MINI GUIDE ON

ENTREPRENEURSHIP
WEAREFFORCE.COM
info@wearefforce.com
Agenda
What this guide covers

01 Introduction 07 To fundraise or bootstrap?

02 The criticality of self-awareness 08 Building a brand

03 Developing a winning mindset 09 Marketing for startups

04 Idea to execution 10 Building a thriving culture

05 Building an MVP 11 Leadership and people management

06 Business plan structure 12 Support system

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 This document is useful for anyone who is considering starting a business or has recently started
a business and wants to grow it, or any entrepreneur who wants a sanity check that they’re on
the right track. “Entrepreneur” has become a loaded word. Everybody wants to become an
entrepreneur and there is an amount of glamorizing that is being witnessed especially on social
media about the life of entrepreneurs. Motivational quotes, hack reels, 2 min how to videos and
people talking about running 6, 7 or more-figure businesses is giving a false sense of what this
world is about. Let’s not be mistaken, entrepreneurship is beautiful, starting a business is
incredibly rewarding, but it has to be the right thing for you! And it is by no stretch of the
imagination right for everyone or the only right way to achieve success.
In fact, if we want to be quite realistic about it, over 90% of startups fail within the first 2 years.
A Short Guide to So, if you were to think of it from a probability POV, one is likely to succeed doing something else.
Entrepreneurship
Now, I’m not trying to deter you from being an entrepreneur, quite the opposite. I’m trying to
have you answer a few critical questions before you consider venturing into entrepreneurship:

Is this really going to make me happy?

Is this my passion?
Do I have what it takes to start a business, mentally, emotionally and in terms of knowledge
& skills?
When things get hard, and I can assure you they will get very very hard, will I keep going day
after day after day?
Is this about the journey or am I just concerned with the ultimate destination and goal?
Will this serve a bigger purpose than the financial gain?
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Being truthful in responding to these questions is essential in determining how far you can go in this journey. If upon reflection you still
feel strongly about starting your business and building value for you and those who will be part of your journey then congratulations,
you’re about to embark into what may be the most memorable experience in your career. Expect growth, evolution, ecstatic moments,
hardship, building incredible bonds, learning so much about people, mastering discipline, appreciating consistency, and understanding
that success comes from compounded consistency: doing the small things day in and day out, tirelessly, with no expectations of an
immediate return or instant gratification, until one day it hits an inflection point and reaps the rewards.

In The Startup Course, I take participants through the nuts and bolts of starting a business from mindset and self-awareness, to
validating a business idea, writing a business plan, preparing, and embarking in fundraising and all the nuances and challenges
therein, managing people, marketing your idea, building a brand and the importance of a support system including mentorship,
advisors, and boards. We do it over a course of 8 weeks where I meet the participants virtually every week and we speak on average
2 hours going through the topic and addressing any questions or clarifications in a space that is safe, open, friendly and where no
question is silly. At the end of the 8 weeks, we create an incredible group, a community of women, who have gone through a journey of
transformation, who have gathered the courage they all had within to conquer their dreams and to put all their learnings into
execution. And without a shadow of a doubt, at the end of the course, each and every one of them is equipped with all the
knowledge that she needs to start and build a real business.

My goal with this mini guide is to give you an overview of what entrepreneurship entails. It’s a taste of what we dive into over the 8 weeks
that we spend together where I give a real, uncensored, unglamorized, no-fluff dive into this world that I’ve been in for over 7 years after
spending 15 years prior to that in the corporate space. I know exactly the intimidation, fear, hesitation, self-doubt, procrastination, and all
other emotions that one goes through when considering starting a business, I’ve been there, and I can tell you exactly how to overcome it.
So, let’s get started and I hope that you find this document useful and enjoy reading through it as much as I did putting it together.

