1. Starting a New Venture

Written By Editors Unbuilt Labs
starting a new venture mockup 2.jpg

by Marvin Cheung, Head of Research and Strategy

About the Best Practice Series

We advise a wide range of clients at the Venture Strategy Group from first time entrepreneurs to Fortune 500 Executives. The Best Practice Series establishes a clear bottom line on ambiguous topics to help busy professionals acquire a more holistic understanding of technology. There is enough material for a semester-long course in each of the course books, but you can also skim through it in a few hours and gain a high level idea of the topic. Wherever possible, we have referenced sources in the public domain to make the experience accessible to a wider audience. Feel free to sign up for an advising session if you want to explore a topic further.

Schedule a Free Introductory Advising Session

An Introduction to Innovation

Whether you are an entrepreneur or intrapreneur, innovation is challenging. This is often compounded by what is at stake personally and professionally. When a venture comes to an end, feelings get hurt, money goes down the drain, and careers fall apart. This Course Book is just as much about preparing for success as it is about preparing for failure. At the very least, we want to save you from needing to travel to Los Angeles and reinvent yourself.

In our first Coursebook, we outline the milestones you should expect when you are building a new venture. We connect user-driven MVP best practices with traditional risk management frameworks and emerging social impact strategies. We also discuss ways to prepare for incubators and accelerators. Recognizing the difficulties of innovation, we conclude this Course Book with a section on how to bow out with grace.

Recommended reading:

Content:

  1. Identifying opportunities: What is innovation?

  2. Is this idea worth pursuing? Should I quit my day job?

  3. Why now? Why this? Why you? Why bother?

  4. Principles, Risk Management and Social Impact Strategy

  5. How do I build an ESG-conscious venture?

  6. If I decide to pursue an idea, what are the milestones I should aim for?

  7. What should our MVP look like? How might we test our product with close to no budget?

  8. How and when should I find a co-founder?

  9. Which incubator program should I apply to? What should my pitch deck look like?

  10. How to bow out with grace

1. Identifying opportunities: What is innovation? 

Consider these three excerpts:

1. Excerpt from Howard Becker’s essay “Creativity is not a scarce commodity”

“We ordinarily call an action or an object creative when we think it’s unusual, different from what other people would do or produce given the same problem to solve. We also mean, though we usually state this thought less explicitly, that the idea is not foolish or silly or unworkable, at least not in principle. When ideas seem silly or foolish or unworkable to us, we don’t call them ‘creative’. We use some less approving word, like ‘dumb’ or ‘weird’ or ‘useless’. [..] 

Ordinary observation shows us that what is scarce is not the fact of creativity—of some kind of activity unlike what others have done before—but rather the activity of labeling something ‘creative.' If we look around us in the most ordinary situations of daily life we see people being creative—doing original things no one ever did quite that way before—all the time. Once we separate the originality of an idea or an action, as seen from a conventional viewpoint, from the judgment others make of its originality and creativity, we can look for expressions of creativity everywhere. We will find them.” 

2. Excerpt from Robert Friedel’s essay “Serendipity is no accident”

“In science there are at least three distinctive forms of serendipity. [...] The types may be characterized with names that suggest their most significant historical associations: Columbian, Archimedean, and Galilean. Columbian serendipity is the most straightforward. When one is looking for one thing, but finds another thing of value, and recognizes that value [...] In his own mind, he thought that he had found just what he had been looking for, a better route to the Indies. But the result - the European knowledge of the New World - is still intimately associated with his efforts. [...] Archimedean serendipity is just as important to science and technology, although it is often less readily recognized. [...] He did not take a bath with solving that problem as his immediate goal, but the solution - accidentally derived - was evident to him nonetheless and was indeed much sought after. [...] This was, in fact, something he had been seeking for almost ten years, although the act of discovery was itself ‘accidental’ [...] Galilean serendipity is less widely recognized as ‘accidental’ [...] When Galileo pointed the optics of a good spyglass towards the heavens, it is not clear what he expected to see. [...] Time and again in science we see this facility for using new instruments or capabilities to generate surprises.”

