A 21st-century entrepreneur travels a winding path that contains challenges along with rewards. To improve their chances of success, they should be creative, resourceful, and dedicated to this long-haul venture.
Daniel Shin, a successful serial entrepreneur and the founder and co-CEO of payment orchestrator PortOne Global, has started several successful companies. He shares business start-up insights along with guidance for young business owners.
Snapshot of 4 Crucial Business Startup Activities
Given that building a great business is a long-term commitment, starting a new business is not a task to be taken lightly. Ideally, each young entrepreneur will engage in substantial advance planning work before jumping into the marketplace. Start-ups in every industry should complete these five pre-launch activities.
Complete a Thorough Market Analysis
Learning about the market, and identifying competitors’ offerings, is the essence of good market research. Equipped with this information, the entrepreneur can determine if there are market gaps that their business can fill.
Building the Right Team
In any successful business, building the right team is crucial to growth, development, and the overall sustainability of company ethos and culture. Thus, it is integral for the entrepreneur to surround themselves with trustworthy partners, and seek talent that can complement the team’s skill sets and views.
Create a Comprehensive Business Plan
A well-thought business plan provides a template for organizing and operating the business. This foundational document should define the company’s products and/or services and how it will market them.
The business plan should also state the scope of the firm’s operations and potential expansion. Potential lenders and/or investors also want to see a strong financial section, as that will be required for funding opportunities.
Build the Business’ Brand Identity
In an increasingly crowded marketplace, the business must carve out a distinctive brand identity. The company’s brand should reflect its mission, culture, and product or service focus. A branding expert can help an entrepreneur integrate the company’s brand into its logo, online ads, social media channels, and promotional materials.
Daniel Shin Shares 3 Successful Business Growth Strategies
Serial entrepreneur Daniel Shin currently serves as PortOne Global’s co-Chief Executive Officer. He previously founded TMON (an acronym for Ticket Monster), Korea’s second-largest mobile commerce enterprise.
After his successes with TMON, Daniel Shin co-founded the South Korean business incubator Fast Track Asia. All three companies continue to exceed expectations. Daniel Shin shares several strategies that have contributed to his companies’ growth.
Moving Ahead with a New Idea
When Daniel Shin percolates a new idea, he doesn’t overanalyze it and fail to act. Instead, this successful entrepreneur takes a different tack. “When I have an interesting idea, I’ve generally been quite open to taking the leap.
“Rather than mulling over whether or not to pursue an idea, taking the leap early and finding ways to test the idea in a lean way has worked well. Not that all ideas end up being successful, but through even the failures you can learn valuable lessons as well,” he explained.
Hiring Highly Creative, Enthusiastic Employees
An entrepreneur should hire team members who embrace the company’s vision and mission. Ideally, they will also have boundless enthusiasm and be willing to roll up their sleeves and tackle the hard work needed to move the business forward.
Here, Daniel Shin emphasized that a strong team can be one of a growing company’s biggest assets. These exceptional employees are well-equipped to skillfully reach each key objective. “I’ve generally been laser-focused on finding great talent. Strong teams can execute faster and the faster you execute, the higher the probability you get to the right answer,” Daniel Shin remarked.
Navigating the Specialized FinTech Marketplace
The term “fintech” (short for financial technology) relates to the automation and delivery of diverse financial services. Specially developed software and algorithms, integrated into computers and smartphones, power fintech applications. Large corporations, small businesses, and consumers use fintech technology in varied ways. The retail banking and investment management sectors (among others) use fintech applications.
A fintech is also a technology start-up that seeks to drive some aspect of change in the financial services industry. Fintechs are known to provide better and/or faster service than traditional financial services companies. In addition, fintechs often target underserved population segments and are quick to adapt to changing market conditions.
FinTech’s Pivotal Licensing Issues
Daniel Shin’s PortOne Global is a successful fintech company. He noted that a fintech’s treatment of licensing and regulation can affect the company’s position in the marketplace.
“Fintech is not that different from other startups in that forming strong founding teams and rapidly experimenting to find deep product market fit are key. One unique component of fintech is license and regulation.
“It’s important to determine upfront your strategy around licensing – how license-heavy vs. light you want to be. Being license-heavy means needing to create teams to support the license (government relations, information security, etc.) and needing to invest deeper into each market.
