Learn

| Startup Smart

The Knowledge Hub

From in-depth courses that cover the key criteria for building a successful startup to time-saving checklists, templates, guides and more, Enviveo puts real-world proven, must-have startup resources at your fingertips. We’ve done much of the legwork for you, researching, creating and/or curating best practices, the most useful tools and other materials — and put them all in one place.

| Insights from the Experts

Voices and Views Blog

Ongoing commentary for tech startup founders, including ideas and insights, voices and views, and tips and trends.

FEATURE: A lot of the decisions made in the early days of a startup can significantly affect the direction it takes. Read "A Good Start is Everything" to learn why getting off to a good start is critical — and how a solid framework helps

Read On

| Templates, Playbooks, Guides and More

The Startup Store

From time-saving templates to eBooks and guides, Envīveo has the resources you need. Purchase what you need or access them via a VIVE HIVE membership. Take advantage of the free ones, too! (Keep checking back as we continue to add content and resources.)

Learn More

| Expert Guidance

The Expert Collective

Whether you call them coaches, consultants, or mentors, these are the people who can serve as a sounding board for you, provide feedback and recommendations, and guide you in terms of what to do next and what you can do better. Watch for the launch of our expert coaching services.

Learn More

Learn What Makes a Strong Startup Strategy

Have a great business idea but need help moving forward? Envīveo's signature course, "Startup Strategy Mastery: From Idea Validation to Investor Ready," is the roadmap you need.

A well-laid plan today leads to fewer mistakes tomorrow. In this multi-module course, you'll learn not just to plan but to plan effectively. We’ll focus on building a robust strategy that anticipates market trends, understands customer needs, and puts you on solid footing.

This strategic foundation will empower you to:

Make informed decisions
Prioritize resources wisely
Significantly increase your chances of long-term success

GET DETAILS NOW

| Envīveo Startup Tip #46

Insights You Can Use

Nearly 83% of startups globally begin with the bootstrapping approach.

Global Entrepreneurship Monitor

| Feature Article

The Business Builder's Framework: The Why, What and How

Building a business starts with solving a problem and providing a solution that people are willing to pay for on a sustained basis. Then, all aspects of the business—the strategic foundation, commercial capabilities, operational infrastructure, and human capital and culture—need to work in harmony to bring that solution to market.

Some activities are best done in a particular order and must precede others. Some may need to occur simultaneously. Some directly impact others. With all the moving parts, missing key steps or making decisions is easy without all the required information. Adding to the complexity is that every startup and founder is unique. As such, no one-size-fits-all guide takes founders step by step through a guaranteed-to-be-successful startup process.

That’s why the Envīveo team created the Business Builder’s Framework™ (BBF). We saw a need to give tech founders a simple and cohesive way to think about the core requirements for building a new business — regardless of the type of business or the founder’s situation.

Drawing from business best practices and the experiences of successful founders — including Enviveo’s own founder, Tara Heptinstall — it puts all the key components of starting a business on a single page. The framework is intended to help provide greater clarity for what needs to be done and how the various components may impact one another. This holistic thinking can help founders make better decisions from the beginning of starting their business.

pexels-shvetsa-5642024 compressed

| Quick Scan

THE VALUE OF A FRAMEWORK

Provides Clarity and Focus: A framework offers clear structure, sometimes outlining key steps. It helps prioritize key tasks and milestones, keeping you focused on the most impactful actions.
Reduces Complexity: Transformational projects and startups involve multiple moving parts. A framework simplifies complexity by breaking large goals into manageable and actionable phases.
Improves Decision-Making: A well-defined framework provides guiding principles and tools to make informed decisions, minimizing guesswork and reducing the risk of costly mistakes.
Ensures Consistency: A framework promotes consistency in processes and strategies, allowing you to replicate successful outcomes, establish best practices, and maintain alignment across teams.
Speeds Up Execution: By offering a proven path, frameworks streamline processes, saving time that would otherwise be spent on trial and error, helping you move faster from planning to execution.