3. Excerpt from Peter Drucker’s essay “Sources of innovation”

“Consider, first, the easiest and simplest source of innovation opportunity: the unexpected success or failure. [...] Incongruities are the next source of innovation opportunity. [...] Such an incongruity within the logic or rhythm of a process is only one possibility out of which innovation opportunities may arise. [...] Another source is incongruity between economic realities. For instance, whenever an industry has a steadily growing market but falling profit margins. [...] An incongruity between expectations and results can also open up for innovation. [...] The next innovation opportunity is process need - that is perfecting an already existing process by replacing a weak link or creating a new link. [...] Another source of innovation opportunity is industry and market changes. [...] New opportunities rarely fit the way the industry has always approached the market, defined it or organized to serve it. [...] Of all the innovation opportunities, demographics are among the most reliable. That’s because demographic events have known lead times; for instance, every person who will be in the American labor force by the year 2035 has already been born. [...] A change in perception does not alter facts. It changes their meaning, though - and very quickly. [...] What determines whether people see a glass as half full or half empty is mood rather than fact, and a change in mood often defies quantification. [...] Among history-making innovations, those that are based on new knowledge - whether scientific, technical or social - rank high. [...] Knowledge-based innovations differ from all others, however, in the time they take, in their casualty rates and in their predictability as well as in the challenge they pose. Like most superstars, they can be temperamental, capricious and hard to direct. And they have the longest lead time of all innovations - often decades.”

Worksheet: “Brainstorming Startup Ideas”

2. “Is this idea worth pursuing? Should I quit my day job?”

Do not quit your day job pre-MVP! That said, make sure to check your employment agreement regarding your rights to intellectual property and other details that might limit your ability to embark on a new venture.

When founders ask the question “Is this idea worth pursuing?”, oftentimes, the idea has already passed a basic gut test - it seems like a decent idea, but you are not sure whether or not to commit to it. 

The first question to ask is whether or not you want to do it. If the venture goes awry in 3 months, would you be glad you still gave it a go? If not, is there some way you can align your personal goals with your idea?

There are also practical concerns. How would you rate your access to Financial Capital, Human Capital, Social Capital, and Intellectual Capital?

  • Financial capital: Based on back of the envelope calculations, how much time or money do you want to spend on this new venture? Are you planning to be in a highly regulated industry such as Finance or Healthcare? 

  • Human capital: Are you a good judge of character? Do you have management experience? Do you enjoy working with others?

  • Social capital: Do you have trusted advisors in your network? Who are the people you can count on? How confident are you in your ability to secure new users or customers?

  • Intellectual capital: How much industry experience or expertise do you have? 

Worksheet: “Pre-MVP Capital” 

3. Why now? Why this? Why you? Why bother? 

As you move further into the process, you will create a Pitch Deck and a PRD (Product Requirements Document). At a preliminary stage, however, we recommend taking three months or so to research your market and put together a one-page Google Doc. At a high level, you want to focus on these four questions: why now, why this, why you, and why bother. 

  • Why now is a question about context. A solution needs to respond to certain pain points in an industry. Although some truly groundbreaking startups have made industries by offering a solution people did not realize they needed, they had to take on the additional challenge of educating their customers. Why now is also a question about timing. How urgently do people need the solution? How motivated are they to learn and use it?

  • Why this is a question about your solution: is the solution an appropriate response to the problem? While it might be tempting to respond to every challenge with more technology, traditional or low-tech methods may in fact be cheaper to develop and more effective. 

  • Why you is a question about your network, experience, and ability. There is a steep learning curve for first-time founders: most people would have had very little experience managing cross-functional projects. Can you effectively lead and support a cross functional team? How will you differentiate yourself from the many entrepreneurs in a crowded market? 

  • Why bother is a question about your personal motivations and the solution’s appeal. Be honest with yourself about why you are pursuing this venture. Career development, social impact etc. are great answers; just wanting to make more money is entirely okay too. If you are interested in finding VC funding, you also need to answer questions like: How profitable will the solution be? Is the solution scalable? How quickly will you be able to grow the business? What is the total addressable market? Keep in mind that there is nothing wrong with solutions that do not scale so well but is still profitable eg. starting a small business or private practice.

This is a low-pressure way to explore ideas, so do not be afraid to make mistakes or pivot. We elaborate on business strategies, pricing strategies, compiling a PRD etc. in the 

At the end of this process, you should be able to summarize your document into a relatively concise statement like: “Customer X needs Y but only Z is available. This is because of A. As a result, we hypothesize that they will be interested in solution B. Our team is uniquely positioned to develop it because of C.”

