Expansion Strategies for Start-Up

Expansion Strategies for Start-up
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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY
1.1 INTRODUCTION TO THE PROJECT
Multinational are entering India so as to increase their business. An Indian start-up
really needs to focus on its expansion strategies and need to align it with the
multicultural Indian market so as to thrive its business. A solid example would be
the current war between Flipkart and Amazon. Both the companies are trying their
best to get the upper hand in the Indian market and are trying to increase their
customer base using various expansion strategies. Expansion Strategy is adopted by
an organization when it attempts to achieve a high growth as compared to its past
achievements. The firm can follow either of the five expansion strategies to
accomplish its objectives: Concentration, Diversification, Integration, Cooperation
and Internationalization. The project focusses on the various strategies a start-up can
adopt to expand its business. It also focusses on how important it is for a start-up to
use a proper strategy so as to excel in the Indian Economy.
The project describes about the various types of expansion strategies available for an
start-up and how effectively the management can use them to increase their presence
here in India. It also describes its benefits implementations and the results. I have face
listed the various limitations that can limit the reach of a start-up and provided major
recommendations that may help start-up improve their growth rate. The whole project
has helped me in understanding expansion strategies, the multicultural Indian market
and how it can be used to grow a start-up and turn it into a massive business.

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1.2 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
. The objectives of the project are as follows:
• To understand the importance and application of strategies in business.
• To focus on strategies a start-up can adopt to expand its business.
• To achieve sustainable growth in multicultural Indian market.
1.3 SCOPE OF STUDY
• The project scope involves the study of various types of expansion strategies
available and how a start-up can use them according to their market and the types of
consumers they are dealing with.
• Why it is important for the founder to understand the culture of the market.
• We will also study how government of India is taking initiatives to help
entrepreneurs to start their business by providing Start-up India.
• What are the benefits and results a business can gain through Start-up India Scheme.
• We will also study some cases about existing start-ups in India and strategies they
have used to expand their business with the changing trends.

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1.4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
As an exploratory empirical study, the goal of this report is to understand the various
strategies that can be used by a start-up company for its growth This method is
appropriate for an evolving topic, as this initial data can be served as a useful base for
future theory-building.
To meet the objectives, the study used qualitative research. The exploratory study was
done through review of existing literature that helped in validation and extraction of
the important variables and factors. Data was collected from secondary sources.
Secondary sources were magazines, websites, books, office executives, and company
data. The large part of research study includes review of existing data so as to formulate
a strategy which can used by start-ups for their expansion.

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
1) 6 PROVEN BUSINESS GROWTH STRATEGIES FOR START-
UPS (Article posted on Fatbit technologies)
Growing business is one of the most challenging situations you will face as an
entrepreneur. In order to successfully grow your business, you will have to accurately
gauge your current performance as well as your limitations. Attempting to expand
operations too quickly has historically sunk innumerable, otherwise perfectly good,
businesses.
If, however, you grow your business the right way, you will find that when the time
comes you are in a strong position to embark upon a serious expansion. Below are some
words of advice from experienced entrepreneurs on how you can effectively grow your
business.
1. Expand Your Business by Opening in another Location
This is usually the ultimate goal when a business expands upon a rapid growth program.
Opening in another location means you will gain access to entirely new markets and
clientele. This can have a number of knock on effects for your business. For example,
this can drive a sustained rise in sales and sometimes tapping into a new market also
brings you funds for your next expansion venture.
Apart from these, opening in a new location also makes you more resistant to
unforeseeable events. For instance, if your entire business is tied up in a single location,
then, should anything happen to that building, you could end up in a pretty dire
situation. Multiple locations means your brand can continue to operate during such
times.
2. Diversify Your Products and Services
Diversifying means broadening your range. Just as opening in a new physical location
will give you access to new markets by virtue of geography, diversifying the range of

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products and services you offer can give you access to new markets that were
previously wouldn’t have had any interest in your business. Diversifying also gives
your existing customers more to choose from and more reasons to spread the word
about your business.
3. Study the Competition
This is a vital consideration for businesses at all times, regardless of their expansion
plans. If you don’t have a firm understanding of what your competition is doing then
you will naturally find it much harder to compete with them effectively.
The information you should look for: what demographics your competition is appealing
to and whether these demographics overlap with your own customer base, and how the
competition is allocating its marketing resources. It is valuable to know what markets
your rivals are attempting to penetrate as well as how successful they’ve been.
4. Track Your Results
All of your efforts will be for nothing if you don’t know how successful they are. Even
the very best entrepreneurs rarely hit on perfect strategies every time, so it is important
to know when it is useful to analyse and assess the effectiveness of your own work.
There are different strategies you can use to analyse your performance and to draw up
appropriate plans of action in response. In order to do this, you will need to identify
exactly what variables should be measured in order to make an assessment as to how
successful you have been, as well as to determine the best way to measure them.
There are two forms of data collection; passive, and active. Passive data collection
means that data is collected automatically and with no specific action required on the
part of either the collector or the source of data. By contrast, active data collection
requires both the consent and the knowledge of the person or people supplying the data.
Consequently, sources of active data collection know that they are being measured or
observed in some way and this can lead to something referred to as observer bias. For
this reason, passive data collection techniques are generally preferred, these are also

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usually easier to gather and, providing they are gathered properly, are generally more
accurate and representative of real world situations.
Once you have gathered the necessary data, and then begin the complex process of
interpreting it in order to make it useful. The science of performing these analyses is
that of data analytics. Data analytics is a relatively new branch of mathematics and a
sub branch of statistical analysis. It is algorithm-based, meaning, because the
mathematical processes required are so complex they are prohibitively difficult for a
human to perform. Therefore, powerful computers are needed to take, what are often
very large, data sets and analyse them in order to identify patterns and relationships
between different variables. There are now companies that can perform this service for
you.
5. Promote Your Business Online
A professional online offering is essential for any business hoping to compete in the
modern landscape. The internet represents, by a considerable margin, the greatest
potential in terms of the number of people you can reach. You should prioritize online
forms of marketing above all others.
6. Offer Your Business for Franchising
If you believe that you have a winning formula for success in your field, you might also
want to consider franchising. Franchising means that you will essentially sell the
essence of your business to interested buyers who will operate their own outlets based
on your formula. Offering your business for franchising is an excellent way to make
money while you expand. Every franchise you sell will pay a periodic fee to you in
order to keep using your setup.
By and large, growing your business the right way is important in order to ensure that
you can sustain and maintain the benefits.

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2) BUSINESS EXPANSION:
(Article posted in Community Futures by Stuart Nechako)
1. Increase your sales and products in existing markets. This is obviously the easiest
and most risk-free way to expand. This tactic may require a bigger location, different
pricing strategies, new/improved marketing techniques - but it will be in a customer
group with whom you already have a relationship. If you get off track, your present
customers will let you know!
2. Introduce a New Product. You have a successful product/service that you have
been offering for some time and have been collecting data, customer feedback and
doing the tinkering on your newest product. This is a normal evolution in business, not
just an expansion tactic. When positioned as adding value and being responsive to
customer needs, this can be a relatively risk-free way to expand.
3. Develop a New Market Segment or Move into New Geography. Both of these
areas require cost outlays and uncertainty. Moving your products into new categories
or demographic segments requires market research, beta testing and new marketing
strategies, i.e. a message for a 16-year old will differ that one for a 60-year old.
Management of new remote locations may absorb significant time and attention. While
the risks are more, the payoffs are large - and for most businesses looking to expand,
these two methods of expansion are inevitable.
4. Start a Chain. A restaurant, retail or service business that's easily reproduced and
can be run from a distance is all you need to launch a chain. But, you must be cognizant
of what made the first location a success - was it location, your staff or you? If it is just
you, then duplication is only possible through detailed operations plans and sharing
staff between locations. You will need to duplicate the plan of your first location while
meeting increased customer demands. Starting a chain gives your current staff a crack
at "management" duties, training opportunities and an opportunity to expand their
horizons.