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 Here are a few ways to work on self-awareness:

• Mindfulness through practices such as meditation that help you stay in

the present moment
• Journaling. Writing your thoughts and reflecting on them
• Take psychometric tests
• Asking for feedback and being open to criticism
THE CRITICALITY OF SELF-AWARENESS:

Self-awareness is your biggest unfair advantage: Points to remember:

This is the aspect that we, humans, could spend a
lifetime working on and not achieve full self-
awareness. Yet, the more you know, the more you
can evolve, grow, adapt, and become a better
version of yourself. Most people think they know
themselves and yet have too many blind spots to
count. Being intentional about understanding
yourself, analyzing your behaviors and reasons
you act the way you do, understanding your
emotions is what gives you the unfair advantage
over anyone else.
Developing and improving our self-awareness is the
foundation of the building; all the other floors will be built
and established over this foundation. This is why it is so
critical to get that foundation right.
The information we get from this exploration need not
be viewed as any kind of judgement. Don’t dwell too
much on your strengths nor your vulnerabilities. Look at it
through a positive light; if you know your weaknesses you
can improve them. There’s only room for growth.

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 DEVELOPING A WINNING MINDSET:
With what the journey of entrepreneurship entails, the ups and downs, the unexpected challenges, the volatility of emotions and
the sheer amount of change and uncertainty through which entrepreneurs must navigate their business means that they must
adopt a winning mindset in order to achieve their goals. Qualities such as resilience, discipline, consistency, tenacity, problem-
solving, positivity, continuous learning and growth, passion, ambition, and execution, are all part and parcel of an entrepreneur’s
fabric and they all are part of what makes a winning mindset.
So how can one develop a winning mindset? Here are a few things that can help:
DEFINE YOUR WHY YOUR CIRCLE DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES DAILY ROUTINE VISUALIZATION

As fluffy as it sounds this is
the most important part. If
you’re just after the
money, when the going
gets tough, your
motivation will fade quite
quickly. Your why must be
beyond the financial gains,
stronger and more solid
that when things become
difficult, it is that WHY that
helps you (and your team)
push through.
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The people around you Look at different
are crucial in influencing perspectives in any
your mindset. Choose situation. Everyone goes
them wisely and be through hardship, people
deliberate with how you with grit always look at
spend your time and with different perspectives to a
whom. Think of the 5 difficult situation. They even
people with whom you try to find the opportunity
spend the most amount of or the positive in adversity.
time and whether they Experiences are neutral, it is
inspire you to create the our perspective that places
life that you dream of. If them on the spectrum of
not, rethink that circle. good to bad. Let’s choose
the positive.
Have a daily routine and be religious
about it. Meditation, working out,
planning your day in a manner that
increases your productivity and
primes your mind to face what the
day brings is crucial. Too many of us
feel that life is too busy for an hour
of exercising a few times a week
when it is that very hour that would
allow our brains and body the
aptitude to do more and achieve
more. Invest in the best performing
machine in which you live, your body,
your brain, your health.
How can you flow towards a
dream that you haven’t
visualized and hadn’t even
imagined. Our thoughts
create our reality and I’m
not just talking about sitting
and manifesting. I’m talking
about how athletes get
ready to win championships.
Visualize your success, what
it will look like and feel like to
achieve your dreams, see it,
believe it, and then work
towards it.
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 IDEA TO EXECUTION

Ideas are by the dozen, it’s all about execution! Yes, there, I said it. Surely a great idea is brilliant and will get everyone
excited, but without execution it means nothing. Whereas an average idea with great execution can build a hugely
successful business.
So, you have an idea, for it to turn to a business it needs to have a problem, a solution, and an insight. The insight is your
company’s unfair advantage: what would make an investor choose you? What makes you best at solving this problem? How
are you differentiated and why would people pay for your service or product?
Now let’s think about what is important when it comes to taking your startup from idea to execution:

a. Idea. As explained
b. Product. What are you offering, how are you building it, are you listening to the customer and incorporating their input and
feedback?
c. Team. Nobody creates success on their own. Great teams are the core of a successful business and that’s where the talent
of the founder in attracting, nurturing, and building great teams lies.
d. Execution. It’s all in breaking down strategies into plans, frameworks, and tasks to deliver the big goal and it is far easier
said than done.

