To start a startup from scratch, first take an honest look at your resources — knowledge, team and starting money.
Then define the problem you solve, check market demand, build a minimum viable product (MVP) and work out a financial plan.
After that come the team, the legal form and country, marketing and — once the numbers are ready — the conversation with an investor.
Launching a startup is an exciting but demanding journey where every step matters. Mistakes at the start make it harder to attract investors and slow growth.
Below: who should start a startup at all, which eight steps to take, and what to consider if the project launches in Spain.
We have spent years preparing projects for investor conversations and see where founders lose the most time and money.
Who should start a startup
The statistics are harsh: only a small share of startups become successful enough to justify the investor’s money and the founder’s effort and to become the founder’s main source of income.
If the odds are against you, is it worth going down this path at all? The answer usually starts with an analysis of why projects fail. But first it is worth looking wider — at founders’ motives.
Why people start startups
Many surveys of founders have been run, with similar results. The most common answers, in descending order:
- “I’m tired of working for someone else”;
- “I want to make money from a startup”;
- “I want to change the world for the better”;
- “I want to get rich”;
- other answers.
Deeper research shows that founders have usually seen a recent change in life circumstances or a new opportunity. For example:
- They cannot find a decent job and have to create their own — because of a move to another country, growing ambition or other circumstances.
- They have real knowledge, skills or contacts that make success plausible — for example, a division head at a large company starting a business with their team and client base.
- They have an interesting idea and want to pursue it without their own money or risk: “all I need is an investor”.
When it is better not to launch
- The idea is outside your professional field and you lack the skills. Gain that knowledge first.
- There is no team able to deliver the project, and no experience building and managing one.
- The idea copies someone else’s successful business at the investor’s expense, with nothing distinctive and none of your own money. It is easier for the investor to hire you (if you have relevant experience) and perhaps offer a token equity stake for motivation. But if the founder is ready to put in 20–30–50% of the money from their own savings, such a project becomes quite realistic even without an original idea.
- You overestimate your role and shift all the financial investment and risk onto an investor-partner.
The real prerequisites for a successful start
There are not many:
- An honest assessment of your resources — knowledge, skills, experience, contacts and at least minimal starting capital.
- Willingness to do the boring work many people avoid: working out monetisation, describing business processes, building a financial model.
- Professionals on the team. The founder often runs the startup and manages the project. Without project management experience, the realistic option is to bring an experienced project manager onto the team.
An idea alone is not enough: it has to be tested against demand, and an MVP is the fastest way to do that.
How to start a startup: 8 steps
Step 1. Mission and vision
Your mission is the problem the startup solves; your vision is the long-term goal you are working towards.
Together they shape the strategy and matter for attracting both a team and investors.
Skip this step and it is hard to convince others of the project’s uniqueness and importance.
Tip: phrase your mission and vision so your target audience understands them and your competitive advantage is visible. Clear, inspiring wording helps people grasp your value.
Example: Spain’s Glovo focused early on the mission of “delivering anything, anywhere”.
The team could explain clearly what problem it solved — quick access to goods and services — which helped with early investors and international growth.
Step 2. Market and competitor research
Before launching, make sure the product is in demand and different from what already exists. Research reveals your target audience and how to attract customers.
Tip: use Google Trends, SEMrush and Ahrefs to study demand, needs and competitors’ weak spots.
It makes it easier to differentiate the product and avoid others’ mistakes. How to find and test a niche: How to find a business niche and test it.
Example: the UK fintech Monzo built its product around what traditional bank customers lacked — convenient real-time spending control. That became its competitive edge.
Step 3. MVP — minimum viable product
An MVP is a minimal version of the product to test hypotheses and collect feedback. It is a key tool for a fast start and for investor attention.
Tip: keep only the features that solve the audience’s main problem. That lets you test the idea quickly and improve it based on feedback.
More in Why an MVP is key to attracting investors and the 10-point MVP readiness checklist.
Example: Estonia’s Bolt (formerly Taxify) started with a simple taxi-ordering app, entered the market quickly and gathered early feedback — then came investment and scaling.
Step 4. Financial plan
A clear financial plan shows investors you know how to manage resources. A poor plan, or none, puts partners and investors off.
Tip: start with a simple plan of the main costs — development, marketing, legal services, salaries — always with a reserve for the unexpected.
Add a revenue forecast and scenarios to show risks and opportunities.
How to build a full model: Financial model: what it is and how to build one; how to check that the economics of each sale work: Startup unit economics.
Example: Finland’s Wolt kept a tight grip on costs when launching its food delivery service, and that financial discipline helped it in a competitive market.
Step 5. Team
A strong team is the foundation of a startup. Hiring mistakes slow development and cost money.
Tip: define the key roles — CTO, marketing, finance. Look for people who share the mission and are committed to results, and build a culture of collaboration and trust.
Strengthen the team with mentors or advisers experienced in your industry. How to find a partner: How to attract a business partner to your startup online.
Example: Germany’s Celonis brought in strong analytics and technology specialists from the start, which let it build the product quickly and raise its first investment.
Step 6. Location and legal form
The country of registration affects taxes and access to investment and grants.
