6 Common Mistakes Startuppers Tend to Make
Startup success is not ensured just by being in the right place at the right time or by good genes. A startup owner needs a plan as well as the discipline to follow it through. Being part of a startup requires submitting yourself to the process, which means that it isn’t always glamorous. By following the right process, one can engineer his startup success. It can be taught as it can be learned.
If you’re a new entrepreneur, then you better lay off the unrealistic expectations and your ego, and take precautions not to make any of these mistakes which is where startup owners often tend to fail. When starting a new business, this is what you should avoid.
1. Setting unattainable goals
Don’t work without a clear plan because you’ve become captivated by the “big idea”. If you’re sure that it has a lot of potential for growth, that’s great, but the goals you set must be attainable and realistic. Make sure to set specific, clear short-term and long-term goals, and then determine all the specific steps your need to take in order to make an idea come to reality.
2. Undervaluing your own products or services
Fear of failure and lack of confidence can cause us to undervalue our own products and services. By undermining the value of it, the possibility of frustration and resentment is opened up. Before or as you start your business, you should thoroughly explore the market to identify the best possible price entry point for the type of products or services you’re selling. Otherwise, recovering from under-pricing your goods can be a really long road.
3. Waiting too long to release
In reality, many times do startup build more than they really need to. Waiting too long to launch a product is one of the biggest mistakes that young companies make. It will be easy to see, by looking back, that you only needed to build a small part of all the stuff you built. Letting the scope of what you’re building can easily get off hand, but young entrepreneurs often realize that in hindsight. Most settings, options, and feature are a waste of time for an early stage startup, because they aren’t simply crucial to failure or success.
4. Getting distracted by feedback
Getting ideas from your team, giving suggestions, and brainstorming in an open office environment is great because It boosts employee morale and confidence, and is an opportunity to talk through ideas brought from different perspectives. However, the collective doesn’t have to make all the decisions, so just train yourselves not to let everything come to a vote. If your product is good, then there will be people sharing opinions of your business with you.
Getting wrapped up in this way and wanting to tweak and adjust things immediately is not good, because you can’t follow up to dozens of different opinions. They are there to give feedback to your startup based off of their market knowledge and domain experience, and your job is to apply that where needed, without moving away from your vision. Make sure to surround yourself with smart and capable people who can come up with a good idea and then execute it the right way.
5. Thinking you have no direct competitors.
Don’t ever think that you’re above everyone else in the business or in a category of your own because of your new product or business. New entrepreneurs can be often led by this to think that they have no direct competition. However, having no direct competitors is quite rare, and there will always be someone in your niche who already has some market share. Find out who they are, what are their strengths and weaknesses, and differentiate your business from the rest.
6. Not knowing your best financing options
It is easier to make decisions and moves once you know all of the possible financing options. New businesses often get turned down for bank loans, when entrepreneurs realize that funds can be tough to secure even if their business is established. If you need the money for fueling your business endeavors, you can turn to getting microloans, tapping into your personal savings, or ask your close friends and family for help. And what about crowdfunding? Websites like Indiegogo and Kickstarter can give a great boost to financing a small business.
You can also look for angel investors (they invest in startup or early-stage companies in exchange for 20-25% ROI) or online lenders, which are now popular alternatives to traditional business lenders because the online applications are easy to complete and loans can be granted within days. If you’re required a surety bond to get your business license, you should determine your surety bond cost, and get bonded as it will protect your company from the potential risks that could put you out of business.
A lot of people have launched their startups and gone through thick and thin to keep them alive, long before you decided to try and do the same. Experiences, if not the same, are interconnected. Successes are viewed as unique, but repeating the same mistakes will get you out of the game. Use these tips and advice to recognize and avoid these common obstacles and problems on your startup’s path to growth and expansion.
