It is no secret that starting a new business and developing it is not an easy feat.

Hope this blog will help you that there are 4 key stages of business development. This is  also commonly known as the business life cycle or business lifecycle. It can increase the likelihood of creating and maintaining a successful business.

First Stage: Start Up

Business development professionals often consider the startup stage to be the most challenging phase. Launching a new business involves bringing a business idea to life, known as the startup phase.

Here is one known fact. A mere 80% of startups that have employees on staff last after their first year.

During the early stages of business development, a business owner might do the following:

• Market expansion and customer base building
• Onboarding new employees
• Task delegation and employee scheduling
• Considering the cash flow

Second Stage: Growth 

Growing businesses may be able to establish both a solid customer base and a strong presence on the market at this point in their life cycle. During growth phases, you will also observe that employee turnover rates from the previous year are significantly reduced.

Often, business owners are distracted by the excitement of growth from their goals. The key to business success is to keep goals in mind at all times. It is the opportunity to perform the following activities that we look forward to during the growth stage...

• Analyzing the cash flow
• Changing the business model or the business plan
• Demand forecasts and sales estimates
• Opportunities to grow the business

Third Stage: Maturity

Business owners often feel very confident at this stage of their business life cycle. Customers and market share are typically both extremely strong in the maturity stage.

Business growth and expansion are great opportunities during the maturity stage. During this phase, business owners should consider exploring new markets or creating products for existing customers.

Some owners of mature companies merge or sell during this phase. Other entrepreneurs may invest surplus cash flow in a new business venture.

Fourth Stage: Decline and Renewal

There are two stages in the lifecycle of a business: decline and renewal. Almost all businesses experience decline at some point, and the reason can range from cash flow problems to a drop in customer base.

If a company has been suffering from steadily declining revenue over a number of years, its health might be deteriorating. Business owners usually have just two options here- either reinvest or sell.

Companies that are experiencing decline often reinvest so they will bounce back. It may be necessary to explore new markets and adjust business models as a result of reinvestment.

There you have it!

The 4 Stages of Business Development. Hope you learned something with this article!