Criteria for starting your business

Low starting capital - Low starting capital is quite important because you want to be able to retain 100% ownership of the business. And you also don't want debt that needs to be urgently repaid.

Minimal on-going expenses - Long runway essentially means you have enough time before the business goes bankrupt.

Potential to become very valuable - We're here to get rich, and that means at least a 7 figure exit on your business. Which means at least $30k/month net profit. If your business can't easily scale to this level it is not worth starting. You need to work through the math and find out how many of your products you would need to sell to make $30k / month of net profit.

Give yourself runway

Runway is important, because ...

Retain ownership

Retain ownership - don't take outside capital in return for equity unless you really have to. It will make things much more complicated and less flexible later on when you want to sell.Only bring in a partner if there's a very good reason to. Most partnerships will fail. You need to have very complimentary skills to make it work and the same long term vision.Partnerships are generally more hassle than they are worth for building this size of business (7 figure exit).

Small tests

Small tests means you want to find out what kind of business, and what type of business model could work well, as quickly and cheaply as possible.

The main way to do this is running ads to a waiting list.

You must have repeat customers

Your business model MUST include repeat customers.

This either means some form of subscription, or some sort of value ladder.

“The purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer” - Peter Drucker.

Notice the word "keep" a customer.

If you don't have repeat customers you don't have much of a business.You must be able to continue selling to your customers. You either have a product your customers will pay monthly to use for many years, or you have a total product range cost of at least $10,000.(That means if you added up the cost of all the products you sell, it would be over $10k.)(Watch the lesson)

You must deploy at least 2 Profit Moats

Profit Moats are one of the most important dynamics you need to think through when you start your business.You need at least 2 strong Profit Moats to take effect in your business to make it worthwhile to start. You will need to go through the "Building" course and thoroughly understand Profit Moats before finalising your business and business model.Without clearly seeing the potential for at least 2 Profit Moats in the business you are risking starting a business that will be more effort than its worth.(Watch the lessons)

Ride a macro trend

You must have a macro trend working in your favour.We have a lesson on this so make sure you watch that lesson before you settle on your business plan.(Watch the lesson)

Aim for a strategic acquisition

You know that the end goal is to exit for 7 figures cash. Although you may may not end up selling, this is a good goal to have anyway because it forces you to build it the right way from the start.A 7 figure exit would mean around $30k/month in net profit. A strategic acquisition is the best kind of exit and gives the best multiples. This is essentially when a larger company acquires your business to help them grow (and prevent competition).This is the opposite of an opportunistic acquisition, where a buyer simply sees a good opportunity to acquire a cash flowing asset but has no larger strategic plan with the acquisition.Strategic acquisitions are much more likely when you have Profit Moats working in your favour.

Think ahead, what business will other, wealthy businesses want to acquire in 3-5 years. 30-50x the monthly profit.You can learn more in the "Exiting" course. (Watch the lesson)

Build for AI

It's very important to recognise the impact AI will have on your business.Will you be on the wrong or right side of the disruption?Many businesses will become obsolete. But some businesses will thrive. Their products will improve and their overall business operations and marketing will get better because of AI.The most important thing to consider here is the product.Can you product benefit from AI? Will you be able to make a 10X greater product because of AI, or will AI render your product obsolete?

Avoid risque businesses

Businesses that are considered risque are generally much harder to sell. Anything like dating, sex, weed, guns, gambling could be considered risque.Generally these niches are only good to get into if you have industry experience as there is a lot of insider knowledge needed to navigate.

Things like payment processing and banking will be an on-going issue.The field of potential buyers is much smaller and many brokers won't even accept a business in a risque niche.

Avoid entirely unless you have a real edge or specific industry experience.

Ask the community and coaches

Feel free to ask the community and coaches before you lock in your exact business plan so you can get feedback.

Starting Your Business

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Starting

Building

Harnessing AI

Systems