Strategic planning:

There are concerns for startup CEOs/founders about how to drive their company to success. Living to kill a lion a day and putting out fires only makes you lose sight of the big picture and goals. In addition, the fear of complicating, losing agility or bureaucratizing sometimes prevents managers from using simple and important tools for their growth. Following instinct is not an option. Strategy helps you understand the business and make choices.

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Why is strategy important?

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Choices are important and necessary for the startup's evolution. Applying simple tools helps entrepreneurs understand their strengths and weaknesses, assess their options, make choices that are best suited to their business, and make decisions based on those choices. It's your map and direction in this uncharted territory. It makes a whole difference to look at patterns to increase the chance of success and shorten paths. We are not talking about complex and long-term strategies, but thinking about strategy in a simpler and more direct way: clear objectives, challenging and relevant goals in a short-term scenario.

Strategy in startups is a constant learning experience, and there may be a review if the results are not satisfactory over time. Fast learning from mistakes, strengthening resilience and the ability to change and correct the organization's path.

How should I develop the business model?

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Startups are born to solve a problem. So, the first step is to plan this new business, stay focused and understand the threats and opportunities ahead. Lean Canvas is a great tool to structure your new venture, setting the ground for you to understand your business model and communicate to your team.

But, to walk in this new territory, it is necessary to define the route to the arrival point and organize your trip. Choosing the best path to take, estimating the time, developing more productive routes with less risk, support points, in short, strategic planning connects the vision with the execution plan.

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How to implement strategic planning?

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When we talk about strategic planning, the three levels are important: the strategic to guide the vision, the tactical to break that vision into smaller action plans, and the operational to carry the plans to execution.
Purpose definition is the central part of strategy development. The vision of the future and the values ​​guide the team to push in the same direction on clear bases.

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Understanding the company's external and internal environment, strengths and weaknesses can help capture opportunities and defend against threats. The crosswise SWOT matrix (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) helps in this process.

Smart, measurable goals and objectives bring materiality to this strategy. Its execution will be drawn in the action plan, which specifies the role of each person on this path and the resources needed to put all the planned actions into practice.
invested.

MARKET VISION

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Many articles, insights and webinars have commented and written about startups, but not so much about the importance of strategic choices for this type of venture.

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Need for agility and uncertainty about the success of the product/idea are reasons for not exploring strategic alternatives, that is, the vast majority follow the first practical path that comes to mind, leaving aside the deliberation and planning that accompany a careful strategy.

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The so-called “death valley” of startups is full of good ideas that didn't move forward for several reasons. The 90% rate of startups that fail is scary!

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No methodology, advice or mentoring seems to be enough to change this picture and there really is no silver bullet. Understanding your business and using the best management practices in its various stages should not be overlooked and are important tools to minimize business risks.

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LEAN SOLUTIONS

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DMS PARTNERS / LEAN SOLUTIONS supports the process of growth and structuring of STARTUPS with products aimed at solving the pain and anxieties of new managers, in an agile way and respecting the evolution in the different stages of the startup: company and team management; go-to-market/marketing; branding; strategy/governance.