In nowadays, if you have an idea and you want to develop that idea in to business, the goal is to be supported, guided and if needed coached, what to do to succeed in that idea (by those who have the ability and the funds)…. That’s “the goal”, but is that the reality?
In Southern Europe, if you are Start-up Company you need to have the right contacts and be patient, because it will take a lot of time, energy and efforts and at the end the chance to fail is much bigger, rather than to succeed. The main reason for that is that the current businesses monopolize in every field – they don’t like the new competitors and if they are given the chance they will have their own lobby interests in the government and block the idea/initiative that may “steal” even 1% out of their market share. The current market doesn’t like things like innovation, new investments, globalization… They like to run their businesses as they have till now and if possible to “squeeze” the expenses, justifying them with the economic crises and don’t want to hear about increasing expenses for any of the above criteria.
Is it possible that this last forever?
Not really. The change will not come from within Bulgaria, but from outside (as many other things that have brought development and better quality of life). There are more and more organizations helping the start-up companies in achieving their goals and giving them strength to be as much as possible equal to the other competitors on the market. In most of the cases, it is not enough to have entrepreneurship spirit, but a financial aid is needed. Here is where business angel investors jump in and assist the good ideas to become reality, by granting sufficient financial aid that helps the start-up to growth enough to level of being self-sufficient and mature.
In 2016, when collaboration and partnership goes hand in hand it is very important that start-up companies are really supported in the beginning. Whether the business will survive and be sustainable in the next few years – that’s another story, but what is more important is that each and every idea is given fair chance to compete and have time to evolve in to a real project.
The more – the better.
The more ideas that are on the table the better the chance are that the one of them which is more sustainable will “survive”. Those businesses that will survive a severe competition on a start-up level are more likely to be successful in a long term.
The so called “Triple-Helix Innovation Model” represents the relation between Universities – Industry – Governments. When we add the Civil Society it becomes Quadruple Helix which is even broader and more comprehensive by adding the important role of the society represented by media and public. This helix aims actually to support the growth of each and every element simultaneously and not harming the integrity of the others.
When we manage to have an idea that becomes a project, and from project it gets to an innovation and then sustainable business then we can say we have achieved our goal – to have societies and businesses that are self-sustainable without dependency from outside.
In each country there is a level of dependency. On the other hand, the main goal remains that each and every element in the Quadruple Helix has to be independent in its action and focus on increasing the standard of living of their inhabitants. When one of the components has more influence over the others, it change the way the whole system functions and then at the end – the whole society and business suffer.
If you want to have a financial sustainability for the start-up companies it is also a good thing to implement the “incubator programs” or “seed accelerator programs” or any other form of collaboration where the companies are getting mentorship or educational assistance, or even financial support by private sector. All those programs aim to make the business sustainable and independent. Some companies’ needs a few months, while others stay in that phase about 2-3 years. At the end the goal is that they survive and give work to other people. When people have jobs, they are more productive and focus on improving the quality of life in general.
Ideas can’t give jobs – businesses do. And if we want that there are businesses that do that we need to support them in the beginning. When there are more successful companies, the competition brings better wealth for the society. Those countries that struggle in this matter and have a few companies that have taken over the markets are giving less to their citizens and they are limited in their wishes.
The conclusion that I can make is that each and every business idea should be supported in the beginning to the extent that is self-sustainable – by given enough “air” in the beginning and also put in different “stress-test” situations to demonstrate the strength needed for the moment when the help is gone.