Many countries run startup support programmes with tax breaks and grants for development and technology — Estonia and Finland, for example.
Tip: study support programmes, tax law and local rules on intellectual property and data protection.
And be careful with the idea of “registering where taxes are lower” — Cyprus, Malta or elsewhere.
A company’s tax residence is not determined by its place of registration alone.
Under Spanish law, for example, a company is resident in Spain if its effective management and control are in Spain (art. 8 of the Corporate Income Tax Act).
If the founder lives in Spain and runs the business from there, a foreign company may end up taxed in Spain, and the “saving” turns into back-taxes.
Example: Lithuania’s Vinted grew into an international service from Lithuania, using the local startup ecosystem.
Step 7. Marketing strategy
Even the best product does not sell if nobody knows about it.
Tip: build a strategy from online and offline channels — social media, content, email, PR. Measure each channel and move budget based on the data.
Put marketing costs into the financial plan: sales do not grow without a customer acquisition budget.
Example: Airbnb grew early through social media and viral marketing and changed its approach quickly in response to users.
Step 8. Investment readiness
Investors seek the best return on their money. A carefully prepared project with clear goals and financial prospects attracts more investors and more money.
Preparation also helps you understand your business more deeply: analysing goals, risks and returns reveals weak spots and helps fix them. The key steps:
- a clear project concept with goals and target audience;
- a financial model with forecast revenue, costs and profit;
- a roadmap with stages and concrete goals;
- a commercial offer to investors with the business idea and monetisation plan;
- an agreement between the founders and the investor — how it is structured in Spain: How to structure startup investment in Spain;
- a project structure that takes tax planning into account.
Investment readiness is an investment in the business’s future: it improves the chances of funding and makes the business more resilient.
Test yourself with the express startup readiness checklist, and see the step-by-step process in How to prepare a startup for investment.
Investors also look at early results, so it helps to understand traction in advance.
What to do yourself and where you need an expert
Not every task is worth doing alone: in some areas a mistake costs more than advice.
| Do it yourself | Better with an expert |
|---|---|
| Mission and vision | Financial planning and the model |
| Initial market analysis | Legal form and company registration |
| Building the MVP | Tax planning |
| First sales and feedback | Marketing strategy and investment readiness |
If you want an independent check of whether the project is worth launching and what to fix before meeting investors, that is a project viability assessment.
How to start a startup in Spain
If the project launches in Spain, local specifics come on top of the general steps:
- Business form. Sole trader (autónomo) or limited company (SL). A startup that will raise investment usually needs an SL: the investor comes into the company’s capital, not into an individual’s business. Costs and process: How much does it cost to set up an SL in Spain.
- Support programmes and funding. ENISA loans, grants, startup status under the Startups Act (Ley 28/2022). Overview: Support programs for startups and small businesses in Spain; grants step by step: How a startup founder in Spain can obtain grants and subsidies.
- Tax residence. A company managed from Spain is a Spanish tax resident wherever it is registered (art. 8 of the Corporate Income Tax Act).
- Startup visa for non-EU founders. This is a separate procedure handled by our partner Relotus; we prepare the project’s economics. What ENISA checks in the business plan and financial model: Business plan for Spain’s startup visa.
From practice
We have worked with projects at different points on this path.
The cabin-charter marketplace ImSkipper came to us for a plan, a concept and the numbers for scaling and investor conversations.
Sales in May grew sevenfold compared with March, and May revenue exceeded the whole of 2023.
The Darvino platform went with us from market research to launch and earned more than €300k in its first two months.
What both projects share: decisions were made on numbers calculated before the launch, not after.
Frequently asked questions
Where do you start a startup if all you have is an idea?
With an honest assessment of resources and a demand check: define the problem you solve, talk to potential customers, study competitors and build a minimal product. Investors almost never invest at the idea-only stage.
How much money do you need to start a startup?
It depends on the product and market. The financial plan gives the answer: development, marketing, legal and team costs until revenue starts, plus a reserve for the unexpected. Without that calculation the investment amount is not justified.
Can you launch a startup without your own money?
You can, but investors see it as a risk signal: a founder who puts nothing in loses least. If the idea is not unique, the founder’s own contribution of 20–50% often becomes a condition of the deal.
What do you need to start a startup in Spain?
Choose the form — autónomo or SL (usually SL to raise investment), set up the company, consider tax residence and support programmes such as ENISA. A non-EU founder also needs a startup visa.
When should a startup approach investors?
When it has an MVP, early results (traction), a financial model, a roadmap and a clear offer. Going earlier means spending the meeting on things you could have prepared in advance.
Key points about starting a startup
- Start a startup when you have industry knowledge, a team and at least minimal capital.
- Eight steps: mission, market, MVP, financial plan, team, location and form, marketing, investment readiness.
- You can do the mission, market analysis and MVP yourself; finance, legal and tax are better with an expert.
- In Spain an investor usually needs an SL, and management from Spain makes the company a Spanish tax resident.
Sources
- Ley 27/2014 del Impuesto sobre Sociedades — art. 8, corporate tax residence.