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5. Franchise or License. While it's a quick way to grow, a franchise agreement can
cost (minimally) $100,000 to prepare. You will need to be a good teacher, be able to
prepare the training manuals (preferably in more than one language), be very organized
and willing to travel. Licensing can carry less risk, but demands giving up a certain
amount of control. Licensing a patent, trademark or industrial design means that you
sell manufacturing, distribution or production rights.
6. Join Forces / Strategic Alliance. A merger or acquisition combines the best of two
companies, expands your customer base, increases intellectual capital and delivers
operational efficiencies. The trick is finding the right partner. These partners may be
new distributors, but be forewarned large retailers exact heavy performance
expectations. Can you perform to the letter of your promise? Can you meet high
standards of quality (ISO, or the like) and adapt your procedures to meet just-in-time
delivery? Due diligence and strong contractual arrangements are essential here.
7. Go Global. You can decide to go global in a number of ways. Growing markets,
rising consumer spending, improved business climate--sometimes the only place to find
these things is overseas. Doing business internationally can take the form of exporting,
licensing, a joint venture or manufacturing, but whatever form you choose, the basic
business rules apply: assess customer demand, gain legal and accounting assistance,
protect intellectual property and obey regulations.
More difficult to understand than the regular business affairs may be the cultural
nuances - ignore them at your peril. In some countries, particularly those in Asia, a local
partner is virtually a requirement. Your first stop should be your target country's
economic development agency, which can help marshal local resources to get you on
your way, possibly with a small financial boost. Be patient. Growing your business
globally can take more than one "sightseeing trip" to the region. Here are some steps in
going global, from easiest to hardest.

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III) 4 STEPS FROM START-UP TO A GROWTH-STAGE
COMPANY
(Article posted in Entrepreneur India by Ed Sappin)
You’ve taken the plunge and started a new business. You made it through the first year
and turned a profit - congratulations. When an entrepreneur takes an idea and turns it
into a profitable business, it’s a cause for celebration. But it’s not enough to just keep
doing the same thing -- continued success is going to depend on different and evolving
strategies. In order to scale up and grow in a big way, business owners have to prioritize
a growth to-do list.
Mohan Sawhney, a professor at the Northwestern Kellogg School of Management,
notes that “[while] it’s tempting to view business growth as a smooth, linear path, the
reality is much more complicated.” Often, the talent and leadership that enable rapid
expansion in a company’s early stages may not be enough to keep fueling high growth
and this causes businesses to stagnate.
In order to properly make this pivotal transition, business owners have to understand
all the elements at play, and accept that scalability is needed across all operations.
Here are four fundamental steps growth-stage businesses must take:
1. Stay focused on what sells best.
Many start-ups fail because they spread themselves too thin at the growth stage. They
try to do everything for any client or they try to expand into multiple new markets
simultaneously. And many times these strategies just do not work.
Think of the classic board game Risk. In each competition there is usually one player
who tries to take over the world way too early by battling anywhere and everywhere.
Inevitably, this strategy fails -- and the empire crumbles.
Instead, business owners should concentrate on core business areas. Expansion is a
must but thoughtful, targeted growth is what wins the day. Being too opportunistic can

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waste precious resources, as well as take focus away from what made them successful
in the first place.
2. Then innovate and expand strategically.
During the growth stage, pivoting towards what sells best and moving away from what
doesn’t is the key ingredient to maintaining, or even increasing, expectations.
Entrepreneurs need to strategize and innovate into niches that will help the core
business expand.
Consider everything Uber has done to date.
Uber continues to penetrate new and potentially lucrative markets around the world.
Their mobile payment services have evolved to accommodate multiple payment
options, which has proved useful in international markets. And the company is
consistently increasing its selection of vehicles. Uber has also been expanding its
services to include off-the-beaten-path travel options, including hot air balloons rides
in China and boat transport in Turkey.

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Remember that Uber is not a bona fide success yet -- but it has gone from a start up to
a growth stage enterprise successfully. Uber has kept its operations growing through a
mix of calculated market expansion and innovative services that help push its core
business goal. But it’s continued to focus on what it sells best and what its customers
want most -- rides.
3. Let processes and products take center stage.
During the initial start-up phase, many companies rely on the skills of a small core team
to seize opportunities and impress clients. But during the growth stage, maintaining that
level of quality becomes a very difficult task, especially as core team members move
on to new opportunities.
As small businesses transition into the growth stage, they need to standardize business
processes so that great experiences can be consistently reproduced. This is
accomplished by embedding expertise into the processes and structures that keep a
company afloat.
Utilizing the best technology is a smart start, but entrepreneurs also need efficient hiring
methods, tailored training programs, great incentives and a company culture that fosters
collaboration and communication.
James Allen, a business consultant and Harvard Business Review contributor, states
that every decision to build systems within a business should be “linked to the
company’s core strategy” and enhance “the organization’s ability to deliver it.”

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4. Build your brand.
The start-up phase is driven by client relationships. A great way to ensure clients think
well about the company is by focusing on building a positive brand image. This makes
it less likely that a customer will leave.
As new business owners navigate through the growth phase, they should pay attention
to how their brand is being perceived. It should embody their business goals and ideals,
and should be defined more by what it does than what they say.
Any business that wants to build a loyal followers must be able to provide the positive
experiences that will result in positive perceptions and brand awareness. This requires
superior product development, a strong focus on a client-centric sales funnel and
excellent customer service. These should be core tenets of every business plan.
Leaping into the future.
With continued success comes brand recognition. And a positive brand image is as
good as a brand new storefront is at bringing in qualified leads and loyal customers.
By staying laser-focused on what works, pivoting away from what does not, continually
innovating, and professionalizing processes, a mid stage company should be able to
avoid falling into the trap of the growth plateau. Instead, their peak will continue to rise
towards becoming an established enterprise, creating more jobs, more revenue and
more positive impact.

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IV) 9 STRATEGIES ALL START-UPS MUST HAVE TO SUSTAIN
BUSINESS GROWTH
(Article posted on Start-up Grind)
Owning a start-up, in and of itself, is challenging. Having the monetary capacity and
knowledge to get a business off the ground is one thing; surviving the fierce
competition, volatile economy, as well as the oftentimes changing and unpredictable
marketplace is another. Steps have to be taken, even tiny ones and the demands of the
company will need to be met one at a time.
To really survive, there are some rules which matter more than others. Most who
manage and own large businesses, who, at one time, were struggling in their own start-
ups, will inform you there are definitely some steps and strategies you need to hang on
to, to reach your goal.
Here are 9 non-negotiable principles to which all start-ups should adhere in order to
become success stories and also for business growth:
1. Leverage free or inexpensive marketing and advertising strategies
or tools
Because your business is just beginning its way to making good money, it is practical
that you rethink expensive choices to get individuals to notice your services or products.
Don’t ruin your odds of getting the ROI you’ve set your eyes on, merely because you
spent more than you thought to for that advertisement or sponsorship. As you embrace
social media, you’ll know that exposing your brand to a broad section of your
marketplace without having to go beyond your budget is possible.
2. Remain relevant
If your service or product is deemed less of a necessity or has disappeared from the list
of today's trends, it’ll be difficult to get your business back on the radar. Don't wait for
tragedy to happen. Remain on top of what others want and need, and be relevant in
what other people are saying about your service or product. Be certain you reinvent if
needed. Move ahead and expand. Provide something fresh on top of any existing

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services, or develop a new service altogether. Either way, pay close attention to how
relevant you ought to be.
3. As it comes to customer service, don’t compromise
It’ll take lots of effort to get your clients to trust you; however, make one error and
you'll lose them all prior to even being able to explain. Irrespective of your reinvention,
expansion, or growth, high quality customer service needs to be permanent. Your
people ought to have the ability to do their job. Be certain they’re highly trained to offer
your customers with the help needed as they conduct business for you.
4. Embrace the proper technology
Start-ups today are actively pursuing innovations and technologies which assist in
easing many of the operational activities. From automated finance management tools
to phone systems, learn how and when to take advantage of these innovations.
5. Do not be frightened of taking risks
Always attempt to bring something fresh to the table. There will be enough start-ups
out there taking the road of least resistance; therefore, by doing things somewhat
differently you may discover an entirely new, exciting niche within your field.
6. Do not be frightened of failing
The path to success is mostly paved by failure. It’s nearly impossible to succeed without
having to fail first. It’s possible to learn as much from your failed project as you’re able
to from a successful project, yet the most important thing you can learn in regard to
failure is how to get back up on your feet and keep on trying.
7. Pick the proper people
With serious expansion will come serious job opportunities. Be certain not to take this
lightly. One important business growth strategy isn’t to hire those you need desperately
for only today, yet neglect to employ those you need for tomorrow. Take all of the
resources and time needed to discover the ideal match for each role.

