Look forward to 2026 and do you see a clear business step change for your start-up or early-stage business? As a business in your first five years of existence you may still be hungry for growth and pushing for maximum profitability, but I’d like to urge you to think differently, just for a moment.
From ‘hustle’ to harmony: Why many start-ups repeat the same mistakes
Yes, the hustle is exciting and as an entrepreneur myself I wouldn’t want to deny you of that first phase of start-up business. However, the success you experience in the first five years can draw you unwittingly into the trap of copy-pasting your business strategy from one year to the next. This can’t be sustained if you truly want to make that step change into being a well-established business.
Focus: What I’d suggest is to look at your systems and processes – your hard work and effort has been the main driver so far, and it certainly isn’t what’s going to hold your business back in 2026, the lack of an adapted strategy is.
The Step Change: Taking the leap from hard work to smart work allows you to grow the business while what you’ve already established can nicely tick over. Remember, effort isn’t sustainable long-term, but rock solid strategy and clear processes are. Nail your strategy for this year’s business, and you’ll be looking at a different animal in 2027!
NB: You can’t make a step change if you don’t know the starting point and have crystal clear clarity on the change you want or need to make.
Start with a strategic overview. Much like a jigsaw puzzle, it’s completion is always easier when
you can see the picture. Therefore, visualise where you want to be at the end of 2026 and what the
business needs to look like at that point. Then identify the gaps between that vision and where you
are now. The Business Model Canvas is a great tool; in just one page you can strategically cover your customer segments and relationships, your revenue and costs, your marketing
channels and what activities you execute with internal or external resources. It’s designed to allow you to explore how to take your value to market and deliver your promise.
Building an unshakeable marketing foundation
Having a great product or service doesn’t always guarantee success in the market. Why? Because if it’s not positioned in that market in the right way, people won’t lean in with interest, and you may miss opportunities to make a sale. Start-ups that fail often fall for the belief that good fit = good sales.
A true step change can be made by creating a masterplan for selling that ‘fit’ alongside validating and proving it.
Focus: Review your marketing strategy from last year – What did you enjoy? What made you cringe? Then look at what worked and what didn’t. Which tactics gained you the most referrals and got you the highest conversion rates? If you cringed, can you outsource, or find a similar but potentially equally beneficial tactic?
The Step Change: Turn your marketing strategy into lead generation instead of brand awareness by considering these points: Does, for example, your social media drive traffic to your website or mailing list? If not, try shifting engaging posts to value-driven posts, like sharing guides, checklists, e-books and how to articles with clear calls to action. Create video content showing behind the scenes or demos…
Build the customer journey that results in the business your hard work deserves
As start-ups mature, the founder may find themselves becoming a bit of a bottle-neck. While still wanting or trying to do all the work they can’t focus on developing the customer experience or revenue streams.
A systemised, optimised customer journey takes time to build and implement, but once it’s done you’ll be able to easily establish trust between your customer and your business, and adapt it to grow with the customer base and business developments.
Focus: Understand your customers journey. Look at your sales process and identify the key touchpoints with each of your customer avatars. What do they need from you along the way? How are they feeling at each step?
The Step Change: Taking a more granular look at your customer journey allows you to see opportunities to support a customer and guide them to the next step on the journey. Map out your customer journey, compare it to the sales journey/process and consider your communications opportunities.
Making the business step change stick
You might have to make a fundamental change in attitude toward your start-up to make this business step change stick. That means putting down the tools of your trade and picking up the tools for growth. Because execution is what makes the difference.
Some things you can practise in 2026:
Discipline over inspiration – I talk about not being distracted by the next shiny thing and staying focused on your end goal. Practise being disciplined in executing the high pay off activities that will get you closer to the business you deserve.
Master the plan and ignore the pivot – The days of entrepreneurs ‘pivoting’ onto the next opportunity have passed. It’s that shiny object trying to pull you away again! Make a plan and stick to it. By all means, add to it as the year progresses, as long as your new tactic or opportunity serves your goals.
Step back from producing – It’s hard to let go sometimes, but relinquishing control to another trusted person, tested automation (or even AI) can free you up to explore how to add revenue streams, innovate products or services and replicate past success. Try practising being the owner, the business development manager, the chief executive for a while, not the longest serving employee…
Ready to make that step change for your start-up?
These are very generic suggestions that most start-ups would benefit from considering. However, if 2026 is the year you’ve picked to be the year of growth, then you might benefit from more in depth mentorship.
My book, The Financial Times Guide to Starting a Business is available to purchase from Amazon and Waterstones, or, if you’d like to talk about your specific scenario, I’m available for a complimentary business mentor call with no obligation, to discuss your main issue.