Setting the Stage for a Successful Startup: Tips for Scaling User Growth

Scalability is somewhat of a holy grail for startups given the power it promises. Namely, if there was a single thing that could guarantee a successful and long startup life, it would definitely be a scalable business model.

Even investors themselves often say that scalable startups are those they’re most likely to invest in simply because they can potentially multiply their revenue at low initial cost.  Such business models may seem like a myth, but we’ve witnessed many startups achieving the perfect scalability successfully.

For example, do you know the legendary story about three former PayPal employees? They came up with an idea of building a service for streaming dating videos online, and in the course of only 18 months, they earned US$1.65 billion in stock.

So, do you know who these pioneers were? You’ve probably guessed correctly.

Following this model, especially with respect to the fact that the initial investment in YouTube was US$3.5 million, investors started looking for this sort of scalability, the one that multiplies the revenue beyond any belief in a record period of time.

When this fabled term transcends to the almost equally mythological user growth, it’s not hard to comprehend how popularity delivers revenue, since it all comes down to numbers. Accordingly, all startups are equally worried about scalability of both their user growth and income, since those two are inseparable.

So let’s examine how you should set the stage for your successful startup, and ensure your user growth.

#1 Intelligent Strategy Implementation

The majority of business models are too concentrated on consumers, while the others are devoting too much time addressing investors. Finding the perfect balance between the two is what you should be looking for, so when you are tweaking up those key factors, always keep in mind that one change reflects the other. Suffice to say, you do need to have both ends in a perfect sync.

First of all, never try to sell your idea solely because your friends believe it’s great. Back up your pitch with statistics and consult studies from confirmed sources. Don’t be afraid to steal those resources from other startups and trace those models back to their initial idea. Who did they consult with? What piece of information certified the need for that product on the market?

Delivering reliable market research is the crucial piece of evidence for investors, and if you are using a source which already helped one company succeed, your investors will gladly back up the idea. Start looking here.

On the other hand, you always need to be aware of the fact your consumers are used to certain standards. Don’t try to be too innovative, and again, feel free to mimic certain companies. A great part of a user-friendly interface implies that you are presenting your product in a familiar setting.

For example: why do we use QWERTY keyboards? Because it makes sense? It doesn’t, we’ve just embraced this model back in year 1873, because this type of design separates frequently used letters, and rods of those letters used to get stuck if someone would try to type fast. Till this day, we are using the same design despite the fact that there are many other practical models, simply because we accustomed to it generations ago and we don’t want to alter our familiar surroundings.

Be advised that even if you have a groundbreaking, revolutionary idea, you should never expect millions of people to embrace your way of thinking. Perhaps you are smarter than most of us! You have an excellent idea and have the guts to get involved in serious ventures, while we are stuck on our everyday jobs waiting for your product to make our lives more bearable. Study the psychology of bounce rates, and tune up your product before you get it out on the market.

Of course, all this should be done after you make sure you’ve picked a brandable name for your company because this will later significantly influence your growth strategies.

In short, your strategy needs to address the needs of both investors and consumers. Nourish our egos, count on our laziness, and offer something beneficial for all.

#2 Growth Rates

As an entrepreneur, you need to be able to guide, organize and manage. You may have some astonishing ideas, but you need people under you to implement them all. Start from yourself and focus your energy to organize your every single day to be productive and prosperous.

Outsource everything you can, starting from software engineering. However, always remember the golden rule which is – test everything thoroughly before any presentation. One more thing that you should absolutely outsource is marketing. That is online marketing to be precise, and this factor will prove itself as fundamental for your scalability of user growth.

SEO

You need to be on that first page of Google when people start looking for the service you provide. An intelligent content marketing will drive hundred of users to your door, or your website. Learn to love white hat techniques since all of the other ones will eventually get your online presence penalized and drive your business and scalability to the point of nonexistence.

Conversions

Once you do get traffic on your website, a whole different level of optimization is needed to convert visitors to customers. First of all, you need a unique form of presence, like the one domain.me provides, because consumers relate to original and branded products. The productivity of a successful form of conversion marketing is easily measured by dividing the numbers of visitors and acquired prospects. We cannot start discussing this part before addressing your product, or your target market, but a general advice is to always use tools for data-driven marketing.

Virality

Always stay connected. Link your social media profiles, make yourself accessible and always respond to comments. There are more than 2 billion of us using social media on a daily basis, and it’s easy to understand that you are missing significant numbers by disregarding your Facebook and Twitter profiles. Recently, Instagram became bigger than Twitter, so look up that as well. Paid ads are always an option, but we are all aware that business thrives on emotions, and this part will require a level of a personal involvement.

By following these several steps, you should have a solid foundation for your future scalability of growth rates. One last piece of advice is to always plan for a never ending venture and expansion in advance.