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8. Keep on doing what is working
If it isn’t broke, don't fix it. Expansion happens as you are fulfilling a need. If your
start-up is expanding, it means individuals require and like what you are doing. To alter
your approach now might be to change what it currently is that makes you a success.
9. Cease doing what doesn't work, immediately
Once you’ve identified what is working, start to trim the fat. Identify all expenditures
in the business which are not generating results and reallocate these resources to what’s
working, or to a different project.

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V)WANT TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS? YOU NEED A GROWTH
STRATEGY
Article posted on hubstaff by Dave Nevogt)
Start-up success stories are inspiring. Take Sophia Amoruso of fashion retailer Nasty
Gal. Amoruso was a community college dropout who started her business by buying
clothing from vintage stores and reselling it on eBay for a profit. From those humble
beginnings, the brand grew massively.
It attracted funding from venture capitalists, led to stores in Los Angeles and Santa
Monica, and landed Amoruso on Forbes’ 2016 list of America’s richest self-made
women. In addition to the growth of her business, Amoruso also published a best-
selling memoir about her journey, which was adapted by Netflix into a series that
debuts.
Nasty Gal’s rise is one of those stories that inspires start-ups and small business to
grow, but it also serves as a warning: the once-thriving business is currently in the
process of filing for bankruptcy. The primary reason cited for the company’s surprising
demise? Its rapid growth.
As Allison Enright stated in The New York Times, “They were able to grow their sales
very quickly. But you can always grow really fast and not make any money.”
Growing your business is a logical step when your initial products, services, and
initiatives lead to profits. But with business growth comes exponential complexity.

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Legal challenges, hiring the wrong team members, and failed pivots are among the
leading reasons start-ups fail.
Most of these issues are avoidable. However, they’re less avoidable when you’re
scaling rapidly and making quick decisions based on day-to-day needs rather than long-
term goals.
Before attempting to expand your business, you need to take time to document your
growth strategy. With a well-thought-out and documented strategy in place, you can
ensure your business growth is led by informed decisions, and avoid surprise pitfalls
that compromise profits.

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The risks and rewards of business growth
There are many excellent reasons to pursue business growth. With business expansion
comes increased revenue, wider brand recognition, and increased importance in the
industry.
Brands that are household names spend much less time and money on customer
acquisition and retention. Rather than focusing their revenue and efforts on marketing,
they can use those funds for product innovation and service expansion.
Well-known brands also have an easier time attracting top talent, big-name clients, and
investors. These things are necessary for growth, but with every new employee, client,
and stakeholder, you assume risk.
Business growth can lead to revenue loss if assumptions are made, competition is not
thoroughly vetted, or pivots in products and services aren’t driven by a significant
amount of market research. In fact, 42% of failed start-ups cited lack of market need as
the primary reason for their failure.
By documenting your growth strategy, you can minimize these risks. A growth strategy
allows you to anticipate when you’ll need to add new team members and leaders and
take your time finding the right people to bring on board. It also embeds time for market
research into your growth plan, ensuring your decisions are based on data—not
assumptions.
With a documented business strategy, you’ll be in a better position to avoid the risks of
business growth and, instead, amplify the rewards.
What is a business strategy?
In the simplest sense, a business strategy is a document that details your business goals
and defines your strategies for meeting those goals. It’s a road map detailing the goals
you’re striving to meet, how you’re planning to meet them, and when you’re planning
to execute.

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Goals can—and should—be both short-term and long-term, looking as much as five
years into the future.
The most effective business strategies are documented so they can be shared across the
organization. Having a documented strategy creates cohesiveness, allowing decisions
and initiatives across the company to be catered to established goals.
While initial planning is crucial, iterative planning is important as well. By revisiting
your business strategy in regular increments, you can make strategic shifts based on
new information, market changes, and historical data.
For example, if an initiative fails during the testing phase, all goals and strategies for
that initiative should be removed from or replaced in the strategy document.
How to write a business strategy
There are a few approaches you can take to documenting your business strategy. You
could document your business goals and strategy at a high level, for example, or in great
detail. Or you could use an agile approach to business planning, with short-term goals
considered in detail and future goals presented at a high level.
None of these approaches are wrong. Even high-level business strategy documents
create a framework for decision-making and reduce risk. However, taking an agile
approach to documenting a business strategy may be ideal.

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It significantly reduces the risk of near-term initiatives by presenting goals and
strategies in detail, and it enables faster finalization of your business strategy by
eliminating the need to provide minute details for future goals.
First, decide on what approach you want to take. Then, follow the steps below to
document your business strategy.
Step 1: Define short- and long-term goals
The first step in writing a business strategy document is to simply document the goals
you hope to achieve in the next five years. Goals can be both small and large and can
be either specific (increase revenue by 20%) or general (increase brand awareness).
Here are some examples:
• Increase product offerings
• Grow organic site traffic by 35%
• Open a second store
• Expand into new markets
• Launch an affiliate program
• Increase sales by 15%
A brainstorming session with all company leaders and/or stakeholders can be helpful
in the goal-defining phase. At this stage, all goals should be considered and
documented. In later stages, you’ll make decisions on which goals are worth pursuing.
Step 2: Prioritize goals
After your brainstorming session, you should have a long list of potential goals to target,
but not all will be viable. Additionally, some goals may be compounding, meaning you
must complete one before you can target another. For this reason, you’ll need to
prioritize your goals. Goals at the top of your list should be those that meet one or more
of the following criteria:
• They’re the most important to your business, its leaders, and its stakeholders
• They offer the highest return on investment
• They’re achievable using existing resources

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It helps to use a relative prioritization: if you have ten goals documented, each should
receive a priority of 1–10. Prioritizing relatively doesn’t mean you can’t work toward
multiple goals concurrently, but it does help with decision-making when you lack the
resources or funds to execute on multiple goals.
Step 3: Define strategies for meeting goal
Now that you have prioritized goals, you need to investigate strategies for meeting those
goals. To form strategies, you need to think through—in detail—the steps that will be
required to meet those goals. The strategies may require operational shifts, marketing
initiatives, and acquisitions, among others. Some examples goals and strategies are
listed below.
Goal: Open a second store
• Conduct research to determine ideal location for new storefront
• Ensure existing revenue can support the operational costs, initial inventory
costs, and personnel costs of new store
• Hire a general manager, assistant managers, and store personnel
• Launch a marketing campaign to advertise the grand opening of the new
location, driving initial sales and visits
Goal: Expand into new markets
• Conduct market research to determine ideal markets for expansion
• Review laws and regulations pertaining to conducting business in new markets

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• Secure needed licenses and approvals for conducting business
• Hire staff to manage operations and sales
• Launch a marketing campaign to grow brand awareness in new markets
As you work through this process, you may find that some goals are more complex than
you originally anticipated and that they’re unachievable with existing resources. If so,
deprioritize those goals or remove them altogether.
Throughout the entire process, you’ll be working towards developing an achievable
growth strategy. Doing so will require eliminating initiatives with a high risk of failure.
Step 4: Evaluate the competitive landscape or market demand
Once you’ve defined goals and strategies, it’s time to validate your assumptions.
Opening a new store or launching a new product may sound like an exciting way to
grow revenue, but it can fail rapidly if the market is highly competitive or if there’s
little demand for the products/services you’re offering.
First, you need to conduct thorough research on your competitors. Answering the
following questions can help guide you through this process:
• Who are your competitors?
• What products/services do they offer?
• What are their pricing models?
• How do they market their offerings?
• Where does their marketing fall short?
• What are customers saying about them?
By investigating the answers to these questions, you can determine the best ways to
differentiate your offering from those of your competitors.
If you can offer the same products and services at a lower price and remain profitable,
that’s your selling point. If you discover that customers are generally dissatisfied with
a competitor’s customer service, you can differentiate by offering exceptional service.

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Conversely, if you find that your competitors have lower prices than you can offer, have
extremely loyal customers, or offer higher quality products, you may need to revise—
or abandon—your original goal.
In some cases—particularly if you’re offering an innovative product or service—you
may not have competitors. In these instances, it’s crucial to investigate market demand.
You can conduct market research yourself or hire a market researcher to do it for you.
As you conduct competitor and market research, you should also revise and refine your
strategies based on new information and remove any goals rendered risky after further
investigation.
Step 5: Define timelines
Once you’ve defined your goals and strategies and have validated your assumptions
through detailed research, you’re ready to set timelines for enacting your growth
strategy. Timelines can be set by goal priority or in sequence.
For example, your highest priority goal may be to open a second store. But meeting
that goal requires that you first increase sales at your existing store by 15% to cover
the operational, staffing, and inventory costs of your second store.

