Top 10 Startup Mistakes to Avoid as an Entrepreneur

Every time an entrepreneur think of commencement of a new business, the following questions start whirling in his/her mind:

• Is my idea worthy enough to share with the world?
• Will people pay for my products and services?
• Will I be able to make enough money out of it?
• What if my startup fail?

Well, it is fine to have these questions in mind, because when you think of starting a new app business, you put all the efforts and everything you have, your money, your ideas, your hopes, everything, and it is undoubtedly hurtful when all gets shattered.

But, above all, remember that you need to get out of somewhere to reach somewhere else, and with having fear in your mind, you will not be able to get out of your shield zone. You need to get out of that comfort zone to emerge as a great entrepreneur.

Do not feel bad, even if your app startup fails. Take it as an experiment instead of taking it as a failure. By changing your mindset in this direction, you can learn from your mistakes, which will help you to re-work on your startup or flourish in your next business.

Starting it Alone

How far can you go if you are going alone? Well, if we talk about starting a new business, going alone is deemed to be one of the biggest small business mistakes because starting it all alone might cost you everything.

Yes, many successful entrepreneurs proved this idea wrong and succeeded; one of them is Larry Ellison, but let’s consider him as an exception because reaching to his level is not everyone’s cup of tea. Starting a new business alone involves many risks, such as financial investment, managing the entire work alone, time commitments, and others; that is why whenever we talk about mistakes businesses make, going alone is always considered.

Every business has some risks involved, and every startup is going to be like a roller coaster ride. Including some more members in your startup business will ensure that you do not have to bear all the loss alone. As it is not possible to manage the entire work just by yourself and requires several people to take control of different tasks.

Doing it all alone is a very major reason why do entrepreneurs fail. Going alone will give you a lot of money, but in most situations, it becomes daunting to tackle everything all alone. Having some partners and some professional colleagues can work as a helping hand in starting a new business.

Clinging to the Wrong Idea

It is necessary to have a strong belief in your thoughts, decisions, and ideas, but it is equally important to realize that maybe you’re pushing up the wrong hill you’re never going to break. Every entrepreneur thinks that his/her idea is the superior of all, and will change the market. This is the most prevalent mistake of entrepreneurs; they adore their concepts and do not see any flaws in it.

Sometimes, a wrong idea can be related to offering a demand-less product to the customers. Sometimes it can be a lack of innovation or lack of audience understanding and others. These are one of the biggest causes of why startup businesses fail.

The best way to tackle this problem is to evaluate the market, think for the long term not just for 6 or 12 months, and most importantly talk to the entrepreneurs whose ideas failed miserably, because they will tell you all about startup mistakes to avoid as an entrepreneur. By doing this, you will understand the startup mistakes they all made, which will help you to analyze thoroughly all the common mistakes made by entrepreneurs and how to avoid them all while starting a new business.

Not Having a Solid Business Plan

Even if you have a great idea, there is still a possibility your startup might not work due to a lack of a solid business plan. Having a solid business plan plays a vital role in the commencement of a new business. Before you start seeking legal advice to set your startup in the right direction, such as renting office space, you first need to jot down your thoughts on paper, which will help you to stay focused and organized and avoid getting listed in startups that failed.

There are a few questions to ask yourself that will help you to create a better business plan:

• What is the purpose of starting the business?
• Who are our potential customers?
• Who are the business’s competitors, and what are they doing?
• How can the company measure success? and so on

Consulting some veteran entrepreneurs before starting any business is an essential step to take to avoid common startup mistakes. With having a structured business plan, you will be able to get valuable feedback from them. Being a veteran, they will be able to answer all your questions. Having a solid business plan is recommended since it helps you to determine your business’s direction over the long term.

Confusing a Product with a Business

Eric Holtzclaw once said that a product solves an individual needs, but a real business has something customers will come back for again and again’, and this is so true in every sense, as it is necessary to understand that a product is completely different from business, and one of the biggest business mistakes of entrepreneurs is they confuse products with markets, which results in a pratfall in the marketplace.

Here’s how to make a difference – Do you have potential revenue streams beyond the customer’s initial purchase of a product? That is the main component for prospective investors, who want to see what the next thing is and want to make sure that there’s some long life beyond what you’re offering today, Holtzclaw says. Are you going to license the technology to someone else? What does the business look like in three or five years? That is a big concern from an investor perspective, and that will help you determine if you even have a business at all.

