Starting up your own business is quite challenging. Some young entrepreneurs often struggle with finance, hiring employees as per the budget, handling complex situations even if their idea of product is incredibly awesome. Due to a lack of experience, many startups endure the misfortune of failure — if they launch at all. Make sure even you don’t commit the following 5 startup mistakes.
1- Going it alone.
How many startups have only one founder and met success? Very few right.. It’s a ton of hard work that requires business to be successful. Sometimes, you might feel low because of the setbacks. There is a need of other person’s encouragement and motivation to keep on going through. Thus, intricacies of successful business is a very daunting task to tackle each and everything alone.
2- Skimming on business plan.
Having a strong business plan is very necessary for startups as it guides the direction where the business is going to move forward. It answers major questions like What is the purpose of company? Who all are the potential clients and customers? What direction is opted as a desired one? Who are the company’s competitors and what are they doing? How can the company measure success?
3- Spending money too quickly.
First of all, ask young entrepreneurs how difficult is it to raise capital for the startup. But after raising, many startups spend lavishly, like they have achieved success. This is one of the major mistakes. As a founder, you are keen on getting people on board with the available cash. You need to ask yourself: Is it necessary? if yes, how worthy is that employee or how much value will he add to my startup?
4- Not able to pivot.
Pivoting in business as per the market or environment is very crucial. Startups should be more open to pivoting, if at all it’s helpful to create their own brand. Odeo once existed as a podcasting platform. But when Apple launched its podcasting platform, Odeo had to pivot. Today Odeo is that social media outlet known as Twitter.
5- Too much outside influence.
Would Facebook take off globally if Sean Parker had not suggested to Mark to move to California and change the name from Thefacebook to Facebook? Well, advices or feedbacks are crucial, but depending too much on it can prove to be dangerous. Even after moving to California, Mark did not lose his vision of where Facebook should head. He did not implement each and every advice given to him.
It’s better late than never. Knowing the problems and mistakes from starting can help you create a appropriate mindset to deal with them. Do not let these mistakes sink your startup.
-Vatsal Doshi
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