Recommended readings: 

Worksheets:



4. Principles, Risk Management and Social Impact Strategy

“Without principles we would be forced to react to all the things life throws at us individually, as if we were experiencing each of them for the first time. If instead we classify these situations into types and have good principles for dealing with them, we will make better decisions more quickly and have better lives as a result. [...] The principles you choose can be anything you want them to be as long as they are authentic—i.e., as long as they reflect your true character and values. [...] you must be clear about your principles and then you must ‘walk the talk’.” - Ray Dalio

When you are embarking on a new venture, we recommend going beyond  “Why now? Why this? Why you? Why bother?” to evaluate an idea. Consider the following:

  • Does your idea align with your values? You can assess this through a Misuse Scenario brainstorming session. It can be as simple as asking: What is the absolute worst thing somebody can use your product for? How might we prevent misuse? For a more thorough review, brainstorm with reference to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.

  • Does the business model and technology you use align with your values? How will the way you operate impact underserved or historically underrepresented communities?

  • Does the way you manage your team align with your values? We always recommend prioritizing your mental and physical health. How will the work you commit to do affect your team’s health? A communication guide with your team can be simple and effective: Will there be any communications during the weekend? What should the average email reply time be? 

It is important then to compare your thoughts with existing regulations and best practices. How will you build on existing knowledge? Are your standards realistic? Will operating in a more sustainable way require new solutions eg. new business models or technologies?

Ethical behaviour can, but does not always lead to a loss in revenue. We like to reference the carrot and the stick model: with increasing social consciousness, there is a growing group of consumers and employees who are interested in supporting socially responsible businesses; there is also increasing regulations eg. GDPR, CCPA that will penalize undesirable business practices. 

As your organization matures, these principles can then inform the rules-based approach to managing preventable risks. Preventable risks, one of the three categories of risks organizations face as outlined by Robert S. Kaplan and Annette Mikes, are controllable risks from within the organization. This includes unauthorized, illegal, or unethical actions. A guideline, in the form of an employee handbook, can communicate an organization’s values and boundaries.

While external risks ie. risks arising from events outside of the organization are beyond your control, strategy risks can be actively managed. Strategy risks are measured risks undertaken to generate a return. Because each initiative will have its corresponding strategy risks, a rules-based control method will not be sufficient. You can, however, still approach this systematically.

There are known risks common to most startups, such as talent risk, legal risk, IP risk, PR risk, cybersecurity risk, and financial risk. Spend some time brainstorming with the framework below before each business decision:

  1. Risk identification: How might things go wrong?

  2. Risk analysis: How likely will an undesirable event happen? What are the best and worst case scenarios associated with the event?

  3. Risk treatment: Will you avoid, mitigate, transfer, or ignore the associated risks?

  4. Risk monitoring: What are the signals you should pay close attention to?


If you intend to create a social impact venture, you will need to go further by formulating and measuring the intended social effects of your operations. As with most endeavours, you should first conduct a literature review and look into existing case studies before you begin a pilot program. The article by Gwendolyn Reynolds et. al. “A Playbook for Designing Social Impact Measurement” talks about social impact ventures in more detail.  

Recommended readings: 

Worksheets:


5. How do I build an ESG-conscious venture?

As a response to the rise of sustainability, ESG has been developed to bring transparency to a company’s operations with a focus on non-financial factors under the categories of Environmental, Social, and Governance. The EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) came into force on the 10th of March 2021, requiring a wide range of asset managers, including some VC funds, to disclose how sustainability risks are incorporated into decision-making, the principal adverse impact of investments (“PAIs”), and product-level impact, where sustainability is a primary objective. 

Since large-scale adoption of ESG disclosure is quite new, it is unclear at this time how much weight individual funds and investors will give ESG factors or what benchmarks they will adopt. Some investors may ask for extensive ESG metrics, while others may not. It is important to recognize that ESG risks will drastically differ from company to company based on industry and organizational strategy. For example, a startup that uses AI may consume more electricity, thus increasing environmental risks, compared to another startup that does not use AI if all else is equal. SASB’s materiality map is a good starting point for identifying material ESG factors. 

Most industry best practices are established by organizations such as TCFD, GRI, and SASB. At a basic level, TCFD focuses on organizational strategy, GRI focuses on broader operational metrics, and SASB focuses on financial metrics. Below we have provided practical guidelines for leaders looking to get ahead of change and prepare for ESG disclosure. 

  1. Compliance: You should always consult your legal counsel on the specific requirements based on your organization’s size, countries where you have operations, and your investors’ needs. For most pre-IPO startups, unlisted companies, or SMEs, your ESG disclosure obligations should be minimal. 