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Even if increasing sales at your existing store is a lower priority, it needs to be executed
first in order to achieve your highest priority goal of opening a second store.
For near-term goals, you may want to detail strategy timelines by month or quarter.
For future goals, you might only specify the year you’ll begin executing on the goal.
Step 6: Formalize your business strategy
If your business strategy is only being used internally, the format isn’t important.
However, if you intend to use your business strategy to secure backing or investments,
you may need to formalize the plan using a standard strategic plan template. This will
require additional information, such as an executive summary and elevator pitch.
Common business growth strategies
In his book The Breakthrough Company, Keith McFarland recommends that small
businesses and start-ups that are considering growing their companies should proceed
in a way that brings “the most results from the least amount of risk and effort.”
This is another important aspect of prioritizing goals. Prioritization based on what goals
you want or can meet is not necessarily sufficient. You must also prioritize based on
level of effort and risk.
There are several strategies you can employ for growing your business, and some will
represent more risk than others. For example, increasing the number of your customers
in an existing market is likely less risky than moving into a new market. Both have risk,
but a new market is more likely to represent increased risk because of the element of
the unknown.
However, that’s not true 100% of the time—high-risk goals for one business may be
low-risk for another. Risk is something each business must determine for itself.

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There are several common growth strategies to consider when seeking to expand your
business:
• Increase sales or take on additional clients. One common growth strategy is
increasing sales by acquiring new customers, taking on new clients, or selling
additional products and services to existing clients. In fact, there’s an entire
marketing approach dedicated to increasing sales with existing
clients/customers: account-based marketing.
• Develop creative marketing campaigns. Dollar Shave Club is an excellent
example of growing a company using clever marketing and a unique value
proposition. The company created cheeky marketing videos that told stories of
how expensive razors are and how difficult it is to purchase them. The videos
went viral, and the company went from a small operation in the founder’s
apartment to a rival for big brands like Gillette and Schick.
• Expand into additional markets. Expansion could take many forms: you could
open a store in a new location, expand your digital marketing efforts to new
channels, or start selling products from your brick-and mortar store online.
Selling through your own website or ta third-party site like Amazon or eBay
can effectively extend your market reach to national and international
customers.
• Develop new products. If you run a successful business selling women’s
clothing, you may want to expand your product offerings to include jewelry or
shoes. You may also want to expand your customer base by selling men’s
clothing or children’s clothing.
• Expand your services. If you specialize in search engine optimization (SEO),
consider offering related services to attract new clients or upsell existing ones.
• It’s not a huge leap to offer content marketing, search engine marketing, or
social media marketing services alongside SEO. You may also use your

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knowledge of SEO to develop tools or software you can sell that enable
companies to optimize their own sites for search.
• Expand through acquisitions. When major banks or health insurance providers
want to expand into additional markets, they often do so by acquiring strong
businesses that are already operating in target markets. The downside of
acquisitions is steep upfront costs, but the advantage is that the company
will have existing employees, customers, and workflows and may be profitable
from day one.
• Eliminate the middleman. If you sell a product, one effective way to increase
revenue is to manufacture products yourself. This can be achieved by setting up
your own manufacturing facility, or by purchasing the manufacturing facility
you’re already utilizing. Manufacturing your own products can increase
revenue by lowering your cost-per-unit, leading to higher profit margins or
allowing for retail price reductions that boost sales.
Each growth strategy—and its related risk and effort—should be carefully considered
as part of your overall business strategy before implementation.
Why you need a growth strategy
There are start-ups like Dollar Shave Club who successfully grow enough to take on
big brands, and there are those like Nasty Gal that grow so rapidly that they fail. The
harsh reality of business is that nine out of ten start-ups fail, and only 0.1% of
companies ever reach 250 million in annual revenue.
Starting and growing a business requires a significant amount of time, effort, and
planning. Quick decisions and big investments may be appealing, but unless they
translate into functional and sustainable business models, the temporary excitement can
lead to very public disappointment.
Before taking any steps to grow your business, you need to document your growth
strategy. The research and documentation will take time, but the upfront investment
will pay off in the end.

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VI) 10 MARKETING STRATEGIES EVERY START-UP SHOULD
KNOW
(Article posted on ABSCBN news by Armando Bartoleme)
Start-ups can benefit from marketing strategies called “growth hacks.” Sean Ellis
coined the term back in 2010. It refers to non-traditional marketing techniques designed
to rapidly grow your business.
These strategies are based on the latest trends. From the web design, email templates,
content creation, social media, search engine optimization, advertisement, landing
pages and others – there’s a need to constantly be up-to-date.
GROWTH HACKING STRATEGIES
Entrepreneurs need to use all possible means to promote their business, and we all know
how important the online world has become.
Having a website is important, but it’s never enough to simply have an online presence.
To help your business expand, you can use the “growth hack” strategies below.

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Growth Hack #1: Run a Pre-launch Giveaway
Make some noise as soon as you launch your business. Let people know about your
business by creating an account via Rafflecopter. This may cost you a bit, but it will
entice people to join the raffle and promote your business. By using Rafflecopter, you
also encourage your online audience to connect to your different social media accounts.
Once they’re connected to you on social media, you can also gain feedback about your
products and services, as well as create a customer contact list that you can use in the
future.
Growth Hack #2: Increase your online visibility through organic
search
Provide information that your potential customers will find most useful. Use snippets
that can grab the attention of your online audience in 150-160 words. Use keywords
that directly describe your company or your products and services.
Growth Hack #3: Create shareable content
You may have come across blogs created by different businesses. They may be about
the business itself or something related which customers will find interesting. When
you provide extra information to your customers and followers, it can entice more
people to get curious about what you offer. When people check your website often, it
gives you an edge over your competitors.
Growth Hack #4: Remarketing
It helps your business immensely when you let your customers feel how important they
are. Some form of token for continuously patronizing your products and services will
help strengthen their loyalty. This will also encourage your customers to promote your
products and services to their friends.

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Growth Hack #5: Referral System
Encourage your customers to refer you to their friends by offering them discount
coupons or vouchers which they may use in the future. Example: “Refer 3 friends and
you get free shipping on your next purchase”. Everybody wants to earn something.
Growth Hack #6: Optimize site speed
Your website should load quickly. Adding so many photos can slow down your
website. Use only photos that are really needed.
Growth Hack #7: Ask for PR from bloggers
There are many bloggers who are willing to help promote your business. You can either
invite them to an event you are having, or send them samples of your products which
they can write about and share with their followers. But you should also be careful
because bloggers can sometimes be downright frank and brutal about what they think
about your product. Choose the right bloggers.
Growth Hack #8: Hire virtual assistants
There should be dedicated personnel that handle your online presence. You should
always be available online to let your audience know the latest about your business and
provide answers to queries. Customers want to feel important and they expect answers
immediately. By being constantly visible online, you are able to reach out to more
people.

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Growth Hack #9: FAQ
Create a Frequently Asked Questions page. Position questions around your key selling
points. By doing this, you alleviate your customers’ purchasing anxieties and lessen the
burden on your customer support. This can also help strengthen your customers’ trust
in your business.
Growth Hack #10: Cold Emailing
Take time to research the names and contact details of your customers. Try sending out
personal emails to 10-20 prospective individuals every day. Let them know about your
business or latest offering. It may not always be a 100 percent turnaround, but you can
reach some people that can eventually be of great help.
VII) 4 UNBEATABLE GROWTH HACKING STRATEGIES FOR
START-UPS
(Article posted on Inc.com by Murray Newlands)
As an early stage start-up, one of the most difficult challenges you will face is getting
your name out there and cultivating a loyal customer or fan base. When you're just
starting out, it's nearly impossible to compete with larger, more established companies
through traditional methods, which means that you need to get creative in order to grow
your company quickly and effectively. They say that necessity is the mother of
invention, and for start-ups, that couldn't ring any truer.
The need to reach larger audiences in a short amount of time is what has led to "growth
hacking," a strategy employed by most start-ups in order to attain rapid growth, despite
having limited resources at their disposal. Because growth hacking requires a certain
level of creativity, critical thinking, and unique applications, certain growth hacking
strategies may or may not work for every business. However, despite the fact that every
company's attempt at growth hacking will look different, there are certain practices that
tend to work for most start-ups, regardless of their niche, product, or service.
If you're an early stage start-up looking for rapid growth of your customer base without
having to break the bank, try using these strategies to entice potential customers to
patron your business and become a loyal and long-term customer.

