3 Critical Questions to Ask Yourself Before Starting a Business

Starting a business? Thinking about starting a business? Here are my suggestions for three quick questions you should ask yourself first:

1. What are the chances that the business I want to start will be able to launch and grow? That’s a matter of market, product, product-market fit, need, demand, fulfillment and delivery.
2. What resources are required? What is a minimum level of money I need to have or raise, and people I need to find and convince? Do I have these resources? That’s about realistic numbers for spending and revenue, expertise, people, and possibilities.
3. What am I risking? Can I afford to lose it? That’s about money, relationships, life, opportunity costs, etc. Can I live with failure, if that’s what happens?

The first two are both powerful reasons for developing a lean business plan before you start. The lean plan isn’t the big formal document, but just enough to estimate the cash, expenses, key items, and very rough sense of chances of success.