There are only 3 things you need to succeed in business.

1. A product or service

2. A market ie customers

3. A way to reach customers 

First up you need a product and that someone wants (and is willing to pay for). Steve Blank calls this the product-market fit and its pretty much Startup 101. 

The third thing are your channels these are what connect to two and without these you are likely to make it as a business. Most businesses start with a few customers and grow a bit by word of mouth referrals. Getting beyond this understanding your channels is critical to making your business grow, will you /do you advertise for example to who and how do you do it

A digital shop front (i.e. a website)  can super charge your word of mouth by acting as a ‘confirmation page’ as one of the first things customers do is look you up and check you out. Its also an important bit of glue linking your other channels and funnelling them back to you.