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Offer Something for Free
People love free, which is why giving something away to new users is a quick and easy
way to increase your fan base. Take a business like Hotmail for example. When Hotmail
launched it's browser-based email service in 1996, it leveraged a free account to entice
its existing 20,000 users to sign up. The company used the tagline "Get Your Free Email
at Hotmail" at the end of each existing user's outgoing mail to help spread the word,
and soon after the campaign, Hotmail's user base climbed to an astronomical 1 million
users in the first six months. Another example is Reliance Jio. Reliance Jio has grown
steadily in the Indian telecom space primarily due to its superior data offering. The
company promises to offer 20 percent more data than its rivals. In order to stay
competitive, Reliance Jio is adding free 10GB data add-on pack for select subscribers
on its network. The free data add-on pack is reportedly a token of appreciation from the
company to those using its Jio TV application.
Set Up a Referral Program
There are a handful of companies that take advantage of a referral program to grow
their business, and for one reason: it works! Businesses ranging in form and function
from local yoga classes to the online storage start-up Dropbox have used referral
programs in the past, and to much success. When Dropbox was in its earliest days, for
example, it offered upgraded storage amounts to each referral party pending their sign
up with the service. Once both users signed up for Dropbox, they received an extra
500MB of storage, free of charge. Just by offering this, Dropbox's user base went from
100,000 to over 4 million in just 15 months.

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Go With Exclusivity
People always want to feel like they're a part of something that's special, which is why
exclusive invitations or offers work extraordinarily well as growth hacking strategy.
Look at Pinterest, for example. When Pinterest was first getting started, it was
invitation-only, but allowed users to request an invitation if they wanted to join. After
requesting an invitation, Pinterest sent out an email to prospective users explaining that
the waiting list was quite long, but that eventually, they would be accepted to join. This
helped the budding social network generate buzz and made users feel like they needed
to be a part of the brand. From August 2010 to October 2013, Pinterest grew from
100,00 users to over 70 million, proving that exclusivity is an incredibly effective way
to drive growth.

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Try Platform Hacking
Capitalizing on the success of another platform or business is a great way to grow your
own. Try to find a way to work with other relevant platforms, businesses, products, or
services. That's one way that YouTube got so big, so quickly. In 2005, YouTube looked
to "platform hack" MySpace and tap into their growing user base and gain more views
and users for themselves and guess what; it worked. At the time, MySpace had 25
million unique users and was at the top of the social media totem pole, but sharing
videos was a huge pain point, both for their users and their advertisers. So, YouTube
set out to solve that problem by allowing MySpace to embed their videos without
having to pay for the service. YouTube took on the costs of hosting in exchange for
increased brand recognition and ended up winning out. Today, YouTube enjoys traffic
from over one billion users and is without a doubt one of the largest, most successful
start-ups of our time.

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CHAPTER 3: OVERVIEW ON START-UPS
INTRODUCTION
A start-up company is an entrepreneurial venture which is typically a newly emerged,
fast-growing business that aims to meet a marketplace need by developing a viable
business model around an innovative product, service, process or a platform. A start-
up is usually a company designed to effectively develop and validate a scalable business
model. Start-ups have high rates of failure, but the minority of successes include
companies that have become large and influential.
Start-up companies can come in all forms and sizes. Some of the critical tasks are to
build a co-founder team to secure key skills, know-how, financial resources, and other
elements to conduct research on the target market. Typically, a start-up will begin by
building a first minimum viable product (MVP), a prototype, to validate, assess and
develop the new ideas or business concepts. In addition, start-ups founders do research
to deepen their understanding of the ideas, technologies or business concepts and their
commercial potential. A Shareholders' agreement (SHA) is often agreed early on to
confirm the commitment, ownership and contributions of the founders and investors
and to deal with the intellectual properties and assets that may be generated by the start-
up. Business models for start-ups are generally found via a "bottom-up" or "top-down"
approach. A company may cease to be a start-up as it passes various milestones, such
as becoming publicly traded on the stock market in an Initial Public Offering (IPO), or
ceasing to exist as an independent entity via a merger or acquisition. Companies may
also fail and cease to operate altogether, an outcome that is very likely for start-ups,
given that they are developing disruptive innovations which may not function as
expected and for which there may not be market demand, even when the product or
service is finally developed. Given that start-ups operate in high-risk sectors, it can also
be hard to attract investors to support the product/service development or attract buyers.
The size and maturity of the start-up ecosystem where the start-up is launched and
where it grows have an effect on the volume and success of the start-ups. The start-up
ecosystem consists of the individuals (entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, Angel
investors, mentors); institutions and organizations (top research universities and
institutes, business schools and entrepreneurship programs operated by universities and

35
colleges, non-profit entrepreneurship support organizations, government
entrepreneurship programs and services, Chambers of commerce) business incubators
and business accelerators and top-performing entrepreneurial firms and start-ups. A
region with all of these elements is considered to be a "strong" start-up ecosystem.
Investors are generally most attracted to those new companies distinguished by their
strong co-founding team, a balanced "risk/reward" profile (in which high risk due to
the untested, disruptive innovations is balanced out by high potential returns) and
"scalability" (the likelihood that a start-up can expand its operations by serving more
markets or more customers). Attractive start-ups generally have lower "bootstrapping"
(self-funding of start-ups by the founders) costs, higher risk, and higher potential return
on investment. Successful start-ups are typically more scalable than an established
business, in the sense that the start-up has the potential to grow rapidly with a limited
investment of capital, labor or land. Timing has often been the single most important
factor for biggest start-up successes, while at the same time it's identified to be one of
the hardest things to master by many serial entrepreneurs and investors.
Start-ups have several options for funding. Venture capital firms and angel investors
may help start-up companies begin operations, exchanging seed money for an equity
stake in the firm. Venture capitalists and angel investors provide financing to a range
of start-ups (a portfolio), with the expectation that a very small number of the start-ups
will become viable and make money. In practice though, many start-ups are initially
funded by the founders themselves using "bootstrapping", in which loans or monetary
gifts from friends and family are combined with savings and credit card debt to finance
the venture. Factoring is another option, though it is not unique to start-ups. Other
funding opportunities include various forms of crowdfunding, for example equity
crowdfunding, in which the start-up seeks funding from a large number of individuals,
typically by pitching their idea on the Internet.
Start-ups usually need to form partnerships with other firms to enable their business
model to operate. To become attractive to other businesses, start-ups need to align their
internal features, such as management style and products with the market situation. In
their 2013 study, Kask and Linton develop two ideal profiles, or also known as
configurations or archetypes, for start-ups that are commercializing inventions. The
inheritor profile calls for a management style that is not too entrepreneurial (more

36
conservative) and the start-up should have an incremental invention (building on a
previous standard). This profile is set out to be more successful (in finding a business
partner) in a market that has a dominant design (a clear standard is applied in this
market). In contrast to this profile is the originator which has a management style that
is highly entrepreneurial and in which a radical invention or a disruptive innovation
(totally new standard) is being developed. This profile is set out to be more successful
(in finding a business partner) in a market that does not have a dominant design
(established standard). New start-ups should align themselves to one of the profiles
when commercializing an invention to be able to find and be attractive to a business
partner. By finding a business partner a start-up will have greater chances to become
successful.
Co-founders
Co-founders are people involved in the initial launch of start-up companies. Anyone
can be a co-founder, and an existing company can also be a co-founder, but frequently
co-founders are entrepreneurs, engineers, hackers, web developers, web designers and
others involved in the ground level of a new, often high-tech, venture. The language of
securities regulation in the United States considers co-founders to be "promoters" under
Regulation D. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission definition of "Promoter"
includes: (i) Any person who, acting alone or in conjunction with one or more other
persons, directly or indirectly takes initiative in founding and organizing the business
or enterprise of an issuer; However, not every promoter is a co-founder. In fact, there
is no formal, legal definition of what makes somebody a co-founder. The right to call
oneself a co-founder can be established through an agreement with one's fellow co-
founders or with permission of the board of directors, investors, or shareholders of a
start-up company. When there is no definitive agreement, disputes about who the co-
founders are can arise.