  2. Awareness: The management team is conscious of the physical and transitional risks climate change poses to your company’s operations as defined by the TCFD. Physical risks include damages to assets such as warehouses and supply chain disruptions. Transitional risks describe policy, legal, technology, and market changes related to climate change. We recommend examining how your venture will be impacted by climate-related risks and opportunities more closely if you belong to one of the following Non-financial sector groups identified by the TCFD. This includes: Energy, Transportation, Materials and Buildings, as well as Agriculture, Food, and Forest Products. While the TCFD also encourages the use of scenario planning methods to help determine short, medium and long term effects of climate change for 2°C or lower scenarios, there is still little consensus on best practices. If your company belongs to the non-financial sector groups or if you outsource the production of any physical goods, you should also be aware of certain human right concerns within ESG such as child labour or forced labour. This involves more rigorous vendor risk management programs and increased supply chain transparency. For more information, see GRI Standards 408-414, and UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

  3. Transparency: Most technology companies will be at this level and we recommend it as the bottom line even for new ventures. While many ESG considerations, especially social factors, are at a nascent stage for technology companies, Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and diversity metrics have been at the forefront of the ESG conversation. GHG emissions can be reasonably calculated if you know the amount of electricity you consume on an annual basis, and with the help of the free toolkits provided by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. Diversity metrics across gender, age group, ethnicity, and other minority groups should be regularly reported by your HR department. Cavalry, a well regarded VC in Germany, has a basic ESG questionnaire that covers GHG, Diversity, and a few other fundamental topics. It serves as a good guide to help technology companies begin thinking about ESG. While public disclosure is more in line with the ethos of operational transparency, a common understanding of ESG metrics internally is oftentimes more than sufficient if there is no other legal requirement. At the very least, the management team should be aware of how the company is performing on core ESG issues. For more information on GHGs, see GRI Standards 302, 305; For more information on Diversity, see GRI standards 405, 406. FinTech and InsurTech companies may be subjected to additional AI Ethics regulations depending on where they operate; UX and UXR Ethics standards are mostly self-enforced. We will elaborate on both topics in other Coursebooks, but they currently do not fall under the topic of ESG. 

  4. Active management: Once there is transparency, the management team can begin to take action. For most new ventures, we recommend beginning diversity initiatives early and staying away from GHG-intensive processes whenever possible. This is not as simple as it sounds. For example, if employees work from home, will they emit more or less GHG? How much of the employee’s GHG at home should be counted towards the company’s total GHG? What if employees need to make more long distance business trips? While some back of the envelope calculations suggest the WFH will reduce GHG, precise data is challenging to obtain since each firm has their own WFH policy. As a rule of thumb, start tracking and managing sustainability risks where data is readily available and acknowledge assumptions when you communicate the data. For existing ventures, transitioning from GHG-intensive processes or infrastructure will take time and deliberate planning. Carbon offsetting programs can help in the short term. Actively managing ESG risks and opportunities will help prepare you for public ESG disclosures. A formal audit, control system, domain expertise and dedicated personnel will be necessary if you intend to secure a leadership role in the sustainability space.

  5. Impact-first: Impact-first ventures do not only use sustainability as a way of reducing harm but they actively seek to create a positive impact. These tend to fall under the category of social enterprises and are incredibly difficult to achieve unless they have been purposefully formulated to do so from the start. There are also a lot of nuances. For example, what if you achieve a positive impact in one area eg. by hiring minorities, and create a negative impact in another area eg. by using a GHG-intensive process? How much of a positive impact do you need to make and how do we view the intermediary steps we need to make in order to arrive at that benchmark? How will you prioritize impact and generate market-rate returns for your investor? GIIN’s IRIS+ sets the current standard for impact investment. 

While we certainly would like to see more ventures do well and do good, there is still a long way to go. We often say that sustainability is a value-driven process. Committing to understand the unintended consequences of your company’s operations is a good first step, no matter where you are at your journey.

Recommended Readings:

Worksheet: “Preliminary ESG Assessment”



6. “If I decide to pursue an idea, what are the milestones I should aim for?”

After reviewing existing literature and risks, you want to put the idea to action. 