Enhances Adaptability: Frameworks adapt to changing conditions, enabling quick pivots and adjustments while maintaining an overall strategic direction.
Facilitates Better Communication: Frameworks provide a shared language and reference point, making it easier to communicate with stakeholders, align teams, and ensure everyone understands the goals and approach.
Builds Accountability: Frameworks often include checkpoints, major milestones, or OKRs, which help track progress and hold teams accountable for achieving their objectives.
Mitigates Risks: By anticipating challenges and building in contingency planning, frameworks help identify potential risks early and create strategies to mitigate them.
Encourages Innovation: With a structured approach to experimentation and iteration, frameworks enable teams to test ideas, gather feedback, and innovate more efficiently while staying aligned with the overall vision.

Structure and Support

The framework consists of four main components: Strategic Foundation, Human Capital and Culture, Commercial Capabilities, and Operational Infrastructure. Each is color-coded to make it easier to visualize the interconnectedness between components. This color coding is used on all the resources being developed at Envīveo to help you understand how they fit into and support the overall process of building a business.

Envīveo Business Builder’s Roadmap Color Key_FINAL

The framework accompanies the Business Builder’s Roadmap, breaking each element into high-level activities. Here is the one created for our Signature Course on building the strategic foundation called Startup Strategy Mastery: From Idea Validation to Investor-Ready.

The Strategic Foundation (in dark blue) lays the groundwork for starting a business. This is where you build your business roadmap, determine your market potential, define your differentiators, and more. The goal at this stage is to develop a plan based on best practices for running a profitable business. The other components will then build upon this foundation.

Signature Courses

through the various decisions, activities, and other considerations integral to building a business. At the end of each component-specific course, participants will have created a tangible work product to help build their business and increase its chances of success.

Our Signature Courses are designed to help founders better understand the framework components and optimize the results of the activities each entails. These courses deeply dive into each element, guiding course participants through the various decisions, activities, and other considerations integral to building a business. At the end of each component-specific course, participants will have created a tangible work product to help build their business and increase its chances of success.

Business Builders Framework Image 2_FINAL

Business Builders Framework Image_FINAL-1

The Components of the BBF

The Strategic Foundation

The Strategic Foundation (in dark blue) lays the groundwork for starting a business. This is where you build your business roadmap, determine your market potential, define your differentiators, and more. The goal at this stage is to develop a plan based on best practices for running a profitable business. The other components will then build upon this foundation.

Commercial Capabilities

The Commercial Capabilities part of the framework (in pink) entails determining, defining, and developing all commercial aspects of your business—from the actual product(s) you sell and your marketing and sales programs to customer support. Your commercial efforts are based on a need or problem you have identified in the marketplace and your solution for it—how you strategically ‘go to market.’

This is where you’ll need to develop a compelling value proposition for your product. You’ll also need to determine how you’ll go to market with it — direct, through partners, using retail outlets or via eCommerce. Other to-dos include creating your marketing and sales strategies, understanding your customer’s journey and building a product and a brand that customers trust and recognize.

Operational Infrastructure

The to-dos for Operational Infrastructure (in light blue) include defining the tools and technology you’ll need as the foundation for your business and your products/solutions. This is tied directly to your activities in the Commercial Capabilities component. You’ll also need to make sure you have the necessary legal and financial guidance, as well as a plan for how you’ll fund your business. Activities in this component should identify and outline the key processes needed to run your business efficiently.

Human Capital and Culture

The fourth component is Human Capital and Culture (in gray). It encompasses efforts to understand and define the talent, skills, or expertise you will need to hire to help you achieve your goals. Leadership and resilience are key here. How will you establish a team and lead them through challenges? How will you keep them motivated and aligned with your vision? This is also where you need to think about the culture you want for your company and how you will create and evolve it with intention.

Putting it All Together

As noted earlier, the framework isn’t meant to be a how-to-guide but rather presents a way to think about and organize the key components of building a business. You’ll determine how each relates specifically to your business idea and your situation.

By understanding what’s entailed in each component and how these components relate to one another, you’ll have a better chance of getting your ideas investor-ready (for funding) and market-ready (for business success.)