1. Know your purpose.

It is the intersection of these three questions that will help you identify the areas of focus for your company. A thorough market analysis, done at regular intervals, will enable you to distinguish your offering from the others in the marketplace, and continually provide value to customers. Remember, startups aren’t always about meeting new needs. Often, the need is to offer new solutions for existing challenges.

2. Automate as early as possible

Deploy your highly trained resources to focus on product development and innovation, rather than diverting their attention to operational tasks that are necessary to run the business, but do not contribute to building your core competency. The investment made in tools and platforms that can automate manual tasks will be worth it when your team’s productivity increases and your talent has the time and space to be agile and responsive to changing market needs.

3. Focus on your people.

Especially for the employees who join the team early, make sure to invest in their growth. Make their job meaningful by sharing your vision with them, and empowering them with the tools they need to do their best, always ensuring they are regularly upskilled. This instills a sense of ownership in your star players, ensuring they can become trusted lieutenants who serve as custodians of your work culture and work ethic, even as the company grows.

4. Avail of every networking opportunity.

Find the right forums to interact with industry veterans and investors. Attending regular gatherings hosted under accelerator programs helps develop an understanding of the help, resources, and tools available. The more you know about what and who exists in the market, the better you can distinguish your own offerings, and find the right support to scale at speed. You can also leverage your network to find people scouting for their next big investment—angel investors and venture capitalists. Once you identify investors who fit your startup’s focus and working style, you can ask them to connect you to potential buyers, as well as seek their advice on market and marketing strategies.