“Starting a new business is essentially an experiment. Implicit in the experiment are a number of hypotheses (commonly called assumptions) that can be tested only by experience. The entrepreneur launches the enterprise and works to establish it while simultaneously validating or invalidating the assumptions. Because some will be dead wrong and others partially wrong, an important goal of the business plan must be to continually produce and build on new knowledge. Managers must justify moving to each new stage or milestone in the plan on the basis of information learned in the previous stage.” - Zenas Block and Ian C. MacMillan

The high level operational milestones include:

  1. Can you come up with an idea worth pursuing?

  2. Can you attract talent?

  3. Can you build an MVP?

  4. Can you monetize your MVP?

The steps to creating an MVP is not as clear cut since it is an iterative process. Nevertheless, the list below can serve as a guide:

  1. Complete the previous worksheets outlining your basic idea

  2. Register your business and secure any relevant licenses or permits. Y Combinator’s article “Foundations” discusses the common company formation methods.

  3. If you have proprietary technology, you might consider filing a patent application. Patent applications can take one year and up to three years, so you want to factor that time in. 

  4. Begin putting your team together if you have not already done so. Some founders find it easier to communicate their ideas to prospective team members or co-founders through a pitch deck, while others create one just for the fundraising process.

  5. Identify and test as many assumptions as you can pre-MVP. We will explore some of the low budget methods to validate your hypotheses in the next section.

  6. Complete the branding process. Do not forget to copyright your brand assets.

  7. After you have exhausted all existing literature, the last step is to build your MVP. 

Completing the MVP can take anywhere from one to more than three years depending on the industry you are in. As such, there is no “right time” to look for funding or incubator programs. It all depends on what is right for you and your venture. We give a high level overview of the types of incubator programs available and how you can put a pitch deck together in one of the sections below. 

Recommended readings: 

Worksheet: “Pre-MVP Checklist”



7. “What should our MVP look like? How might we test our product with close to no budget?”

Your Minimum Viable Product should be the minimum product necessary to test your most critical assumptions. Oftentimes the assumption is user need. Recall the statement in one of the earlier sections: “Customer X needs Y but only Z is available. This is because of A. As a result, we hypothesize that they will be interested in solution B. Our team is uniquely positioned to develop it because of C.” - Does Customer X really want solution B? Does C give you a competitive advantage?

Henrik Kniberg’s car analogy is frequently quoted to demonstrate what an MVP should look like: If you hypothesize that people need a better mode of transportation than walking, the first iteration should be a skateboard (a board with wheels), followed by a bicycle (increased control), a motorcycle (add automation), and finally a car (for comfort). This is in contrast to if you were to use the same resources to build a car from front to back; in which case, the hypothesis cannot be tested until the car is fully built. 

Testing your MVP does not need to be expensive. Below we have provided a few low-budget ways to do so:

  1. Begin with low-risk, low-cost, qualitative user research methods. Qualitative user research can help you figure out why people act the way they do. What do your mentors think about your idea?

  2. Expand the circle from which you conduct user research. Talk to your users. What do they think about your idea? What do people at social events think about your idea? Is there a user group for your product you were previously unaware of?

  3. Scale your qualitative user research program. Create a landing page describing your idea with a mailing list sign up form and a few mockups. Personally reach out to prospective customers. What feedback are they giving you? How much more developed does the idea need to be before you can release a private beta? Are you targeting the right user group? 

  4. Begin quantitative user research. Quantitative user research can help you quantify how attractive your solution is to your target audience but it can be costly and opaque. When users are interacting with your product online, you can see where they exit a page but it is difficult to tell why they did. You will have to rely on A/B tests and more ads to test your hypotheses if you only use quantitative methods. As such, we generally recommend exhausting your qualitative user research options before you move on to quantitative user research, even then qualitative and quantitative user research needs to go hand in hand. Quantitative is not necessarily better than qualitative. Linkedin, Google Ads, Microsoft Bing Ads are some of the platforms that give free ad credits. 

Recommended reading:


8. “How and when should I find a co-founder?”

We all know the benefits of having co-founders: they can provide a second opinion, balance the founding team, and offer moral support. As ventures scale, however, co-founders can lose faith, change priorities, or have creative differences. Finding the right co-founder with similar principles can be as challenging as finding the right idea to pursue. 

If you are looking for VC funding, note that some incubators might insist that you find a co-founder. There is no deadline per se otherwise. If you feel strongly about being the sole founder, that is okay too.

You can increase your chances of finding a co-founder by increasing your exposure to different entrepreneurs and experts. Because deciding on a co-founder is quite a personal decision, there is no definitive guide. However, we can broadly divide up the opportunities into these categories:

Recommended reading:



9. “Which incubator program should I apply to? What should my pitch deck look like?”

