What Startups can Learn From Restaurants

I grew up in a food family – both my parents are chefs who have owned catering companies and restaurants. And I believe now that restaurants and startups have more in common than you might think. They face many of the same core challenges, such as building a business from the ground up, attracting and retaining customers, and recruiting people who can bake things from scratch.

Here are a few things I learned from them that can be applied to entrepreneurship.

• Hire people that understand the food (product) you’re cooking (building) and who get your vision.

• Hire people able to bake (build) things from scratch.

• Hire people with good ideas for new dishes (features).

• Supply your team with tools and room to experiment and execute on their ideas.

• Iterate on a recipe (feature) until you get it right.

• Every kitchen (office) needs a leader. A great leader produces more great leaders.

• There really is such thing as too many cooks (founders) in the kitchen.

• Customers (users) will pay for quality experiences. Don’t skimp on the details.

• Treat customers (users) using discounts or promotions as if they are paying full price to turn them into repeat customers.

• The best marketing is your customers (users) telling their friends about you, and then bringing their friends back for the experience. Create an experience worth sharing.

• Your loyal customers (super users) are your brand ambassadors. Reward them in a special way by sending them free dessert or early access to a new feature.

• Get to know the names of your most loyal customers (super users). Ask them for feedback and ideas for how you can improve your menu (product).

• Be prepared to put out a lot of fires. Literally and figuratively.

Bottom line:

Make your customers (users) happy, and they will come back to your restaurant (website) and share the experience with their friends.

This post originally appeared at www.amritrichmond.tumblr.com.