While this figure is certainly something to be celebrated, the sad reality is the vast majority of these start-ups will fail, with 20% likely to close their doors before the end of their first year and 60% within the first three years.

However, with millions of long-standing and successful businesses across the globe, it’s clear that not everyone is doomed to for failure. So, what are the key differentiators between business failure and success? While there is certainly no ‘secret’ to business success, success does leave clues and I believe the following 5 tips are key to bootstrapping and building a scalable business:

Learn all areas of the Business:  

When you first launch and bootstrap your own business, you can’t afford expensive resource and have no choice but to wear multiple hats and run each and every part of it.

Instead of viewing this lack of choice as a hardship, perceive it as a real gift that forces you to understand every single element of your business, before hiring and delegating vital tasks to someone else. 

Only in initially doing everything yourself will you gain insight into each cog in the wheel and the type of team members you need to run them long-term.

Use your own money [if possible]

Raising capital or investment for a new business venture is common practice, but when launching a start-up, I would strongly advise any new business owner to utilise their own funds and bootstrap first.  

Why? All too often, more time is spent focusing on raising investment than nurturing the newly launched product or service. Furthermore, when utilising your own money that you have personally worked hard to save, you will not only have real skin in the game but will be more careful and considerate with your decision making.

Once you have established a scalable business model with a clear track record of early growth, then is the time to launch investment rounds or bring an investment partner on board. Essentially, you need to know the challenge and pain of building an effective business model first before you ask someone else to fund it – not only will you learn significantly more in your start-up journey, but your investors are more likely to trust in you and your ability to deliver an agreed ROI.

Understand your values

More often than not, business owners will launch a start-up with a great idea for a product or service, without considering the values behind their brand and what they stand for.

When building Canvas, my brother and I took the time to establish our brand values early on, where key phrases like ‘better together’ and ‘sustainable business’ have really guided our decision making and ensured that everything we do is in-keeping with our philosophy. This isn’t just from a visual or marketing perspective, but also down to the locations we choose for our buildings and the people that we hire to represent the business.

Never underestimate the importance of values – they can act as a real guiding light to keep you on the right track for growth. 

Find people you can trust

Recruitment is one of the greatest challenges in building a scalable business. Not only do you need to find reliable and talented people who can help drive the growth of the brand, but you also need to find those who genuinely believe in its success.

The number 1 rule of recruitment is to hire people that you can trust to fulfil and deliver their role, without constant micromanagement. The right people thrive when given responsibility, so it’s important to take the time to both find and retain them.

Have a clear vision

You can’t build a scalable business without a clear vision for its future success. Therefore, it’s important to outline exactly what you want to achieve and to not be afraid of setting audacious goals.

In business, your mindset can play a fundamental role in its failure and success, or in the words of Napoleon Hill, ‘whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve’. When bootstrapping and scaling your business, know that anything is possible and that there are opportunities everywhere if you just apply yourself, remain focused and keep your vision at the forefront of your mind.

Ultimately, building a scalable business isn’t easy, but if you have the vision, drive, and sheer want to succeed, it’s certainly possible regardless of where, when, why and how you start.