If you get all the above right, and have a bit of luck in the form of perfect timing, a great and complimentary co-founder, a
solid network, an opportunity, good market conditions..etc. then you got the formula right and you’re on to something.

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 BUILDING AN MVP: A MINIMUM VIABLE PRODUCT

An MVP is the first product or service that you give out to Some of the benefits of starting with an MVP:
your first set of users to see if you can deliver any value
It costs less to build an MVP than a complete product
to them. Most startups can launch with an MVP. Very few
It allows you to test your product and business idea
businesses cannot such as banks, insurance companies.
faster
The MVP is your starting point for future iterations.
It allows you to build a product based on customer
feedback rather than your own thoughts and
The idea is to get feedback from your customers that will
assumptions
in turn help in making the desired changes in the final
It allows you to test the viability of the product and
product. MVP actually tests the usage scenario early on
whether people are up for paying for it
and allows for an incremental progress in developing the
It is less risky than investing in building the full product
product, rather building what the founders may think is
It allows you to start building a customer base whilst
the perfect product only to find out that the customers
testing your product
want something else.

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wearefforce.com BUSINESS PLAN STRUCTURE

In its simplest form, a business plan is a guide, a roadmap for your business that outlines goals and details how you plan to achieve those goals.
However, like everything in business, starting is often the hardest part. The business plan seems to be an intimidating part of starting a business
when in fact it shouldn’t be.
So, what information do you need to include in a business plan? How in-depth should each section be? How should the plan be structured?
The way to think of a business plan is a checklist that prompts you to think about each aspect of your business and flush it out.
Here is an example of a structure of a business plan:
1.Executive Summary
An overview of your business idea, the solution, the product or service, the market and so on. This is a page or two that will give the reader a full
overview of your business idea. It is best to write this at the end once you have written all sections of your busines plan.

2. Company description
Your mission, vision, goals, target market, legal structure

3. A description of your product or service

What is it? Where is it manufactured? Have you secured any manufacturing agreements? Any relevant information about the product or service is
included here.

4. Marketing & customer acquisition plan

How do you intend to market your product or service? If your resources are low, how are you going to organically acquire customers to buy your
product or service? What channels are you considering in terms of marketing and how are you thinking and planning your marketing funnel?

5. Operational plan
How will you operate your business? What is your supply chain looking like? Will you be needing a warehouse and logistical set up?

6. Organization structure.
This part needs to be simple given the early stage of the busines. In a startup the idea is to be lean and have a flat organization early on. Here you
can also list the details of the founders, your senior and relevant team members.
7. Financials
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Details of your financial plans for the first year and ideally an outlook of the first 3 years of the business to show your growth plans and potential.
 TO FUNDRAISE OR BOOTSTRAP

Any high-growth startup is likely to require funding at some point.

Bootstrapping, in other words building a business without the need
for external investors and funding, is a great option but is not always
possible or easy. As you grow your business, you will need to hire
more people, expand geographically, invest in technology, product
development etc. You will need funding for that and the way to get
the funding is by selling part of your company: aka fundraising.

The golden rules about when to raise money in any startup are the
following:

Golden rule I: Never wait until you need money to raise!

Golden rule II: Raise as if this will be your last round
Golden rule III: Raise optimally: not too low that you have to
fundraise again soon, not too much that you over dilute. Benchmark
is 18 months.

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wearefforce.com

So why is fundraising so challenging?

Here are a few points to help clarify:

Competition over funding Lack of founder Some investors lack Complexity of the Emotional impact. Many concepts
is fierce especially for experience. Founders the sophistication of investment ecosystem: Fundraising is about like valuation
female-founded start businesses out of dealing with startups with various types of finding a lifeline for are not
businesses. Female passion and wanting to which makes the investors for various one’s business so until a straight
founders are at a build a business but are fundraising process levels of investments and founder secures the forward.
disadvantage when it often, naturally, lacking more challenging for different mandates it is
funding the stress level
comes to fundraising for expertise and knowledge founders. not easy to navigate this
is high. Additionally, the
many reasons including in the area of fundraising space let alone find the
rejections which are a
gender discrimination, which means that most right investors.
natural part of the
the lack of female get into this space not
executives in investment understanding much of process of fundraising
companies who can the insights and nuances can impact the morale
relate to female-related of fundraising. of the founders.
startup ideas and more.
In the US the amount of
VC funding that goes to
female-founded startups
is less than 2% and in the
MENA region it is less
than 1%. 10
 Prepare your pitch deck

To meet investors, you need to prepare a pitch deck which entails the essential information about your startup and your
fundraising needs. Understanding the necessary elements of a successful pitch deck can help bring you one step closer to
the funding you need.