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Start-up investing
Start-up investing is the action of making an investment in an early-stage company (the
start-up company). Beyond founders' own contributions, some start-ups raise additional
investment at some or several stages of their growth. Not all start-ups trying to raise
investments are successful in their fundraising. The solicitation of funds became easier
for start-ups as result of the JOBS Act. Prior to the advent of equity crowdfunding, a
form of online investing that has been legalized in several nations, start-ups did not
advertise themselves to the general public as investment opportunities until and unless
they first obtained approval from regulators for an initial public offering (IPO) that
typically involved a listing of the start-up's securities on a stock exchange. Today, there
are many alternative forms of IPO commonly employed by start-ups and start-up
promoters that do not include an exchange listing, so they may avoid certain regulatory
compliance obligations, including mandatory periodic disclosures of financial
information and factual discussion of business conditions by management that investors
and potential investors routinely receive from registered public companies.

38
START-UP INDIA SCHEME
• The economy of any country depends on its countrymen. Larger the number of
employed or working people, better be the economy. The Indian government
realized that Indian people have the potential to work, hardly all they need is, a
promising start up. Many people dream of starting up their own business, but
due to financial or other similar issues are unable to do so. So, Indian govt. in
the leadership of Narendra Modi has decided to offer a gift as a nation wise
program- “Start-up India”

39
• Narendra Modi in his speech acknowledged that Indians have ideas and
capability, all the need is a little push. “Start-up India” is a revolutionary
scheme that has been started to help the people who wish to start their own
business. These people have ideas and capability, so the government will give
them support to make sure they can implement their ideas and grow. Success
of this scheme will eventually make India, a better economy and a strong
nation. Start Up India Scheme –From Job Seekers to Job Creators.
• During his speech at the event, Mr. Modi said that we are trying to make the
young job creators rather than job seekers. He also said that one’s mind-set
should not be towards earning money in the initial phase, it should be rather on
grabbing and using the opportunities.
• Technology is evolving with the pace faster than ever. This has given birth to
various new businesses like E-commerce, internet marketing etc. So, there is a
great scope of development in such areas. Those who plan to start new business
are eligible to apply.

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Start Up India Scheme

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CHAPTER 4: EXPANSION STRATEGIES FOR START-UPS
The Expansion Strategy is adopted by an organization when it attempts to achieve a
high growth as compared to its past achievements. In other words, when a firm aims to
grow considerably by broadening the scope of one of its business operations in the
perspective of customer groups, customer functions and technology alternatives, either
individually or jointly, then it follows the Expansion Strategy.
The reasons for the expansion could be survival, higher profits, increased prestige,
economies of scale, larger market share, social benefits, etc. The expansion strategy is
adopted by those firms who have managers with a high degree of achievement and
recognition. Their aim is to grow, irrespective of the risk and the hurdles coming in the
way.
The firm can follow either of the five expansion strategies to accomplish its objectives:
• Expansion through Concentration
• Expansion through Diversification
• Expansion through Integration
• Expansion through Cooperation
• Expansion through Internationalization
• Expansion through Concentration
The Expansion through Concentration is the first level form of Expansion Grand
strategy that involves the investment of resources in the product line, catering to the
needs of the identified market with the help of proven and tested technology.
Simply, the strategy followed when an organization coincides its resources into one or
more of its businesses in the context of customer needs, functions and technology
alternatives, either individually or collectively, is called as expansion through
concentration.

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The organization may follow any of the ways to practice Expansion through
concentration:
Market penetration strategy: The firm focusing intensely on the existing market
with its present product.
Market Development type of concentration: Attracting new customers for the
existing product.
Product Development type of Concentration: Introducing new products in the
existing market.
The firms prefer expansion through concentration because they are required to do things
what they are already doing. Due to the familiarity with the industry the firm likes to
invest in the known businesses rather than a new one. Also, through concentration
strategy, no major changes are made in the organizational structure, and expertise is
gained due to an in-depth knowledge about one or more businesses.
However, the expansion through concentration is risky since these strategies are highly
dependent on the industry, so any adverse conditions in the industry can affect the
business drastically. Also, the huge investments made in a particular business may
suffer losses due the invention of new technology, market fickleness, and product
obsolescence.
Expansion through Diversification
The Expansion through Diversification is followed when an organization aims at
changing the business definition, i.e. either developing a new product or expanding into
a new market, either individually or jointly. A firm adopts the expansion through
diversification strategy, to prepare itself to overcome the economic downturns.
Generally, the diversification is made to set off the losses of one business with the
profits of the other; that may have got affected due to the adverse market conditions.
There are mainly two types of diversification strategies undertaken by the organization:

43
Concentric Diversification: When an organization acquires or develops a new product
or service that are closely related to the organization’s existing range of products and
services is called as a concentric diversification. For example, the shoe manufacturing
company may acquire the leather manufacturing company with a view to entering into
the new consumer markets and escalate sales.
Conglomerate Diversification: When an organization expands itself into different
areas, whether related or unrelated to its core business is called as a conglomerate
diversification. Simply, conglomerate diversification is when the firm acquires or
develops the product and services that may or may not be related to the existing range
of product and services.
Generally, the firm follows this type of diversification through a merger or takeover or
if the company wants to expand to cover the distinct market segments. ITC is the best
example of conglomerate diversification.
Expansion through Integration
The Expansion through Integration means combining one or more present operation
of the business with no change in the customer groups. This combination can be done
through a value chain.
The value chain comprises of interlinked activities performed by an organization right
from the procurement of raw materials to the marketing of finished goods. Thus, a firm
may move up or down the value chain to focus more comprehensively on the needs of
the existing customers.
The expansion through integration widens the scope of the business and thus considered
as the grand expansion strategy. There are two ways of integration:
Vertical integration: The vertical integration is of two types: forward and backward.
When an organization moves close to the ultimate customers, i.e. facilitate the sale of
the finished goods is said to have made a forward integration. Example, the
manufacturing firm open up its retail outlet.

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Whereas, if the organization retreats to the source of raw materials, is said to have made
a backward integration. Example, the shoe company manufactures its own raw material
such as leather through its subsidiary firm.
Horizontal Integration: A firm is said to have made a horizontal integration when it
takes over the same kind of product with similar marketing and production levels.
Example, the pharmaceutical company takes over its rival pharmaceutical company.
Expansion through Cooperation
The Expansion through Cooperation is a strategy followed when an organization
enters into a mutual agreement with the competitor to carry out the business operations
and compete with one another at the same time, with the objective to expand the market
potential.
The expansion through cooperation can be done by following any of the strategies
as explained below:
Merger: The merger is the combination of two or more firms wherein one acquires the
assets and liabilities of the other in the exchange of cash or shares, or both the
organizations get dissolved, and a new organization came into the existence.
The firm that acquires another is said to have made an acquisition, whereas, for the
other firm that gets acquired, it is a merger.
Takeover: Takeover strategy is the other method of expansion through cooperation. In
this, one firm acquires the other in such a way, that it becomes responsible for all the
acquired firm’s operations.
The takeovers can either be friendly or hostile. In the former, both the companies agree
for a takeover and feels it is beneficial for both. However, in the case of a hostile
takeover, a firm try to take on the operations of the other firm forcefully either known
or unknown to the target firm.
Joint Venture: Under the joint venture, both the firms agree to combine and carry out
the business operations jointly. The joint venture is generally done, to capitalize the

45
strengths of both the firms. The joint ventures are usually temporary; that lasts till the
particular task is accomplished.
Strategic Alliance: Under this strategy of expansion through cooperation, the firms
unite or combine to perform a set of business operations, but function independently
and pursue the individualized goals. Generally, the strategic alliance is formed to
capitalize on the expertise in technology or manpower of either of the firm.
Thus, a firm can adopt either of the cooperation strategies depending on the nature of
business line it deals in and the pursued objectives.
Expansion through Internationalization
The Expansion through Internationalization is the strategy followed by an
organization when it aims to expand beyond the national market. The need for the
Expansion through Internationalization arises when an organization has explored all the
potential to expand domestically and look for the expansion opportunities beyond the
national boundaries.
But however, going global is not an easy task, the organization has to comply with the
stringent benchmarks of price, quality and timely delivery of goods and services, that
may vary from country to country.
The expansion through internationalization could be done by adopting either of the
following strategies:
International Strategy: The firms adopt an international strategy to create value by
offering those products and services to the foreign markets where these are not
available. This can be done, by practicing a tight control over the operations in the
overseas and providing the standardized products with little or no differentiation.
Multidomestic Strategy: Under this strategy, the multi-domestic firms offer the
customized products and services that match the local conditions operating in the
foreign markets. Obviously, this could be a costly affair because the research and

46
development, production and marketing are to be done keeping in mind the local
conditions prevailing in different countries.
Global Strategy: The global firms rely on low-cost structure and offer those products
and services to the selected foreign markets in which they have the expertise. Thus, a
standardized product or service is offered to the selected countries around the world.
Transnational Strategy: Under this strategy, the firms adopt the combined approach
of multi-domestic and global strategy. The firms rely on both the low-cost structure and
the local responsiveness i.e. according to the local conditions. Thus, a firm offers its
standardized products and services and at the same time makes sure that it is in line
with the local conditions prevailing in the country, where it is operating.
So, in order to globalize, the firm should assess the international environment first, and
then should evaluate its own capabilities and plan the strategies accordingly to enter
into the foreign markets.
As we can see from the image above India is amongst the top 5 countries in the world
in terms of start-ups.

