Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in business development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Senem Acet Coskun, Senior Business Consultant of Hyperblue Group, located in New York, NY, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Hyperblue Group is a business consulting firm working with a select group of determined, passionate entrepreneurs by providing execution partnership and capital funding. Our clients include mostly software companies working in AI, technology, healthcare, and fashion industries.

Tell us about yourself

I worked as a business adviser at Manhattan SBDC for five years, helping startups and small businesses with business strategy and capital access. When I had an idea for a children’s book startup, I quit my job and switched to the other side of the table and became an entrepreneur who needed networking and capital. It was almost like that sudden switch from reading the recipe to cooking. During my startup journey, I met phenomenal people, did hundreds of investor pitches, and dealt with lawyers, accountants, and marketing executives, and I realized that my passion is not being the boss; it’s being the strategist. After raising the capital and putting the first product on the market, I decided to go back to my roots in consulting. I knew that I needed to go solo this time. By using the connections that I made during my own startup journey, I started Hyperblue Group. I’m passionate about sharing my knowledge and my own startup experience with next-generation entrepreneurs.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Consultancy is a connection business that requires years of laborious training and networking. My biggest accomplishment as a business owner was convincing John Sifonis, one of the most successful angel investors in Silicon Valley, to join Hyperblue Group as my partner. With John’s solid connections and easy capital access, Hyperblue Group moved up to the premier league and became one of the most credible boutique startup consultancy firms.

What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?

Although being a business owner brings a great deal of flexibility and control over your work, helping you maintain a highly customized work/life balance, it also opens the door to uncertainty. In a service industry, the customer/client is the core of your business, and you don’t get a predictable client/company archetype all the time. Conducting your business in a chameleon format is as hard as it is important. You should be able to switch context in a manner of minutes from meeting to meeting. The bottom line is you can’t use only one side of your brain; you need to have both sides lighting up, always!

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

While I’m not meeting with Hyperblue clients, I’m teaching two undergrad courses at CUNY Baruch College. Creating New Opportunities and New Venture Funding. The most common attribute that I see both in my clients and students is the lack of grit. Entrepreneurship is more than just having an idea. As a matter of fact, having an idea is the easiest part. What it really takes is having the stamina to execute it. That’s the difference between an idea entertainer and an entrepreneur.

  1. Have the stamina to see through your business grow from an idea to revenue. Execution will be slow, painful, and full of mistakes and occasional regret, but it will also bring you a high level of satisfaction, grit, persistence, flexibility, and, if successful, money.
  2. Be agile to pivot your idea if/when conditions change. Life is full of unpredictable events, as in the case of the recent global pandemic. We’ve witnessed many companies take immediate action to brace for the impact of COVID. And some weren’t as fast to make the changes. While starting a business requires one solid strategy, it must have many flexible tactics to reach the goal.
  3. Be aware of analysis paralysis. Always remember that perfect is the enemy of good. It is mandatory to conduct research before starting a business (i.e., consumer behavior, competition, pricing), but it is very important to know when to stop analyzing and start executing.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://hyperbluegroup.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/senem-acet-coskun-1b640b10/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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