Every start-up entrepreneur is rightly obsessed with one metric: the net burn rate. The latter corresponds to the total amount of cash that the company generates or loses each month. It thus determines the maximum period during which the startup can continue to operate before a new financial contribution becomes necessary, whether in the form of debt or via a recapitalization operation.

During the launch phase, this obsession naturally results in the rigorous optimization of expenses, in particular those related to human resources, which represent the main cost item for the majority of startups. Arbitrations take place at three levels:

• The seniority of the employees recruited.
• The deployment of tools to automate and/or simplify the tasks related to each employee within the framework of assignments.
• The level of investment in the digitalization of business processes, especially the most time-consuming and repetitive ones.

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Very often, this mix determines the ability of a startup to limit its technical, organizational or financial debt and get closer to its productivity threshold. However, thinking only in terms of costs introduces a fundamental bias that can have counterproductive consequences on a company's strategic positioning. In essence, positioning consists in answering two seemingly simple questions: “What? and “How?” ”. The question of “Why?” ”, for its part, will be explored in an upcoming newsletter dedicated to the various components of vision.

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The “what” consists in choosing what you want to do, but above all in giving up certain activities. Choosing means agreeing to make concessions in order to build a new, sustainable, and even unassailable position in a given market. These renunciations generally revolve around three dimensions that are factored:

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• The variety of the products or services offered: This is to determine what makes your organization comparatively more relevant to offer certain products or services.
• The needs targeted: identify how your organization, through its way of operating, best meets the very specific needs of a given group of customers.
• accessibility products and services: analyze what makes your distribution or access method unique and particularly adapted to a type of customer, while recognizing that it may not be suitable for others who nevertheless have similar needs. 

The” how ”, on the other hand, consists in defining the way in which the company combines, Embricate and orchestre the activities selected. Successful businesses are those that manage to create consistency in their operations, ensuring that their activities reinforce each other. This ability to orchestrate interdependent activities becomes a lasting and powerful differentiator that contributes directly to the organization reaching its productivity threshold and thus maximizing the operational return on capital committed.

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CASE STUDY - What did SlashUp Studio give up to build its positioning?

To illustrate these principles, which may seem very theoretical, let's look at how SlashUp Studio has applied these trade-offs to forge a unique position in the support market for origination of digital businesses.

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The variety :

SlashUp Studio specializes in the development of core software assets. Whether for the origination of a new asset or the modernization of an existing asset in the phase of obsolescence, the studio focuses on construction projects.

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The needs :

SlashUp Studio meets the needs of customers looking for advanced technical expertise and execution capacity for the creation of their assets. The studio has therefore excluded from its model any maintenance activity such as third-party application maintenance or maintenance in operational condition, the ad hoc integration of third-party solutions, as well as any form of advice whose purpose would have a purpose other than the framing of the product strategy and the roadmap of the asset to be built.

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Accessibility :

SlashUp Studio offers a complete technical system, working as an integrated team with that of its customers. This model excludes the loan of management resources to complement teams already formed. In addition, development teams rely on a low-code framework, designed in-house, that allows them to accelerate iterations, maximize the value delivered at each sprint, and significantly reduce the costs and time needed to bring assets to market.

At this stage, the ideal customer profile is clearly emerging: a solopreneur wishing to launch a business based on origination or the modernization of a software asset, without having the resources or technical expertise necessary to develop it, and whose financing capacity is limited.

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SlashUp Studio relies on three flagship activities to refine and implement its positioning:

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Technological innovation : SlashUp Studio has developed its own low-code development framework to maximize the ability of its teams to quickly deliver value to its customers. This framework, designed and enriched by the same teams that work on customer projects, allows them to be both producers and consumers, thus guaranteeing a solution that is perfectly adapted to the needs of its users.

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Training with the SlashUp Academy: Currently in the process of being created, the mission of the SlashUp Academy is to keep the studio's technical teams at the forefront of trends and developments in sectors and technologies. It allows each employee to gain expertise, modernize their practices and development environment and integrate the latest innovations in generative AI into the framework.

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Intrapreneurship : SlashUp Studio is developing its own digital startups, like IOSIS, its low-code framework or Koors, a Learning Management System dedicated to the creation and management of online training courses. This approach allows studio employees to develop a culture common to that of the entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs that the studio supports. In addition, it validates the efficiency and productivity promised by its low-code framework, by applying it to concrete internal projects.

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These activities, which have an undeniable short-term impact on the net burn rate, are at the heart of SlashUp Studio's differentiation strategy. They not only contribute to greater efficiency, but above all, they are a great accelerator of indirect growth. By combining technological innovation, continuing education and intrapreneurship, the studio is positioned as a strategic partner, reducing entrepreneurial risk and maximizing the return on investment of the clients it supports. This integrated approach makes SlasHup Studio a key player in transforming ideas into digital products.

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Ready to transform your ideas into impactful digital solutions?

By combining advanced technical expertise, a methodology proven by its own entrepreneurial experiences, and a proprietary acceleration tool, SlashUp Studio offers a unique value proposition on the market. This coherence makes it possible to respond effectively to the needs of entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs while maximizing their return on investment.

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Contact us today!

👉 https://www.slashup.studio/contact

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