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START-UPS WHICH HAVE MADE A NAME FOR THEMSELVES
1) Zomato Company:
Zomato is an online directory for finding restaurants around you and one of the poster
boys of the Indian start-up ecosystem. Zomato has gone global to over 15 countries,
raised more than $65 million in funding and has shown an impressive growth rate.
Coming to the specifics, Zomato is surely one of the best in the business when it comes
to content marketing. And content marketing just doesn’t mean a constantly updated
blog- Zomato has content in various forms like infographics, videos and campaigns.
Zomato is bold and keeps experimenting. Yes, there are things that go wrong with
trying out different things but that is the only way to know what works. Some examples:
20 times Zomato rocked social media with their super creative post

48

49

50
So we can infer from the above analysis that Zomato as a start-up has grown immensely
because of its content marketing strategy. As we have learned from chapter 2 content
marketing is fairly important to improve the growth of your business and how Zomato
as a start-up has used it for their benefit.

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2.Make My trip
Brainchild of Deep Kalra, an IIM Ahmedabad alumnus, Make My Trip has
revolutionized the travel industry over the years. It was originally launched in the US
market in 2000 to cater to the needs of NRIs for their Indo-American trips. It launched
its operations in India in 2005, starting with flight tickets. After a few years, Make My
Trip got listed in NASDAQ and in the next year went on to make 3 acquisitions. It has
got worldwide recognition and innumerable rewards.
Make my trip uses contest and provide various offers to increase their growth via social
media. On Facebook, the company official page has 1,559,116 likes and content are
posted on regular basis to keep the customers engaged on the page and let them know
about the offering s and campaigns. hey have a healthy number of followers on twitter
also. The company joined Twitter in 2009 and in the small span of time they have above
27, 517 active followers. Such contests and campaigns help them to increase their
reachability and boost up the sales with special offers, discount coupons and freebies.
MakeMyTrip official channel on YouTube has 41,710 subscribers with 15 lacs+ views
registered till date for 800 videos posted by the brand. The YouTube channel consists

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of all the TV Commercials released by the brands, along with videos covering travel
destinations, hotels and accommodations.
The company has utilized the video sharing site YouTube efficiently and has taken it
as the second screen after the TV commercials ads. Apart from social media to keep its
audience engaged Make my trip also used expansion through integration for its
advantage.
Their strategy –
• Getting the Add-ons - MakeMyTrip has all the major market leaders related to
traveling, hotel booking, modes of transportation, etc. so that the customers
can find all the services that they need and would not get any reason to opt out
of the mobile app before making the full process. Also, the integration would
bring added advantages like free coupons; optimum cash back offers and much
more.
• Keeping up with the market trends - MMT made the advertisements of their
services, funny and more related to the aspects a common man would go
through so that the customers can relate to it easily. Moreover, creating
different advertisements including different religions can add a different charm
to their marketing strategy.
• In-depth Customer Study - MMT has taken into consideration and has worked
on it with complete dedication. For the online booking apps, it is necessary
to gauge the targeted customers to the core so as to get the app marketing
strategy in the correct order. For example, if you are targeting the age group of
customers from 19-30, you have to include those features that are youth
centric along with catchy icons or content so that they can be wooed in for
longer periods of time.
• Keeping things Fresh - marketing team includes content related to the recent
stuff going around like festivals, political situations or remarks on the present
scenario of the country concerned with. This kind of mobile app marketing
strategy helps go a long way with the customers and also get their attention for
an extended span of time.

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3. FLIPKART
No one would be a stranger to this one! Flipkart achieved massive success a few years
back owing to its first mover advantage in the online market in India. Sachin and Binny
Bansal, both IIT-D alumni, worked with Amazon before, thus they introduced a similar
concept into the Indian market. They started with books in 2007 and now sell almost
everything, from personal care to jewellery, from CDs to stationery. It acquired Myntra
for around INR 2000 crore.
Flipkart.com has made it to the top five global billion-dollar start-up club with a
valuation of $11 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Ventur
Source report published.
The success of flipkart is mainly because of its first mover advantage in the Ecommerce
industry here in India. They followed Amazons business model and launched it here in
India and got the first mover advantage. The use content marketing and social media to
their advantage, they have also used expansion through integration for their benefits
where they have acquired their competitors such as Myntra.
Their strategy –
Behavioural & Psychographic are the segmentation strategies used by Flipkart to
segment the market to cater to the customers changing needs & wants. With the rise in

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per capita income and change in buying patterns, customers are getting more acquainted
and are comfortable in buying online.
Flipkart uses undifferentiated targeting strategy, since people of all demography
purchase items online which is available to everyone where the delivery is possible
4. Ola Cabs
OLA CABS, popularly known as OLA, is an online cab services provider company
based in India. Founded on 3rd December 2015 by Bhavish Aggarwal (currently CEO)
and Ankit Bhati (currently CTO), the company started its operations from Mumbai and
is now based in Bangalore. Now it has expanded to a network of more than 2,00,000
cars in more than 110 cities. In 2014, it also started on-demand auto-rickshaw services
through its mobile app in Bangalore, Pune and few other cities.
Ola Cabs is today among the fastest growing businesses in India and all this happened
over a short period of time because of the right marketing and operational strategies
adopted by the company.

55
Ola’a initial offline CHALO NIKLO brand campaign did not get the desired results of
increasing brand awareness. In October 2014, it chose to shift to online ‘Marketing on
Facebook’ campaign to meet it’s specific business goals. Ola being an app-driven
company, it made sense for the company to usher into Facebook network to meet it’s
objectives such as increasing brand awareness as part of its CHALO NIKLO brand
campaign on a wide scale in terms of targeting the right audience, increasing sales,
boosting online searches and eventually increasing it’s customer base. Through the
‘Marketing on Facebook’ platform, the company took advantage of Facebook’s wide
range of ad formats and customer targeting, both powerful tools of promoting brand
and apps.
Ola started its campaign by running multiple Facebook ‘reach blocks’, which allow
advertisers to reach all of a specified demographic on a given day. This included highly

56
targeted video ads and photo ads also featuring content from its initial campaign
CHALO NIKLO. It encouraged people to download Ola’s mobile app. Ola also directed
people to its website with link ads in the News Feed and right column, and ran mobile
app ads to drive people directly to its mobile app.
5.Practo
In 2013, Practo.com was launched – doctor discovery platform which allows consumers
to find the right doctors and book instant appointments. It is an internet based service
to schedule appointments with doctors. Users can search for doctors based on specialty
and location, doctor name or clinic name. The search can be further refined based on
the area inside the city, availability, timings and consultation fee. Patients can directly
book appointments from the search results, which display relevant doctors, their
timings, fees, reviews and address.
Practo has a proprietary algorithm running in the backend, which ranks doctors listed
on the site based on relevance, location and specialty, feedback from patients and
appointment experience. The number of appointments booked with a doctor in the last

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30 days, doctor’s availability, and patient’s recommendations are key parameters to
rank doctors.
The USP of Practo is its uniqueness of product that is forcing doctors to adopt it. Other
than that, it has given options to customers too to connect with the doctors. Practo.com
has over 1,00,000 doctors listed from over 310 Indian towns and cities, with
comprehensive coverage from the metros of Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad,
Chennai, Pune and Singapore. It has over 1.3 million pageviews and 30,000
appointments booked every month, with traffic growing at 24 per cent per month. The
company has seven offices, in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune
and Singapore. Today, Practo holds over 90% market share amongst all doctors using
software to manage their practice. and 10200 followers on Twitter. It has recently
grabbed attention of media by raising $90 million funds from the investors.
6.Urbanclap
UrbanClap is recognized as the fastest-growing start-up in India. It is a mobile marketplace
for local services. They help customers hire trusted professionals for all their service needs.
They are staffed with young, passionate people working tirelessly to make a difference in the
lives of people by catering to their service needs at their doorsteps. They provide
housekeeping services which consist of Plumbers, Electricians, Carpenters, Cleaning and Pest
Control. They also provide personal services like beauty, spa, mobile and other appliance
repairs etc. Be it getting a plumbing job done, improving your fitness through yoga, learning
to play the guitar, decorating your home or getting candid photos of your wedding clicked,
they are a sure shot destination for your service needs.

