustments. For instance, if your venture is not growing as expected, then you might go back to your business plan and see what adjustments you can make. Key activities include:

• Managing the venture
• Making key adjustments, as needed
• Further research and due diligence, as needed

Stage 4: Maturity

In the maturity stage, your venture has moved into the maintenance phase of the business life cycle. Entrepreneurs monitor how a venture is growing and developing according to the business plan, and its projections and expectations. Depending on your situation, you still will need to take action to support the venture. Even if the venture is operating efficiently and in a predictable manner, external changes could compel you to change your venture, for example, by making improvements to the product or service, finding new target markets, adopting new technologies, or bundling features or offerings to add value to the product.

One of the key points to understand at this stage is that ventures can, and often do, fail. Entrepreneurship is about taking calculated risks to achieve a reward. Sometimes your venture may not turn out how you planned. Keeping an open mind and learning from experience presents new opportunities for either changes to the existing venture or even a new venture. Key activities include:

• Strengthening market position
• Awareness and willingness to change
• Reaping return on investment (ROI)

Stage 5: Harvest

At some point, your company may outgrow your dreams, ambitions, or interests. At this stage, you are harvesting or collecting the most return on your investment while planning how to retire or make a transition away from this venture. Many entrepreneurs enjoy the excitement of starting and building a venture but are less interested in the routine aspects of managing a company. In the field of entrepreneurship, the entrepreneurial team creates a venture with the goal of harvesting that venture. Harvesting is the stage when all your hard work and ingenuity are rewarded through a sizable return on the invested money, time, and talents of the startup team, including any investors. During this stage, the entrepreneurial team looks for the best buyer for the venture to achieve both a return on investment and a match for the continued success of the venture. Key activities include:

• Identifying what the entrepreneurial team, and investors, want out of the venture, their ROI
• Planning for your future: What’s next on your entrepreneurial journey?

Stage 6: Exit

The exit stage is the point at which your venture either has fulfilled its purpose as a harvested success that is passed along to the next generation of business owners or has not met your needs and goals. These two situations give rise to vastly different scenarios. In the harvesting of the venture, you might receive a sizable cash payment, or a combination of cash payment and a minority share of stock in the venture’s buyout. In an exit that reflects the closing of the venture, your option is most likely liquidation of assets, which you would sell to pay off any remaining creditors and investors. In both harvesting and liquidation, the challenge for you as an entrepreneur can be to accept the emotional withdrawal from a venture that has consumed your thoughts, time, and energy. The time has come for you to step out of the picture and allow the venture to be cared for by a new owner or to close the venture completely. Key actions in this stage include:

• Exit strategy and plan
• Transition to the next generation of owners

Stage 7: Rebirth

In the rebirth phase, the entrepreneur decides to seek out another new venture to begin the process all over again. As an experienced entrepreneur, you can create a new type of venture or develop a new spin-off of your original venture idea. At this point, you have become a serial entrepreneur, an entrepreneur who becomes involved in starting multiple entrepreneurial ventures. Key activities include:

• Redesigning or creating a new venture
• Bringing in a new entrepreneurial team or the team from the previous venture

Networking for entrepreneurs

When you begin thinking about your new and exciting entrepreneurial venture, you may feel somewhat like the citizens of Key West did many years ago—isolated. No matter which way you turn, you eventually come to the end of your limited community, and what you have is not enough. You can either sit on the beach and dream about what could be or commence working on building personal and professional connections to broaden your scope and improve the depth of relationships with those individuals who will assist you in becoming a successful entrepreneur. Now is the time to start building bridges and connecting yourself with the greater business community. Networking is about building bridges not about collecting tolls.

For an entrepreneur, networking is finding and establishing relationships with business professionals with whom you can exchange information, ideas, and products; more importantly, you can claim these networks as trusted business colleagues. Be ready to use the networks you already have. A good way to get started is to begin brainstorming a list of people who can help you along the entrepreneurial path. These potential trusted advisors will be beneficial to you as you develop your idea and start your business. In these early stages, you will encounter challenges and obstacles in many areas. Having a “go-to” list of dependable consultants can help you find solutions, reduce mistakes, and hasten your success in your new business. Anyone can be on that list—don’t exclude anyone, no matter how unlikely it seems that you will need their expertise. People you already know have knowledge and skills. They can be a valuable resource.

On the other hand, you too have knowledge and skills. You too can be a valuable resource. That is why you are starting your own business or developing a new product. Begin connecting with people who need you, perhaps even people who need you more than you currently need them. Present yourself as the expert, not the salesperson to be avoided at all costs. Become known as the “go-to” person: the person others will seek out and put on their list of experts. When you become respected as the professional expert, success will follow.

Campus Networks

During your college years, you will have many opportunities to make connections with new people. Taking advantage of these opportunities allows you to perfect your skills in initiating and developing new and even lifetime connections. You can establish new friendships with roommates, classmates, social club members, special interest groups, academic organizations, competitive and intramural athletic teams, and many others. All of these groups not only encourage new social relationships but also foster opportunities for developing and improving leadership skills.

