In this Ask Evan episode, Evan Carmichael answers a teacher’s query about the defining traits of a small‑business startup phase. He emphasizes that the core challenge is survival—generating enough cash to support the founder without needing a job. Entrepreneurs must continuously test and reshape their business model until they discover one that reliably produces revenue. Carmichael’s primary advice is to engage directly with potential customers: uncover their problems, validate willingness to pay, and build the business around these paying customers. Securing such early revenue provides cash flow, reduces uncertainty, and greatly increases the odds of success.
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Hi, I'm Evan Carmichael and welcome to another edition of Ask Evan. In today's video, I'm going to answer a question from a teacher who's a reader of mine named Jean-Pierre who wrote in asking about a question that one of Jean-Pierre's students had. So the question is, I want to know what are the characteristics of the startup phase of of a small business. Thanks for your time, Jean-Pierre. So Jean-Pierre, the startup phase of a new business is really all about survival. It's making enough money to be able to support yourself and get by and not have to go get a job. And that's really the biggest challenge that most entrepreneurs have when they're starting a business is getting it to the point where they can sustain themselves. So you're looking for opportunities, trying to build around different challenges that you might be able to solve, and that's really the biggest challenge that most entrepreneurs face. The business model that you come up with is rarely going to be the business model that you end up with. So changes are going to have to be made, and that's a huge challenge for most startup entrepreneurs, is working on that business model until you hit one that works, that is going to generate a lot of money and help you grow your business. My best advice, if you're in that phase, if you're thinking of starting a business or you've just started, go out and talk to customers. The best feedback you can get is from customers who have a challenge and you can help them solve it and they're willing to pay you to solve that challenge. So if you haven't started your business, just go out and start talking to customers. Find out what their problems are, find out how you might be able to help them, and see if they'd be willing to pay you to help them. That's a winning customer. If you can build your business around these types of customers, then you have money coming into the company, you're not struggling to figure out is this idea going to work or not because you have those paying customers, and you're much more likely to be successful. So I hope that helps Jean-Pierre. If you guys like the video, please give it a thumbs up below. I'd also love to hear your thoughts and feedback if you want to leave a comment under the video, and stay tuned for next episode.
