Bootstrapping is a method that has been around for years, but it is becoming increasingly famous in the modern D2C ecosystem. If you are not aware of the term, it means starting up a company without any outside funding. Bootstrapping is a set of techniques, processes, and strategies that help new businesses get off the ground with the lowest capital and investment. Several brands are working bootstrapped in D2C space and many of them are growing their business and establishing customer relationships. One such brand, which has done pretty well in this competitive and somewhat crowded arena is StarAndDaisy. It is a baby care brand. And without any funding, this brand has established itself as a premier brand in its Niche.
Here are 6 things to keep in mind as you bootstrap your way to success:
Find your niche in the niche-
It basically means selecting the right business opportunity. The market is already crowded, you need to find a niche for yourself. It can be based on Product differentiation, Price differentiation or execution differentiation. Like StarAndDaisy found its Niche in Premium baby care products at affordable prices. The brand developed a community of parents to market its products.
Select small and achievable objectives-
When your focus is on setting small, achievable objectives, you are less likely to get overwhelmed by the big picture. A sense of accomplishment and motivation comes from defining the steps to achieve your goals. For instance, when you are making a new product, you can break down the strategy into smaller goals such as making a prototype, then conducting market research, and make your product a HERO product. This was the strategy of StarAndDaisy. The brand initially focused on developing Bestsellers/Hero Products across a few categories of Baby care and then leveraged its expertise to other categories as well.
Choose your team wisely-
When you’re starting a business, the most significant thing is to choose the right co-founders team. You need people who share an equivalent vision and passion with you but have complementary skill sets. Your team should be enthusiastic about achieving your goal and financially able to make it if things get awry.
Make a product that is in high demand-
It is fine to have a dream and a business strategy all mapped out, but if the market or consumers are not interested in your product or service, then your business will flop. This can be very frustrating when you have limited resources to begin a small business. This means that you can create a product or service that is in high demand, which will help you make revenue at a more rapid rate.
Get help from your customers to become your marketers-
If you are bootstrapping your way to success, you may ask your customers to become your marketers. Word-of-mouth marketing is the most influential type of marketing. As you develop new products or services, you may offer discounts, free products, and other incentives to encourage your customers to spread the word about your brand and product. This can also help you build brand loyalty and build long-lasting customer relationships. In this way, you can reach a wide audience and generate more revenue for your business. StarAndDaisy leveraged this strategy to get traction in the market. The brand works on the philosophy that every customer is their brand ambassador.
Upgrade your own talents and skills-
You can use your skills and talents to make extra revenue for your business if you are bootstrapping. Clearly, you can use your strengths and interests to design products or services as well as sell them online. In a bootstrapped company, you need to optimise the human resources available by deploying all available skills and talent.
Keep costs lower by finding ways-
There are many ways to decrease overhead. You can find ways to reduce costs by outsourcing, utilizing technology, the internet, and more. Outsourcing is one method you can use to decrease your company’s overheads.
Bootstrapping your way to success is not effortless, but it may be rewarding. Bootstrapping is a challenge, but you have to be innovative and search for ways to cut costs.
StarAndDaisy optimised the supply chain to reduce its costs and thus be able to provide value for money to its customers.
This article is authored by Akshay Arya and Anshul Arya, Founders, StarAndDaisy.