Luke Lazarus has never been one to rest on his laurels or to be jealous of other people’s success. That’s why he’s passionate about sharing the secrets and systems he learned from creating multiple startup companies. With Luke Lazarus Consulting, he is helping a new generation of entrepreneurs realize success with their startups.
Starting early Down Under
Lazarus began his business career at age eight. At the age when most boys are playing little league baseball or learning to fish with their dads, Lazarus was starting his first business.
Lazarus grew up in the suburbs of Perth, Australia. While his school work earned him offers from several American Ivy League colleges, he chose to remain in Australia for college and graduated from the Melbourne Business School with a master’s degree in business administration.
After college, Lazarus didn’t waste any time working for someone else. During the ten-year period after he graduated from college, he created four, separate start-up companies. After that decade, he sold all the ventures for a substantial profit and found himself in the enviable position of being financially independent. However, living the rest of his life on an island, lolling on the beach, was not what Lazarus wanted. He decided to use his newfound financial freedom to give back to the business community and help entrepreneurs who were just starting out. In short, he decided to become a consultant for startups.
Helping startups succeed
Lazarus sees most entrepreneurs as being very creative people. He feels that there are usually abundant ideas at the beginning of a startup. Dedication is also rarely a problem. Most startup owners work a steady 10 to 12 hours, or hour, each day. What Lazarus sees as a challenge is putting together systems that will take a startup from its infancy into profitability.
Lazarus claims the key to his consulting success is that he is brutally honest and dispassionate about evaluating a fledging business’ plusses and minuses. He is also realistic in uncovering problems and finding the best solutions to help the startup succeed. Since he created his consulting business in 2017, he has helped several dozen companies go from shoestring budgets to initial public offerings (IPOs) valued at millions of dollars.
One of the key lessons he shares with entrepreneurs is that it’s okay not to be excellent at every position in the company. No one is able to do that. However, a savvy business person knows when to bring in outside help and how to find the right people for the job.
Another of Lazarus’ lessons for startups is that businesses need to reflect what capitalist investors call workability potential. In other words, the new business needs to show that they have the idea, structure, and key employees to make a success of the business. To further this goal, Lazarus is known to help new businesses he works with through creative messaging and branding, attracting both customers and long-term partners and investors.
After he helps the startup address any problems it may have, Lazarus helps the nascent company get their books and their company ready for meeting venture capitalists and angel investors. Often an entrepreneur has only a short amount of time–sometimes less than one minute–to make his or her case for funding. Lazarus helps business owners prepare their “elevator speeches” so that they will be clear, concise, and professional when they meet venture capitalists.
On his LinkedIn page, Lazarus describes his goal for every startup he works with as “creating a simple story for every product, service or brand.” Lazarus has said that “if your product or brand is synonymous with its story, you’ve set the foundation for success.” He helps each of his clients to develop a story that is understandable and relatable to consumers, investors, and employees. Says Lazarus, “Keeping the story flexible allows for growth or restructuring in the future”.
You can see more about how Lazarus is revolutionizing startup marketing by visiting his YouTube page.
Luke Lazarus on current business trends
Lazarus sees several business trends that excite him. One of these is mobile payments, which he sees continuing to flourish. Another favorite trend for Lazarus is social media marketing. In addition to his YouTube page, which has videos about startup marketing, Lazarus tweets regularly and has an in-depth profile on LinkedIn. Instagram, however, is his favorite social media platform. He sees Instagram as being a great way for more traditional businesses to reach a younger audience.
Lazarus, not yet 40, is just getting started. Look for bright things from him in the future as he helps more and more startups reach their full potential.
