StartUp POEM: Are you organised for success?

Organising your resources is the second critical step in bringing your vision to life.

In my first article in this series on business vision, I showed how to establish that you have a clear vision and why to write a POEM for your vision.

POEM is an acronym that comprehensively describes your business vision and can be used to do so throughout the startup business life cycle from ideation to first institutional investment. It derives from Proposition, Organisation, Economics and Milestones, each of which adds a piece to the story of your startup company and put together totally describe it at any point in time.

In the second article in the POEM series, we looked at the Proposition promise your startup business is making to the market it will operate in. In this article we take a look at the O of POEM, which is for your startup business Organisation of the resources that will deliver on the promise of your market Proposition.

Your organisation starts with how you intend to create the startup company legally, beginning with the ownership and corporate governance of your startup company. While there are numerous options available (e.g. sole ownership, partnership, co-operative etc.), for the purposes to which I write, the most effective legal form for enterprise in most markets is a limited liability company. It provides the visionary entrepreneur (You) and your co-founder(s) and other shareholders with a…