Something funding cannot buy.

A while back I decided to give back to the industry I grew up in. I signed up to be a volunteer mentor to some startups. Having started up an agency, a school, and a consultancy, and having worked with countless businesses in all shapes and sizes, I imagined I will have some interesting stories to share with startup founders.

A startup is an invigorating phase, particularly at the very beginning. You’re still flushed with the infinite potential of your idea, made real with a company name, a website and a name card. Then you start to make your first pitch. “What does your company do?” and typically, that’s when it all falls apart (somewhat). More often than not, the response to the question will be a whole mouthful of un-distilled words strung together to sound really interesting.

I am of the humble opinion that before anything else, the immutable first step for any startup will be to define their product. What will this product be? Who will buy into it? What value will it add? How are we delivering this product? What will be memorable about that product? How will you tell people about your product?

Your product (in effect, the thing that will bring in revenue for your business) will define your business, will focus your team, will direct your sales efforts. Should we expand, shall we go after this business, do we give a cut back. Your product and proposition will define that for you.

Too many startups get sidetracked with a million other things – marketing, funding, pipeline, publicity etc - but the only fundamental that will ensure that they stay in business oftens stays at best an evolved delivered product, at worst, an idea (most cases, this happens with service-oriented startups).

Start with your product. Your base one, the one that made you want to start a business, the one that you’re expecting to bring in moolah for your company. The one that you are putting all your aspirations on to make it to primetime. If you’re clear about what you are putting out to the market, it shows in every single line of your marketing, every single image you put out, every pitch you make to anyone you are pitching to.

And you can never be done with defining your product. It will evolve, change, morph. But then at every stage, the definition of that product and every facet that leads out from it shall lead all your business efforts.

Article first published on LinkedIn by Selene Chin.