Things to include in the pitch deck:

Company purpose
Problem that it is solving
The solution offered by the startup
The product or service
Why now?
Market size and growth + competition
Team
Business model – how are you making money
Any traction or growth that you have already experienced
Financials: 12 month projection
The Ask – how much capital you need, where will you spend it, at what valuation

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wearefforce.com

BUILDING A BRAND

Building a brand is very important in a startup and can give

you an edge at a low cost. It can also be a way to connect
emotionally with your customers and to convert them into a
community and evangelists if you strike the right chord with
them through your story.

What is your story? Who is it for? Why are you doing what you
do? What tone of voice, values, and personality does your
brand evoke? What emotions you want to solicit when people
encounter your brand?

When you build your brand right:

• It helps create a strong connection and loyalty with the customers and wider stakeholders
• Tells your story and communicates your passion and your uniqueness
• Positively impacts the company’s culture and team
• Lowers the marketing cost
• Helps break down market entry barriers
• Cuts through the noise and enables standing out across competition without the high spend
• Most importantly, a great brand creates “value” and equity that translates to tangible value for your business and in
your balance sheet in the form of “goodwill”
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 Target audience
A way to build a great
brand is to think of your
target audience as
community not just
customers. A community
will align with your values
and mission and become
your loyal evangelists.
Many startups perfect the
art of building communities
such as Huda Beauty,
Good American and The
Modist.
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Create your customer persona
This is the area where you must spend time to understand the
different customer personas of your brand. You want to learn all
that you can about them and create a “persona” for each of
them that includes:
• Demographics
• Professional background
• Pain-points and problems they’re concerned with
• Circle of influence
• Hobbies and interests
• Values
• Source of information
• Goals
Once you have developed the personas, now you want to give
them life by always considering them when thinking about the
product and service and building your marketing plan around
them.
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 MARKETING FOR STARTUPS

This is one topic that almost everyone gets intuitively, but how do you market when you don’t have the financial
resources to throw at great marketers, ads, PR services and all that jazz? How do you market in a startup with
constraints of all kinds?

Organic marketing
Organic marketing is the answer for many startups. This is free marketing that includes
content marketing, unpaid social media, unpaid influencers, network marketing and more.
Even when you have the resources, having part of your marketing done organically is
important and reflects positively on your product or service.

Paid marketing
This is any form of marketing that is paid for such as digital or performance marketing, ads,
events. Different businesses require different marketing strategies and tactics and those will
entail a choice of different channels. It’s important to try and test and look at the data to
measure the ROI on the paid marketing in a startup and only invest where the acquisition cost
and ROI make sense.

Brand is crucial, marketing is critical, but nothing works in a sustainable way without a good product.
If you build a great product or service then, to a degree and especially in the early days of the startup, it can sell itself.
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BUILDING A THRIVING CULTURE
Amidst all the responsibilities of a
founder, culture seems like one that
would be down in the order of priorities
but in fact it is actually a crucial one and
must be deliberately attended by
founders.
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So why is culture important?
1. It informs the behavior of your team implicitly
2. It attracts talent
3. It impacts reputation and your stakeholders’
perception
4. It is a living example of the values of the business
5. It impacts performance and productivity
6. A good team thrives in a good culture, but a toxic
culture will negatively impact the morale of a team
no matter how great they are.
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wearefforce.com LEADERSHIP AND PEOPLE
MANAGEMENT
Another area that many startup founders don’t deliberately think of is
how they lead their teams and business. It is important however to have
an early mental model on how you will lead in your startup.