58
Founding Date 2014
UrbanClap total
Funding
$110.7 m
UrbanClap latest
funding size
$50 m
Time since last funding 4 months ago
UrbanClap investors Kunal Bahl, Rohit Bansal, Ratan Tata, Vy Capital, SAIF
Partners, Accel Partners, Accel, Steadview Capital, Bessemer
Venture Partners
It is located in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi Hyderabad,
Jaipur, Kolkata and Dubai.
Their services are
• Appliance Repair - Geyser / Water Heater Repair, Refrigerator Repair,
Washing Machine Repair, RO or Water Purifier Repair, Microwave Repair,
AC Service and Repair.
• Beauty & Spa - Salon at home for Women, Massage for Women, Makeup and
Hairstyling, Massage for Men.
• Home Cleaning & Repairs – Carpenters, Electricians, Plumbers, Bathroom
Deep Cleaning, Carpet Cleaning, Home Deep Cleaning, Sofa Cleaning,
Kitchen Deep Cleaning, Pest Control, Geyser / Water Heater Repair, Washing
Machine Repair, AC Service and Repair, Microwave Repair, Refrigerator
Repair, Laptop Repair, Mobile Repair, RO or Water Purifier Repair, TV
Installation, Chimney and Hob Repair, iPhone, iPad, Mac Repair, Car
Cleaning.
• Business & Taxes - CA for Income Tax Filing, Packers & Movers, CCTV
Cameras and Installation, Web Designer & Developer, CA for Small Business,

59
GST Registration & Migration Services, CA/CS for Company Registration,
Lawyer, Vastu Shastra Consultants.
• Personal & More – Astrologer, Baby Portfolio Photographer, Divorce Lawyer,
Lawyer, Maternity Photographer, Packers & Movers, Real Estate Lawyer,
Commerce Home Tutor, Home Tutor, Mathematics Tutor, Weddings & Events
- Makeup and Hairstyling, Party Decoration, Wedding Photographer, Pre-
Wedding Shoot, Event Photographer, Wedding Venues, Event Photographer,
Pre-Wedding Shoot, Astrologer.
Their strategy –
UrbanClap is an app-based service marketplace that connects customers to
service professionals. The marketing strategy is to connect more number of
customers to use their platform. The target audience is very broad because
they carter with different services. The strategy is more of data drive. E.g. You
would have clicked on Urban clap AD on some website or their sponsored
AD on FB, you had just clicked the AD but not downloaded their App or not
went through their services but you had made a hit. So there is a chance you
will be getting mail from urban clap about their offers or Different services.
This is because they thought you as a potential lead so you will be sent mail
you or will come through Urban clap AD on other platforms where you use
same login credential.

60

61
CHAPTER 5: DATA ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION
1.
52.5% people prefer Zomato over Swiggy, UberEats, Foodpanda
2.
47.5% people prefer BookMySow whereas MakeMy Trip is also giving tough
competition.

62
3.
55% users prefer Flipkart where the second preferred portal is Amazon on 20%
4.
60% people prefer to ride from Ola than Uber.

63
5.
Out of 100%, 57.5% people are aware of Practo and their services
6.
The survey shows that 60% people consult or are willing to consult doctor on
an online platform.

64
7.
62.5% people are aware of UrbanClap and their services while 37.5% are still
not aware about the company.
8.
This survey shows that people are aware of the services provided by the
UrbanClap where 23.1% people believe that all the services listed above are
provided by the company and 41% consumers strongly believe that the
company is only is appliance repair service because this is the highest
consumed service by consumers.

65
Key takeaways:
There are a lot of little lessons to learn, but here are three of the biggest ones to
remember:
• Distinguish yourself. The content game is crowded, but there’s always more
demand. If you want to stand out, find a way to distinguish yourself by
offering niche content and serving a niche audience.
• Set specific goals. Have a strategy in mind before you begin. The more laser-
focused your efforts are, the more likely you’ll be to become successful.
• Engage with your audience. Remember, content success is all about making
your audience members happy, so keep them engaged with your work, and
listen to them when they bring you feedback.
It doesn’t matter if your business is a start-up or not; if you can follow these basic
principles for success in content marketing, you can build your reputation and
start reaping the benefits that these once-start-ups are enjoying today.

66
CHAPTER 6: FINDINGS
We have covered some of Start-ups in our study/research. The purpose of findings is to
provide a concise, clear summary regarding the topic given to us. Below mentioned are
the findings observed during the course of our research.
1. Most of the start-ups fail because the founders don’t understand the culture of the
Indian market.
2. As the world is becoming digital, generally most of the start-ups are based on these
digital platforms which make it difficult to succeed in the Indian market as the Indians
are still uncertain about technology.
3. Thanks to the Start-up India initiative, start-ups applying for patents have increased
as the fees for patent filing has decreased.
4. Start-ups try to emulate the path followed by global start-ups which doesn’t succeed
in the Indian market.

67
CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSION
• The successful completion of this project indicates that the future of start-ups is
in the hands of the co-founders itself.
• The co-founders should do a thorough study of the market so as to understand
their growth chances.
• People need to understand that just copying global start-up ideas and
implementing their ideas on their own start-ups won’t do any good.
• Start-up schemes is a great initiative by our honourable prime minister for all
the entrepreneurs who have innovative ideas but lacks platform which provide
them to start their business. Now under this scheme they will get Tax
exemptions for three years and concessions on capital gains tax.
• It is a single point of contact for interactions with the government.
• Apart from this there are many new innovation centre, research centre and
institutes that will be established and also in case of exit – 90 days for a start-
up to close down their business and many other benefits are provided.

68
CHAPTER 8: RECOMMENDATIONS
After the detailed study of the research, we can provide suggestions to Start-up
enterprises and also recommend the expansion strategy to be followed:
Government of India along with the State Government should take initiative and
conduct various programs to make people aware about the various Schemes under
Start-up India.
As Start-up scheme is an online facility, so government of India should provide
internet facilities to all the remote areas of the Nation so that entrepreneurs get their
innovation implemented through their own places.
Some expansion strategy to be followed to expand the business
• Add new products and services to your mix. ...
• Sell more products and services to your existing customers. ...
• Expand into new territories. ...
• Target new customer markets. ...
• Tap into new sales and delivery channels.
• Acquire another business

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Annexure
➢ Name ______________________
➢ Age
• Below 18
• 18 – 24
• 25 – 30
➢ Where do you prefer to order food?
• Zomato
• Foodpanda
• Swiggy
• UberEats
• Others
➢ Which portal do you prefer to book tickets?
• BookMyShow
• MakeMy Trip
• Trivago
• Others

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➢ Which online portal do you prefer for online shopping?
• Flipkart
• Amazon
• Paytm
• Alibaba
• Myntra
• Others
➢ Which pool cab do you prefer to ride?
• Ola
• Uber
• Meru
• Others
➢ Are you aware of Practo and their services?
• Yes
• No
➢ Do you consult doctor on an online platform?
• Yes
• NO
➢ Are you aware of UrbanClap and their services?
• Yes
• No

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➢ What services does UrbanClap provide?
• Appliance repair
• Beauty & Spa
• Home cleaning and repairs
• Business & Taxes
• All of the above
• None of the above

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
• https://www.cf-sn.ca/business/business_expansion/expansion.php
• https://www.fatbit.com/fab/business-growth-strategies-for-start-ups/
• https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/284885
• If You're in a Dogfight, Become a Cat: Strategies for Long-Term Growth— by Leonard
Sherman
• https://www.start-upgrind.com/blog/9-strategies-all-start-ups-must-have-to-sustain-
• business-growth/
• Good To Great by Jim Collins
• https://blog.hubstaff.com/business-growth-strategy/
• http://news.abs-cbn.com/business/07/15/17/10-marketing-strategies-every-
• start-up-should-know
• https://businessjargons.com/expansion-strategy.html
• https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-marketing-strategy-of-urban-clap
• https://www.marketing91.com/marketing-strategy-flipkart/
• https://www.prismetric.com/demystify-marketing-strategies-makemytrip-way/

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