One of the challenges any startup faces is defining the organization’s purpose; in other words, establishing a simple principle to guide each of your business’s decisions. This is where the creation of a mission statement can help. A mission statement is useful for answering the quintessential question of why your company even exists. Here are some helpful tips for how to write a mission statement for your startup.

How To Write a Mission Statement for Your Startup

Keep Things Short

A mission statement's goal is to explain your business, which is difficult to achieve if nobody can remember the vision in the first place. Don’t muddle this phrase up with unnecessary pomp and fluff. Try to sum everything up in a sentence or two. The more memorable your statement is, the better; after all, it must guide your employees’ actions. 

Leave Options Open

Ideally, you want to consider the company’s long-term objectives. The document serves as a guiding principle for where you see your startup going. Keeping your options open allows you to make your mission statement specific enough to apply but not so constricting as to prohibit innovation and growth. 

Solicit Employee Input

More than most other businesses, startups tend to be very close-knit and open to employees’ ideas. This bond is why many would question the gall of a CEO who would write a mission statement without soliciting workers’ input. This document is for the whole company, so consider your employees' values, including principles like achievement and sustainability for millennials or diversity and independence for Gen X. 

Modify or Replace as Needed

Our last tip for how to write a mission statement for your startup is to keep things fluid. There is no way you can conceivably know every eventuality when crafting the original message. The ability to modify or replace your mission statement as your business grows is crucial to staying agile. As a startup, staying nimble is one of your greatest assets when competing for market space.