Define your new business idea, and write it down. When you are into starting your new business in Hong Kong, you don’t only have to deal with your company formation in Hong Kong (through Hong Kong’s companies registry), even though it is a requirement to sort out the finances for you and your co-founding members.
As the founder and an entrepreneur, you likely already have an idea of what product you are going to produce, what service you are going to provide to your target market (in HK), where you want to sell your product/service, and how you are going to do it. A good example would be is if you decided to start your own SEO or Content Marketing Firm. You need to be able to hire and lead a group of employess who are dedicated and skilled enough to meet the standards you are promising, they need to be able to show and deliver appropriately to a client’s expectations. For example one of your clients requests for a 800 word or 2000 character article then you should make sure that they will use a character counter to ensure that they meet the minimum character requirement of your clients. You may even want to run a quick search for existing companies in your preferred industry or niche. It is going to take you time to learn who are currently the brand leaders and what exactly are they doing. By the time you have the belief that your new company is able to deliver something (i.e. a product or a service) that most other companies cannot or do not deliver, or are unable to deliver faster and cheaper, then you probably already have an idea with a solid base to start with creating your business plan. What follows immediately is to write down your idea in the format of a draft business plan.
Next you should assess the finance side of things as this will set up your base for a sustainable environment while your focus is on creating the product/service of your new business. If you have savings or sufficient fund to survive for the next 6 months to a year (even when you expect your new company isn’t going to make a profit for the initial 12 months), that is great. Otherwise, you are going to be sitting on very tight budget. It is the same story when deciding to rent a local office in Hong Kong. The rent may be too expensive in HK for the first few months of your startup to afford.
Keep an eye for the people who are suitable for your new startup company, and may be able to join your project in the next few months. But at the same time, don’t hire because you think you need those people. Initially the budgets are always very tight, and you and your co-founding members should take care of all the work as much as possible. It is not only basic salary that you are expected to pay your employees, but as an employer in Hong Kong you must pay the benefits including Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF).
