When you started out - what did you need help with

[puginamug]

I'm currently running some courses on social media marketing for a council project. It's for start-up businesses.

They've asked me to suggest other topics that could be covered.

What did you wish you knew about? Copywriting? Branding? Something else? It doesn't have to be marketing related, just challenging for you.

I work with startups of all styles. They struggle with systems, what does what and how do they connect.
How do they track where customers come from and lifetime value?
How do they evaluate what they need to have in place?
What do they need on their website?
How do they optimise local search?

There's tons of stuff really but those come up a lot.

As online selling is so prevalent, I would recommend running a course on the legalities of online retailing such as breaches of copyright and trademarks and how to be compliant with The Consumer Contract Regulations. These two things are where I see small businesses failing the most.

I've built two businesses from scratch, both VC-backed, from idea to exit and have helped early-stage startups. I'd say there is a lot around marketing and product that are well-covered, but other big challenges that aren't so well covered are:

Building a financial model
Making sure the Articles of Association and Shareholder Agreement are well set up
How to handle vesting
Funding options
How to think about distribution
Pricing
How to get the first customers
Building and improving retention

You could really help them out by building a contact list of affordable experts in: accounting, financial modelling, drawing up commercial contracts etc Not as sexy as product and marketing, but where many startups struggle. And, can be localised, so you're offering real value.