Good leaders have a few things in common:

Think and communicate clearly

Have a good sense of judgement about people

Have integrity and commitment

Lead by example

Are able to inspire their teams and share the future vision

Nurture and build teams

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 When it comes to people management, it is the practice of attracting, hiring, training, engaging with and
retaining employees and is one of the pillars that founders must focus on in any startup. With the right team,
startups have a great chance to grow and scale, conversely, with the wrong team a startup almost always fails.

Attracting talent in a startup is challenging. Remuneration packages from other more mature businesses are
more attractive whilst working in a startup demands quite a bit of dedication and commitment, in fact, sacrifice.
It also takes a certain type of person to enjoy working at a startup with its challenges, dynamics, and intensity.
All this means that getting the right people on board requires time, patience, support from the network and a
lot of effort dedicated to sharing the vision with future team members. In addition to building a great culture
and the excitement of being part of a growing business, talents may also want to join startups to receive a
remuneration package that includes equity or share options, something that larger companies do not often
offer.

Once they have attracted talent, founders must nurture and retain them. Ways to do that include:

1. Keep team members motivated

2. Meet and communicate frequently
3. Use radical candor to give feedback in a manner that enables growth without impacting morale.
4. Delegate and verify.
5. Give new areas of responsibilities and push them to grow

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 Managing vs Leading

Both are required to run a business, and both are needed at different times.

a) Leadership is often based on a mission, while management is often based on a specific task
being completed.
b) Management involves following the rules closely, while leadership often entails creativity and
innovation.
c) Management is more focused on controlling people and outcomes, while leadership often
centers around inspiring people to think outside of the box.
d) Leaders motivate and inspire, while managers direct.
e) Management focuses on optimizing the execution of a process, while leadership focuses on
optimizing a team as a whole.
f) Management is more quantitative, while leadership is more qualitative.
g) The results of leadership are often intangible, while the results of management are easily
measurable.

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 SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR STARTUP FOUNDERS
AND ENTREPRENEURS

Every entrepreneur needs a strong support system around them to enable them to navigate the
challenges of the journey and the stronger your support and your circle, the more you are able to
focus on your startup, especially in the early years and the more likely your chances to succeed.

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 Family members

The support system can be in the form of any of these: Friends

Peers and other founders for sanity checks

Self-development material: books, podcasts,

great content relating to entrepreneurship

Mentorship

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 It is important to be part of a community of other founders with whom you can connect, exchange
knowledge and expertise, learn from each other’s mistakes, support each other through networks and
resources or just connect to get a sense of calm and reassurance knowing that others are experiencing
similar things to you as a founder in this unique journey of entrepreneurship.
Create the support structure that works for you given your circumstances and nurture it in a way that you
can lean on it when needed.

Starting a business is fun, it’s exciting, it’s rewarding, and it is one of the experiences that will drive
the most amount of growth in any person’s life be it mentally, emotionally and in many other ways.
The most valuable lesson from many founders who have gone through the experience is to enjoy
the journey. Work with people you like, identify values that are important to you and make them
part of your culture, do something that you’re passionate about not something that you feel is on-
trend, have a higher purpose and remind yourself and your team of it constantly, laugh and bring
a sense of humor to the work place, use times of hardship as moments to let your creativity spark
ideas of problem-solving and finding the opportunity in adversity.
And most importantly, be kind to yourself through this journey.

I hope that you found this overview useful. We dive deeply into each and every one of these topics
for hours and speak about the how to’s and the details of it all during our 8-week course.

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All our participants who enrolled in The Startup Course share a common trait:
THEY ARE DRIVEN WOMEN WHO DON'T WANT TO SETTLE.
Instead, they want to explore, strive for exciting opportunities, launch new projects
or innovate and take their business to the next level... What they loved the most is
being part of a supportive community and having access to valuable resources!

If you want to get in depth knowledge of what it takes to start a business and dive
into each of the above topics and more, over a period of 8 weeks, with like-minded
women, entrepreneurs and female founders or ambitious women who want to start
businesses, then we invite you to join The Startup Course.