SWOT Analysis for Startups #1
from Bplans.com 6/13 enhanced by Peter/CXO Wiz4biz
The SWOT analysis is a valuable step in the Situational Analysis of your Startup to understand where you’re at and where you need to go. Assessing your firm’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats through a SWOT analysis is a very simple process that can offer powerful insight into the potential or critical issues affecting a Startup.
S – Strengths: What advantages does your Product/Service have? What advantages do you have as an organization?
W – Weakness: Identify your Weaknesses so you can decide how to strengthen or work around them.
O – Opportunities: What is the total Market you will be in? What is you specific Segment? Is it growing? Can you offer a Niche’ that others would have a hard time fitting into?
T – Threats: Is your Competition big? Could they duplicate your product easily? Do you have enough Cash Flow to survive, until you thrive?
SWOT Analysis begins by conducting an inventory of internal strengths & weaknesses in your organization. You will then note the external opportunities & threats that may affect the organization – based on your market and the overall environment. Don’t be concerned about elaborating on these topics at this stage; Bullet Points may be the best way to begin. Capture the factors you believe are relevant in each of the four areas. You will want to review what you have noted here as you work through your Marketing Plan. The primary purpose of the SWOT analysis is to identify and assign each significant factor, (+/-), to one of the four categories, allowing you to take an objective look at your business. The SWOT analysis will be a useful tool in developing and confirming your goals + your marketing strategy.
Strengths – describe the positive attributes, tangible & intangible, internal to your organization. They are within your control. What do you do well? What resources do you have? What advantages do you have over your competition? You may want to evaluate your strengths by each area, such as marketing, manufacturing, or organizational structure. Strengths include the positive attributes of the people involved in the business, including their knowledge, backgrounds, education, credentials, contacts, reputations, or the skills they bring. Strengths also include tangible assets such as available capital, equipment, credit, established customers, existing channels of distribution, copyrighted materials, patents, information and processing systems, and other valuable resources within the business. Strengths capture the positive aspects internal to your business that add value or offer you a competitive advantage. This is your opportunity to remind yourself of the value existing within your business.
[ Weakness, Opportunities, Threats and more continued in Premium Content ]