A lot of people ask me what the steps to starting a successful business are and I thought I’d try to articulate some of my thoughts here. Of course, this could end up going in to a lot of detail, so for the purposes of brevity and to make this information easy to consume, I’ve decided to split it up in to a number of posts.

In this initial post, I’ll focus on outlining the high-level ’steps’ and then go in to more detail on each one in subsequent posts. Hopefully at the end, I’ll have compiled a mini treatise that can be read in short spurts or all at once, depending on the reader’s time and of course willingness to invest that time to learn.

Keep in mind that I have a passion for food and technology…. after all, I’m a restaurateur and technologist. So my perspective is naturally slanted towards these areas. Therefore, what I have to say, may or may not be applicable to all businesses or all industries.

The keys to starting a successful business:

1. Identify a problem

2. Articulate a solution

3. Develop the solution

4. Test the solution

5. Sell the solution

6. Refine the solution

7. Enhance the solution

I’m sure most of this seems simple and of course logical… and if that’s what you think, you’re right. After all, this is not rocket science.

But the real work comes in the execution… and of course, the details of each one of these ’steps’.

Stay tuned as I try to dive deeper in to each one of these over the next little while.

Every now and then you come across a smart entrepreneur… one that understands that you need to be focused on your business, not on ways of spending money. After all, money is the root of all evil, isn’t it?

Jason Goldberg, founder of Jobster and Social Median, posted an interesting video on keeping it small, lessons learned as startup ceo. Its an interesting video with some good insight for startups.

Jason learned through Jobster that having too much money means you have the temptation to spend more than you actually need to.

Some other good takeaways:

1. Focus on the product

2. Get your hands dirty

I’ve long been an advocate of keeping it small and bootstrapping your startup. This, I believe, is the best way of building value and focusing on doing the right thing. When you don’t have enough money, everything becomes a big decision. And, you don’t spend money on things like Herman Miller chairs :-)

I’ve spoken to a lot of people that are building their own startup, and the majority of them say they need a couple of million dollars… some as much as 5 or 10 million. But none of them has any idea on what they would do with that money. Most just read about other companies that raised millions of dollars and think they should be able to also.

Bottom line, spend as little as possible to prove your concept, get customers, and service them to the max. Oh, and raise as little money as possible. You’ll thank me in the long run :-)

A lot of people don’t really know what they do. Or at least don’t know how to say what they do. Many, when asked, state their job or their title.

For example, when you ask a Lawyer what they do (obviously before you know that they’re a lawyer), they will tell you that they are a Lawyer. But does that tell you what they do? Do they sue people, do they defend? Do they write contracts? Do they mediate divorces? What really does a Lawyer do? Other than charge lots of money :-)

Or what about a CEO of a company… what do they really do?

I came across an interesting quote from Barbra Streisand (the famous Singer/Actress) that got me thinking:

“You have got to discover you, what you do, and trust it.”

So I gave this some deep thought and realized something about myself… I figured out what I do. Not just what I do, but what I love to do!

“I build companies”.

Thats right… I have learned to sum up what I do in 3 succinct words. And now, I’m trusting it, going with my gut, and getting involved in a number of startups. And, I’m having the time of my life!

No particular type of company per se, but I tend to gravitate more towards companies that are involved with technology, particulary as it relates to using technology to solve business problems. I’m also very involved in the food/restaurant business, travel, television/film, and anything entrepreneurish.

So the next time somebody asks you what you do, make sure you tell them what you do… not your job title or profession.

Do you know what you do?