There are a lot of incubators, accelerators, pitch events, hackathons etc. that can provide advice, networking opportunities, recognition, and funding. The main differentiators will be:

  • Organizer: Will it be organized by a corporation, non-profit, or VC?

  • Payment: Will you be paying cash upfront or equity to participate?

  • Length of program: How long will the program last?

  • Point of contact: Will you have regular contact with the Managing Director or advisors?

  • Benefits: Will the program offer mentorship, workspace etc.?

  • Location: Will the program be virtual or do you have to be on site? Does the program provide relocation assistance?

Before you apply to a program, we recommend the following:

  1. Do a basic Google Search and see which program is a good fit for you based on your organization maturity, needs, and industry.

  2. Create a document or spreadsheet with the eligibility criteria and application deadlines for the programs you are interested in. 

  3. Some of the programs will have office hours you can apply to. Get to know the Managing Directors and their perspectives. Was their feedback helpful? Do you see yourself working with them on a regular basis? You can also reach out to Associates, who may be more actively sourcing new deals.

  4. Talk to other ventures similar to yours eg. in the same industry. What was their experience of the program like? How did the program contribute to their success? How did the investors react in difficult situations? Do the founders feel supported? 

You should prepare a binder before you reach out to VCs or attend office hours. We recommend keeping in mind that:

  1. Investors, especially at pitch events, will see many pitch decks in one day. Keep it short: the presentation should be between 3 to 5 minutes, leaving sufficient time for questions and discussions.

  2. Ultimately, the purpose of the pitch deck is to answer the question “Why should we invest in your idea?” There are several things you want to include: the context and problem you are trying to address, your solution and business model, proof of traction and projections (if you have these), as well as your ask. For early stage ventures, there will also be a significant focus on the founding team’s ability and experience. Optimize for legibility, though beautiful graphics are always appreciated.

  3. More mature ventures should be prepared to show accompanying documents, including details of your proof of traction, financial plans, ownership breakdown, and ownership structure of intellectual properties. VCs will conduct further investor due diligence such as reference checks and legal due diligence if the deal moves forward. 

As a closing thought, pay special attention to how transparent the investor is about their investment and due diligence process. If at any point you feel that something is off, you should proceed with caution. Do not forget that bringing on an investor is a long-term business decision - a big brand name can be helpful but might not be what you need. It is also a personal decision - some people are just not a good fit together and that is okay too. The VC Guide provides anonymous reviews of investors by founders: https://www.vcguide.co/ 

Recommended readings:

Worksheets:



10. How to bow out with grace

Pursuing anything new is challenging. Starting a new venture is particularly challenging. If you feel you have given it your best, give yourself a pat on the back. Well done for making it this far!

Before you make the decision to shut down your venture, take a few days off: grab a beer with your friends, walk your dog, go on a hike. 

If you really believe that is the right decision, we support you. Remember how we mentioned that this Course Book is as much about preparing for success as preparing for failure? We actually recommend creating a personal contingency plan whenever you do your venture’s quarterly planning. Keep some distance between you and your venture. You can always start a new venture, but if you cling on to a venture and run it into the ground, it will be much harder for people to support you the next time. 

Details of the dissolution process will be formulated by your lawyers, though we can still paint a picture of how a smooth transition looks like:

  1. Talk to outside advisors and get a second opinion privately. 

  2. Communicate your concerns with your executive team, investors, and advisors early. They might be able to get the venture back on track. Do not be afraid to ask for help.

  3. Review all of your contractual obligations and confirm the dissolution process with your lawyers.  You may also need the assistance of an accountant.

  4. If the decision to close moves forward, your legal team will file the official dissolution documents. Inform your employees as well as customers of your plans tactfully. Let your customers know how they might migrate their services to another company and provide a date for the end of life of the service. Treat your employees with care. Offer career support and severance packages whenever possible.

  5. Finally, the company will move into shutdown mode: collecting money from outstanding accounts, liquidating assets, closing financial accounts etc. During the liquidation process, you may be able to sell the company’s intellectual property or arrange a talent acquisition for your staff and repay your investors. Do as much as you can to support the people around you. Leave on good terms.

What’s next? Know that you will be okay. Spend some time to regroup and reflect on the experience. Some people return to their corporate jobs, others go pursue an advanced degree or become a consultant. If you want to start another venture, you can always give it another go when you are ready!

Recommended readings:

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