Developing a Checklist to Monitor Startup Progress – A Case Study of a University Incubator

An incubator's mechanism is to assist in turning a technology or idea into a startup that can have a significant impact. The majority of university incubators are built to support participants in lowering risks or expanding possibilities. Through the use of business plan assessments, the program will support the team's efforts to develop novel solutions to issues and fulfill the demands of real customers. Additionally, when the team demonstrates potential, a window of opportunity, or a working prototype for a certain business innovation proposal. Teams will be able to find financial opportunities through the initiative to support a market push.

Starting to establish a startup takes careful preparation and execution on the part of the team to ensure that there are no issues or areas that can be neglected and end up as a business risk because there are many areas that need to be addressed to minimize risks and maximize opportunities for the startup. In addition to developing innovations, teams must also work on team building, competitor analysis, customer segmentation, business plan evaluation, crucial financial decision-making, and numerous legal transactions. Planning and executing plans is much easier when you have a checklist. It can assist in reducing stress, fear, and the lack of awareness of the big picture of business operations, another reason why startup founders give up on their ambitions to run a business along the journey.

The systematic work process is one of the key elements influencing startup teams' success during the incubation period. This needs to be followed up on and encouraged to help business development take shape in the way that they have the best chance of succeeding. To increase possibilities and speed up the team's ability to set up, indications that serve as a checklist for the startup teams to use as a guideline for business development and self-assessment throughout the initial stage are essential. Additionally, the incubator can more accurately and promptly monitor the status of the participating teams throughout the project by using the proposed checklist.

This allows the incubator to adjust activities or different supporting mechanisms so that the team properly meets its needs since the Incubator's success depends on the performance of the participating teams. The startup team will be encouraged to implement their plans more rapidly if they can integrate this tracking into their work and also use it as a positive peer pressure to compare their progress to other teams of the same badge.