Also read: How Artificial Intelligence is Beneficial to Businesses?

Choosing the Wrong Location

Finding a location for your business is always a challenging process, and choosing the right one can be something of a balancing act. And, entrepreneurs should not be neglect this while starting a new business.

Many of the new entrepreneurs avoid the importance of location in the market by considering it as not so important factor, and that is one of the reasons why entrepreneurs fail. Placing your business at the right location helps in creating a brand and image, which reflects that your brand and products can impact the success of your newly started business.

Before selecting a location for your business, you must conduct some initial market research that can help you to identify parts of a city where a startup will thrive. By doing this, we can avoid location-based initial startup mistakes. The location of a business is not only helpful in attracting customers but also to attract the right sort of talent. So, setting up your business at the right location is the key to making the business successful.

Doing Hiring Process Wrongly

Starting a new business is a tough decision to make for anyone, but even after establishing a potent business, a wrong hiring process can ruin your years of hard work. Selecting the right person for the right job is very tricky, and many startups failed because people hired were just not right for the company. Starting the hiring procedure too soon is one of the crucial mistakes new business owners make and certainly drains the business financially.

Sometimes, the business makes the most basic blunders by hiring people who lack the required skills for the role. Sometimes, the person who got hired does not fit the team because of a personality mismatch. Sometimes, a business makes errors, such as hiring full-timers where a part-timer can work on the same.

Sometimes, the company does not involve deeply in the background check of an employee, which results in the wrong hiring and takes the business towards loss. These are very general wrong practices of entrepreneurs, which can easily be avoidable.

Doing the Money Handling Task Wrongly

When we think of starting a new company, the very first thing that hits our mind is money. Capitalizing a business with the requisite amount of money is something we all want as an entrepreneur. When it comes to launching a new business, money plays a vital role, and properly managing the spends is equally important.

One of the biggest startup mistakes of entrepreneurs is spending too much without thinking about the long term. Appropriately handling money is a crucial thing and all entrepreneurs should keep it in mind.

Without proper management of finances, a startup may never set sail. No one can guarantee that a business will not go through the phase of uncertain changes in terms of cost and insufficient funds, but you can get out of those phases and not let your business sink just by properly handling money.

Not Going at Right Pace

Starting a business is undoubtedly a challenging decision to make, but what more challenging is to sustain it throughout, and it is not everyone’s cup of tea. One of the typical mistakes of entrepreneurs is taking the business forward hastily, without having a proper plan in mind and not thinking about future outcome. Not going at the right pace, eg. events, is one of the biggest mistakes of the entrepreneurs.

Every newbie or a professional entrepreneur must understand and analyze the right market strategy to be in the right place. Many entrepreneurs do silly mistakes such as hiring too soon, doing a partnership with someone just for the sake of money, and forget that your business requires funds, but your investors are more important than money.

The entrepreneur forgets the vision and morals they share and start seeing the temporary comfort because huge money comforts everyone in this world. But, it is essential to neglect a handsome amount of money and choose the right investors for your business, by doing so, you can sustain a business as a remarkable entrepreneur and avoid initial startup mistakes.

Taking Too Much of Outside Influence

Staying all ears to feedback is a must to have an attitude in every aspiring entrepreneur, whether it is a bit of advice related to your business ideas or criticism related to the same. You, as an entrepreneur, must pay attention to all the feedback and criticism because an outside source sometimes can aid you in the right way.

But, it is also necessary to understand that taking too much outside influence can damage your self-belief. Likewise, too much feedback sometimes becomes detrimental and can cost you a massive loss to your business. By doing so, you can avoid such types of startup mistakes.

When a company starts, many people make their opinion on it, such as suggesting what is best for it and what is not. It is an entrepreneur’s job to decide whom to listen to, what to listen to, who not to listen to, and what not to listen to because you have your idea and plan in your mind, all you need is a right execution, which you can learn by inheriting good opinions and neglecting unrequited ill ones.

A business needs to stick to the original idea and do not get influenced by different opinions and feedbacks to succeed in the long term.

We would love to hear your comments relating to the post. Got some other thoughts? Drop us words through our contact page.