Small Business Startup And Survival Guide

In 1938, Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard began working part-time in a Palo Alto garage. With $538 just in working capital, the pair developed an audio oscillator: it would become the first product for the fledgling Hewlett-Packard partnership. Today, Hewlett-Packard sits at #35 on Forbes’ list of most valuable brands, with an estimated worth of $57.9 billion.
Starbucks Coffee opened a single store in Seattle’s historic Pike Place Market in 1971. As of June 28, 2015, the ubiquitous chain boasts 22,519 stores. It sits at #52 on Forbes’ list of most valuable brands, worth a whopping $70.9 billion.
And, of course, in 2004, from his Harvard dorm room, Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook, the world’s 10th most valuable brand, now worth an estimated $231.6 billion.
All of these multi-billion companies have one thing in common: they were once small businesses. They were startups – some in unconventional locations – that put together a formula for success.
Today, the United States boasts 28,443,856 small businesses (SBA report downloads as a pdf). Those small businesses employ 56,062,893 workers, more than one third of the entire domestic workforce.
Not all of those small businesses will go on to become the next Apple or Target. In fact, statistically, one-third to one-quarter of all small businesses not only don’t stand a chance of going public, they will fail in the first two years after they get started. But those are the extremes. The lion’s share of small businesses opened in the United States will remain open providing a source income to owners and employees for years. That doesn’t mean it’s easy.
Understanding the challenges and the small business gotchas can make you one of the survivors. In the Small Business and Startup Survival Guide, you’ll get pointers on: