If you are a founder of your business, one of the challenges you may experience, is how to stand out from similar competitors in the market so your potential consumer can choose your product or service over others. It can be argued that startups are known for experiments, and their founders lack strategic planning when it comes to building a solid foundation.

Golden Circle is a powerful Strategic Management and Leadership tool developed by Simon Sinek. According to Simon Sinek, most companies have no idea why customers choose their products and services. Successful companies, however, let their “customer approach” driven by three questions that make up the Golden circle:

1. the WHY or the core question.
2. the HOW.
3. the WHAT.

That most companies work from the outside in, that is from the WHAT question. The WHAT ring of the Golden Circle represents the products or services a company sells. The HOW is an explanation of what the company does. In this ring of the Golden Circle, the company explains why their products/ services are better or stand out from the competition. The WHY is about what a company believes in, not about making a profit. Therefore, inspired and influential companies communicate from the inside out rather than outside in.

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If a company wants to be successful, it should focus on the core question in the golden circle, the WHY. It should explain clearly and honestly why their products and services are the best a customer can get. Products and services that are based on the company’s true starting point. Rather than being a competitor to other companies. As a founder of your startup, you should know why you are making a particular product or providing services, you should have an honest cause attached to it. Always keep in mind, money is just an outcome, it remains in flow smoothly, when your groundwork, the foundation is strong, deep-rooted and you as a captain of the ship, clear about WHY the core questions. 

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Example.:

Apple starts with the WHY, the center of the Golden Circle. So instead of communicating what they do and make and how they do or make their products, they communicate their vision to their potential buyers. They think differently thereby challenging the status quo. Then they proceed to the HOW question by informing their potential buyers that their eye-catching designs are easy to use. Finally, they arrive at the WHAT question: they make computers. Simon Sinek argues that customers do not buy products because of what companies do but because of why they do it. Influential companies do not structurally different from the competition, however, their customers think they do. They want the products of these companies because they are convinced that these companies are better than their competition, namely they provide an answer to the question WHY.

Find out more about Sinek’s Golden Circle theory by watching his talk at TED:

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPYeCltXpxw[/embedyt]

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