Chances to meet and work with new people abound on college campuses. Figure 14.2 shows some of the many social networking opportunities on college campuses.

Local Organizations

Every community includes groups of individuals who have something in common. People group themselves together around shared beliefs, objectives, responsibilities, goals, or situations. Joining a local organization can place thousands of potential connections within your reach. Before seeking acceptance into a specific group, consider the type of group that fits your own personal and professional goals, and what you can contribute to the group’s continuity.

An open group has a fluid membership; people may freely join or separate at any given time. Open groups tend to be informal, operate around a loose structure, and frequently focus on a personal or social cause. Open-membership groups include activities-oriented groups such as bridge clubs, scrapbooking groups, or photography clubs. Some open groups, such as Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD) or People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), focus on a specific topic or cause.

A closed group typically has either formal or informal criteria that you must meet before you can become a full member. Some organizations require sponsorship by a current member. Examples of closed groups include religious organizations, homeowners’ or renters’ associations, community performing arts groups, or sports groups.

Some community groups have features common to both open and closed groups. These hybrid groups have barriers or criteria that you must meet prior to joining, but those barriers are low, and prospective members can easily meet the criteria. Frequently, low barriers are an administrative feature to distinguish between participants who are serious about the group’s activities and those who have an impulsive interest with no long-term commitment to the cause. Table 14.1 shows the differences among open, closed, and hybrid groups.

Groups that have a formal legal structure, an oversight board, and a professional management staff are more effective than those groups that are impulsively formed around a good idea. Professionally organized groups have skilled employees who set long-term goals and handle day-to-day activities. With the increase in structure and management, costs increase. To cover employee wages and benefits along with operational expenses of the group, many professional groups have membership dues and revenue-generating activities that members are expected to participate in. Some professional groups are self-supporting, whereas others are joint efforts among local and regional governments, universities, and the private sector.

One of the most successful private-public partnerships is the chamber of commerce arrangement. Local business entities establish a chamber of commerce organization to enhance the local community while expanding their own businesses. In some instances, the local government provides some type of monetary support for the chamber, but the chamber is neither an agency nor a function of government. For major community events, business members of a local chamber of commerce may provide their employees as volunteer staff who use their professional skills to organize and plan the event’s activities. The community benefits, because a professionally managed event is held with minimal labor costs. The company receives publicity and exposure to potential customers within the local community at nominal costs. A close working partnership between the local chamber of commerce and government can produce outcomes that are mutually beneficial to local businesses and community citizens.

Trade associations are formed within specific industries and concentrate their efforts on issues and topics particular to one trade, profession, or philosophy. Functional trade associations include auto mechanics (Automotive Maintenance Repair Association, amra.org), architects (the Association of Licensed Architects, https://www.alatoday.org/), and marketing professionals (American Association of Advertising Agencies, aaaa.org). Education groups, such as the Association of American Educators, focus on defining competencies and qualifications for teachers and publicly advocating for standards and regulations that affect teachers. Specialized groups also form associations, such as the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Entrepreneurs who are looking for a franchise opportunity might consider an association that caters to franchisees, such as the International Franchise Association (franchise.org) or the American Association of Franchisees and Dealers (aafd.org). Companies interested in “going green” can join the Green Business Network at Green America (greenamerica.org/gbn/). The American Retirement Association (usaretirement.org) or AARP (formerly the American Association of Retired Persons, aarp.org) target retired individuals. Whatever the profession or industry, a trade association is certain to emerge to provide standards, training, support, and services to industry professionals and to be the industry’s collective voice to legislatures and government officials in establishing regulations, laws, and licensure qualifications.

Businesses need a steady supply of new customers to replace former customers who no longer have an active relationship with them. The main purpose of networking groups is to help entrepreneurs gain new customers. These groups come in all kinds and sizes. Business Network International (BNI, www.bni.com) is dedicated to providing qualified referrals to members. BNI limits its membership to only one person per industry or profession. Members are expected to exchange contact information regarding a qualified potential customer.

Meetup (meetup.com) is a platform where people can meet others with similar wants and interests in an electronic or face-to-face engagement. Meetup’s groups are social or professional, business or entertainment, or relational or transactional. Anyone can start a Meetup group if one doesn’t already exist for their needs or interests. Each group’s founders or members make the rules.

Whether a new entrepreneur needs a lot of support and guidance during the early stages of firm development, or a mature organization needs new potential customers, local organizations can provide an avenue to close connections and professionals who are committed to the local community and its businesses and people. As with all decisions, you must assess each opportunity in terms of the cost of membership and involvement in relation to the benefits you will receive over time.

