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Startup : a definition derived from the ecosystem

The word “startup”, although a “buzzword” for years, is a term whose contours are often difficult to define. A startup is the start of an entrepreneurial activity that aims at the top of its market. This clearly shows that “startup” is therefore a phase in the life of a company. Steve Blank defines a startup as follows: “A startup is an organization formed to seek a business model that is repeatable and scalable.” It is therefore an ephemeral organization. Even so, many startups that have largely passed the start-up stage have kept the fundamentals that we will detail here. To better understand the definition of startup, it is necessary to detail the criteria that qualify a startup company:

• A problem: the startup addresses a problem found on the market. This problem must meet several criteria:
  
• there exists (no false problem that has been imagined from a solution) it is clearly definable, otherwise it is not a problem it is important: a group of people must have this problem (ex: industrial companies (B2B) or people who own a dog (B2C)) it is difficult to solve: few people work to solve a difficult problem it is obvious: it must be recognized by the people who suffer of this PB (“Oh yeah! Every day I have this problem and it's very annoying!”
  Slack started noticing the absence of collaborative messaging in companies, creating daily friction in the management of projects and internal communication.

• The proposed solution: whether at the level of the product, the process, the method and/or the economic model, the startup must offer an innovative solution, i.e. new to the market.
  When Uber enters the market for vehicles with drivers, there is no service that allows you to book a driver in real time from your smartphone, knowing precisely the waiting time, the price of the trip as well as the driver's reputation score.
  

• The revenue model: it must be scalable, that is to say capable of scaling up. The startup aims for an exponential income uncorrelated to the evolution of expenses (see diagram)
  

• A company like Spendesk, a leader in business expense management, is a good example of the scalability of the revenue model. Spendesk is capable of addressing thousands of BtoB customers with a team of a hundred people. The evolution of Spendesk's customer portfolio is not correlated strictly with the growth of its workforce.
  

• Market entry: The startup quickly experiments with its market to validate (or not) the need. If the need is not validated, the startup can “pivot” and find a new value proposition based on the knowledge acquired during the experiment. The accumulation of knowledge on the market (needs, psychology of buyers, frustrations...) allows the startup to refine the proposed solution so that it corresponds to a need really expected by the market.
  

The founders of Slack were initially working on a video game project that did not really meet its market when they realized that there was no collaborative solution for teamwork. They therefore “dug” this hypothesis to produce the application we know today.

The robot portrait successful startups

Let's be clear, there is no magic formula for launching a successful startup. However, the majority of startups that show significant and sustainable growth share a number of characteristics. Without representing an absolute truth, we will detail the fundamentals that increase the probability of success of a startup:

• the team: this is the starting point for any startup: building a team of entrepreneurs capable of addressing an unresolved problem in a market in tension. The team that becomes a “dream team” often has the following model:
  
• complementarity: the founders are complementary in terms of skills. The classic model with 3 founders with 1 CEO (Chief Executive Officer) in charge of business/marketing, 1 CPO (Chief Product Officer) in charge of the product and a CTO (Chief Technical Officer) in charge of technical development is quite widespread.
• learning ability: successful teams have demonstrated a strong ability to learn quickly, to understand their market, to detect the needs of their target and to act accordingly.
• resilience: most of the startups that make the headlines did not leave with a bang. The team often searched for several months or even several years (e.g. BlaBlaCar) for the model and value proposition corresponding to the real expectations of their market. The team had to go through difficult periods during its early years. It was therefore able to test its ability to resist the adversity of the market and the difficulty of making its place in it.

• The project and the technology: it is obvious that the nature of the project related to the technology used are criteria for predicting future success. Some technologies sometimes have the wind in their sails in terms of media but do not really meet their market. Others are less exposed but are better established at the operational level.
  

• the market addressed: The size, maturity, structure, and uses of a market are powerful indicators to predict the success or not of a startup solution. It is complicated to enter a technologically mature market saturated with offers... unless the startup develops a sufficiently disruptive innovation. On the other hand, markets that have not yet undergone a profound digital and technological transformation are clearly markets with high potential.
  
  But how do you do market research when you are a startup? Or even before getting started? Today, with LinkedIn or Facebook, nothing could be easier to test a value proposition. Make different ads and test your value proposition by comparing CTRs: You will save a lot of time and a lot of time by avoiding doing traditional market research...
  

The main sectors BtoB startups

Each sector of activity or market includes a certain number of startups addressing the needs of businesses. Startups therefore find themselves players in a specific ecosystem. Here we list a number of sectoral ecosystems:

Startup : how do I find the right solution for my needs?

The startup ecosystem is very dynamic: every day, startups are created, raised funds, bought... Although specialized media relay the news, it is complicated to qualitatively follow the innovation news in your sector. The “noise” around the startup ecosystem often hides the essential information you need to know about the solutions that are (and will) innovate in your market. It is not uncommon to feel overwhelmed by this heterogeneous flow of information and to be unable to process the information: to know how to separate the useful from the superfluous.

With AirSaaS, you are in control: you build your personal network to connect to innovation by following the startups that make sense for your business. Thus, you get out of the “ambient hustle and bustle” to receive qualitative, accurate and interesting information.

In addition, if you need to go deeper into understanding a solution (request for documentation, customer references, case studies...) you can make a request directly from the file of the startup in question. Request processed quickly to provide you with information that is useful to you.

The 1st collaborative network of startups BtoB for businesses

You are often looking for startup solutions for your business. Depending on its size, you may not be the only person. It is then useful to pool everyone's research in order to structure an internal information network on startup innovations.

With AirSaaS, you can invite your colleagues to a workspace dedicated to your organization. Thus, you benefit from functionalities allowing you to share information, to question your colleagues in a discussion thread to enrich the knowledge of the organization.

As an individual, you can follow the startups of your choice by creating dedicated lists according to your criteria. You will then be sure not to miss any of the news about startups present in your lists.

Defining itself as the Linkedin of innovation, AirSaaS is the 1st network that connects businesses to BtoB startups around the world.‍