Square Business Launchpad – our guide for entrepreneurs
A step-by-step guide for new entrepreneurs to help you kickstart your business.
Switching from being an employee to being an entrepreneur is a big jump. You go from being responsible for part of a whole to being responsible for everything.
The good news is that many people make the change successfully and never look back. You can too. You just need to approach creating your new business with the right combination of knowledge and strategy.
That’s where our business launchpad comes in. It takes new entrepreneurs step-by-step through everything you need to know to make your business a success. Learn how to research and plan your business so you have a roadmap to follow before you even open your doors. Then learn how to launch, manage, maintain and grow the business you create.
Help at each stage
We help businesses succeed, each in their own way.
Square was created to make it easier for every entrepreneur to collect card payments. We’ve since designed many other tools that help entrepreneurs seize every opportunity and solve every pain. We help companies, regardless of size or industry, to focus on their business.
Frequently asked questions
Competitive analysis focuses exclusively on your competitors. Market analysis looks at the market as a whole. That means it also includes an analysis of potential customers and of the trends and driving forces in that marketplace. It’s advisable to undertake competitive analysis regularly so you always know what your competitors are doing.
If you’re looking for a straightforward route to entrepreneurship, then starting as a sole proprietor may be the right choice. There are minimal administrative requirements, so the registration process is quick and simple. You can always change to a limited company later if you want to.
On the other hand, if you know you’re committed to starting and growing your business, it could make sense to start as you mean to go on and set up a limited company.
Think about where your strengths are and what you feel most confident about learning, then go with that. These days, you don’t need any technical skills to set up a website. Square Online makes it easy. You do, however, need to be confident that you can manage customers remotely.
If you feel more confident with face-to-face interaction, then a real-world store is a better option for you. If you don’t want to commit to renting a property, try using pop-up venues, events and markets. Square’s mobile solutions make it easy to take payments wherever you are.
Not really – you might find it helpful to learn a bit about it, but you certainly don’t have to become an HR professional. You can hire an external HR service to take care of the legal aspects of hiring and managing employees. Then you can just focus on looking after them as individuals.
With small businesses, start with internal growth. That means optimizing everything you do so you get the maximum level of value from all of your resources. Then look at organic growth, which is about doing more of what you do already. Finally, look at strategic growth, which is about diversifying into new areas.
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Business Glossary
We’ll teach you everything you need to know to run and grow your business with our business glossary.