Business incubators are normally associations established by a consortium of local organizations such as a chamber of commerce, local banks and other traditional businesses, and universities to provide complementary support to startup businesses and those in the early stages of development. Services provided may include office space for rent at nominal charges; simple business expertise in accounting, legal matters, and marketing; and management support. Some incubators function as independent organizations, each with its own board of directors, whereas others may be stand-alone units of a university program. One of the best byproducts of being associated with business incubators is the communal contact with all the members’ connections. Business accelerators function much like business incubators. A key difference between incubators and accelerators is equity investment. Business accelerators usually make some type of equity investment in their members’ companies. Because the financial commitment raises the stakes for accelerators, these organizations carefully screen their prospects and select only those businesses that have a reasonable chance of financial success. An entrepreneur who joins an accelerator can expect to receive a lot of support in exchange for a commitment to the organization and a share of the profits. Table 14.2 illustrates the differences between business incubators and accelerators.

Business Incubators and Accelerators

Functional Item	Incubators	Accelerators
Duration	One to five years	Three to six months
Cohorts	No	Yes
Business model	Rent; nonprofit	Investment; can also be nonprofit
Selection	Noncompetitive	Competitive, cyclical
Venture stage	Early or late	Early
Education	Ad hoc, human resources, legal	Seminars
Mentorship	Minimal, tactical	Intense, by self and others
Venture locations	On site	On site

^Table 14.2

Government Agencies

Governments at the federal, state, county, and municipal levels have established agencies and programs to encourage new business development, support new businesses in the early years of operations, and help young businesses mature to the point of self-sustainment. These include the SBA, Small Business Development Centers, Women’s Business Centers, and HUBZones. Figure 14.3 illustrates some of the government agencies that assist small businesses.

 

Small Business Administration

One of the most popular agencies that helps businesses in the startup and early operations stages is the Small Business Administration (SBA). The purpose of the SBA at the macro level is to assist and safeguard small businesses, protect and defend a competitive environment, and fortify the national economy. At the micro level, the SBA helps individuals “start, build, and grow” their businesses and companies through direct counseling, educational seminars and webinars, and public-private partnerships with institutions of higher education and foundations with similar goals and objectives.

Some of the most important activities of the SBA revolve around finances for small businesses. The SBA provides education in finance and money management, and guarantees loans through private lenders for capital, inventory, and startup costs. A business must meet the SBA’s qualifications for funding, but the application and approval of the loan is handled at the local level by officers of a local bank or other SBA-approved financial vendor.

Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs)

Over one thousand SBDCs are funded through state grants with matching funds from the SBA. Most SBDCs are located on the campuses of local colleges or universities. Others are located in entrepreneurial hubs or are connected with business incubator programs. The coordinator of a local SBDC may be an employee of either the university or the organization that provides the office space. SBDC coordinators provide advice and information to small business owners at no charge because their fees and salaries are covered by the grants. Mostly, the coordinators provide information, steer business owners to other sources of information, and provide a context for making operational or strategic decisions.

Women’s Business Centers

The Women’s Business Center (WBC) is a program funded in part or in whole by the SBA to focus specifically on helping women start and operate their own businesses. Women business owners face the same challenges that men encounter, but women normally must add the role of business owner to their list of other personal responsibilities. Also, women have more limitations in access to capital and other financial resources than men typically experience. The WBC can provide support and access to resources that are unique to women. The WBC is operated through independent and educational centers in most states.

HUBZone

A HUBZone is a geographic location that has historically experienced low employment. Many are also low-income areas because of limited transportation or educational opportunities. Through the HUBZone program, the SBA certifies and supports HUBZone businesses in acquiring government contracts and buying opportunities. Businesses that qualify may receive preferences in pricing. Qualifications for HUBZone designation are explained on the SBA/Government Contracting webpage. As of 2018, the federal government’s goal is to award 3 percent of all federal contracting dollars to certified HUBZone business.

Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE)

The Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) is a nonprofit organization based in Herndon, Virginia. SCORE partners with the federal Small Business Administration (SBA) and with retired executives from private businesses to offer education, training, and mentoring to small business owners. According to the SCORE website, it is the largest network of volunteer and expert business mentors, with around 350 chapters. Small business owners can attend a workshop or view training videos available on the website. Templates of financial statements and business and marketing plans are also available on the website. Perhaps the most valuable service SCORE offers is a one-to-one mentoring program that can align a mentor with the specific skills that the business owner needs the most.

Links to Local Networking Resources

• Get Involved NC State – our campus has 823 organizations!
• NC State Student Alumni Ambassadors Program – this is an opportunity for current students to connect with active alumni
• Raleigh Chamber of Commerce Young Professionals Network – for ages 23-39 to connect with the local business community
• Wake County Economic Development – check out incubators and accelerators in the area
• SBTDC at NC State – this is the local chapter which offers free business counseling
• SCORE Raleigh – free business mentoring and education in Raleigh

Personal Reflection

Consider the networks you have already established. How can you actively grow those networks and create new connections that will help further your career?

Attribution

This work builds upon materials originally developed by OpenStax in their publication “Entrepreneurship,” licensed under CC BY 4.0.