“At the same time, having a license can be a barrier to entry. On the other hand, being license-light can help you scale faster (e.g., across markets). However, not having a license may limit the offering you can provide to your customers,” Daniel Shin noted.
Angel Investor Daniel Shin’s Thoughts On Early-Stage Investing
Investing into high-potential entrepreneurs is becoming more and more competitive. Angel investor Daniel Shin stressed that partnering with a business early in its development offers a strategic advantage as an investor. To date, he has worked with multiple start-ups and early-stage companies.
“Investments are becoming more and more competitive, so it’s more important than ever to spot potential entrepreneurs early. This means backing entrepreneurs before the formation of their company, or even prior to their quitting their jobs.
“Support you provide as an investor prior to entrepreneurs making the leap creates a bond that makes you the investor of choice once the company starts to take off and the round becomes competitive,” Daniel Shin emphasized.
7 Factors Angel Investors Look for in a Startup
Angel investors provide much-needed funding to early-stage start-ups that are often strapped for cash. In return, the investor hopes to get major returns from a business’s success in the marketplace.
However, angel investors also realize that many start-ups will fail. To minimize the chances of this unfavorable outcome, the investor ideally invests in companies in which the potential rewards compensate for the risks. To make this determination, the investor typically asks several pointed questions about the business and its key executives.
A Talented Founder and Executive Team
Angel investors often regard a start-up’s executive team as more valuable than the product or service idea. Specifically, the investor likely wants to view a profile of the founder (usually the CEO) and key team members. The founder’s short-term hiring plans are also important.
An investor also wants to see the founder’s passion and long-term dedication to their business, even in the face of formidable challenges. Finally, the investor will gauge whether the founder is open to investors’ and other advisors’ business development guidance.
The Founder’s Financial Knowledge and Realistic Projections
Investors want proof that the start-up’s founder has an adequate grasp of common business financial metrics. The founder should also be familiar with business performance metrics including Key Performance Indicators.
The start-up’s financial projections should also be believable given the market and operating conditions. An excessively low (or high) projection likely indicates that the founder doesn’t adequately understand their business’ financial environment. This can often discourage investors from partnering with the company.
The Founder’s Recognition of Business Risks
An investor wants to see that the founder understands their business’ risks. Concurrently, the investor wants evidence that the founder is taking steps to reduce those risks. A start-up that can demonstrate specific risk reduction strategies has a better chance of attracting investment funds.
A Game-Changing Product or Service
An investor wants a full description of the start-up’s key product or service. They’ll also ask about the item’s Unique Selling Proposition (or USP) – attributes that make the offering unique in the marketplace. Finally, the investor will ask about the product’s or service’s customer and industry reviews.
An “Out of the Box” Marketing Plan
Investors will likely ask the entrepreneur about the company’s product or service marketing plan. Specifically, an investor wants to know how the business will reach its target audience. The investor may discuss varied advertising methods, social media channels, content marketing campaigns, and other marketing plan components.
The Start-up’s Distinctive Technology
In today’s technology-driven world, investors want to know how a business’ technology is superior to competitors’ offerings. They will likely ask for documented advantages and perhaps even a technology demonstration.
Appropriate Use of the Invested Funds
Investors expect the start-up to show how they will use their invested funds. An investor wants the founder to provide a cash “burn rate,” as that helps the investor see when another cash infusion may be necessary. This figure also demonstrates whether the founder’s cost estimates make sense given the investor’s experiences with similar-stage companies.
About Daniel Shin
Daniel Shin is a highly successful serial entrepreneur who has launched three thriving South Korean businesses. He currently serves as PortOne Global’s founder and co-Chief Executive Officer. This well-known payment orchestrator is a major player in the Asian market.
Before PortOne Global, Daniel Shin launched two other successful companies. In 2012, this serial entrepreneur co-founded Fast Track Asia, a business incubator based in South Korea. In 2010, he debuted TMON (an acronym for Ticket Monster), Korea’s second-largest mobile commerce enterprise.
Born in South Korea, Daniel Shin lived in the United States’ east coast for much of his childhood. In 2008, he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School with a B.S. in Economics.
Daniel Shin’s entry into the business world began with a business analyst position at McKinsey & Company, a respected global management consulting business. In 2010, he traveled back to South Korea to launch TMON, his first company.
Today, Daniel Shin has become a key player in the Asian fintech and eCommerce markets. While operating his successful companies, he closely monitors the marketplace for emerging opportunities.
