Who does not want success? But do everyone get it? As a founder of your startup, planning for success and ways for building the venture successfully is unhesitating. However, it is must that you also keep in mind the “failure” element that attacks almost half of the startups.
Planning for failure can make you intellectually, emotionally and financially stronger even if your startup does not succeed. Fasten your seatbelts as you are now about to know WHY you should plan for failure more than success.
It does not make you negative or paranoid.
It is a myth about planning for failure. There is a difference between preparing for failure and thinking you are going to fail. It makes you smarter. Planning for success is good as it gives you a roadmap as to how your startup is going to acquire it. However, Planning for failure is even better as you are prepared with optimum solutions if at all there are roadblocks or unpredictable problems in your way. Its about being practical and thoughtful about the kinds of possibilities that may occur. Always think about the ‘worst-case scenarios’ and come up with solutions to mitigate them.
It helps to be more objective.
Planning about failures also help you to be more objective. Being honest with yourself and thinking about potential failure enables you to identify your mistakes and encourages you to fix those in order to keep moving forward. It helps you to understand and know your customers, clients and investors point of view too. This can be instrumental in generating ideas and facts that are missed.
It keeps your on your toes.
Recognizing that you might fail will always keep you on your toes, as it is your beloved venture and not a mere high school examination 😛 The day you feel that you are not going to fail is the time you open yourself to disruption and mismanagement. Acknowledging the possibilities of failure and preparing for it is a wise entrepreneur’s behaviour. Remember it takes years to build a company and one simple mistake to bring it all back to nothing.
It makes easier to move on.
Preparation helps to soften the wounds if at all your startup hits the rock. It helps you move on and stay stable mentally and physically. Not preparing for failure and falling down will be very hard to accept, later and thus, it will be difficult for you to start all over again. One example I want to highlight is of the movie “The Titanic”.
No one prepared for failure as many were infused with pride including the businessmen, shipbuilders, etc. The iceberg did not hit only the ship but also the hearts and pride of these people. As you could see, instead of trying to survive and help people the Captain closed himself in the Wheelhouse and died out of shame.
Don’t be under the impression of not failing even if your product is the most innovative one. Bracing yourself and preparing for the failures helps to keep your motive strong and enthusiastic.
-Vatsal Doshi
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