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Startup starts the journey with enthusiasm. countless entrepreneurs have blazed the startup trail before, and many of them have committed common startup mistakes the rest of us can learn from. Almost all companies studied have common reasons for their failure even before beginning to pick up. They fall into the trap over and over again but if they could avoid these business startup mistakes, their chances would significantly improve.
Here are the 21 most common startup Mistakes:
1. Startup needs strong preparation
One of the major mistakes startup founders make is to start the business without proper market research or strong preparation. Be mentally and physically good before starting a new beginning of a business. Before that ensure You have the requisite skills and knowledge of the work you intend to start.
Be sure you are not disturbed by any kind of pressure (social, family, or any kind) because any business startup requires hard work, focus, dedication, and concentration and so no personal hiccups or professional turmoils may trouble you in your mission.
2. Skipping or Overthinking your business plan
You might have hundreds of thoughts and ideas. But somewhere down the line, you are not able to decide about the resources you need to add or other things to incorporate. You are thinking over and over again about things that might mess up your workflow. Sometimes skipping or overthinking your business plan might count as a mistake in a startup.
3. The failure change of the One Man Army is high.
A startup is not an easy job you might have many ideas running inside your head. But you might be unable to take the right path in such case you may feel importance or co-founder. You also need co-founders to fund and resources or infrastructure your start-up.
4. Right idea, Intense focus, and right research lack as a startup
A startup is always your new job. You dive into a pool full of risk, you do not know what you want, you do not have any idea what you want to achieve and where you want to reach. So better to focus on your milestone and input your ideas and research all about your business.
Set a milestone of the year and a two and with the help of experts and accountants calculate expected production, sales, and profit you can achieve and anticipated loss. Never lose focus but be flexible with the changes in the industry, market, or conditions prevailing.
5. Getting rigid
Many companies have been ruined because they have not adhered themselves to the change. However it is highly suggested to those fine entrepreneurs to show flexibility in their approach and work, do not remain stick to whatever you have been doing but create another plan and start working on that and even if that isn’t working, prepare a third plan, fourth plan…. And soon
6. Hire too soon can be you another mistake as a startup
“By far, the biggest mistake a startup can make is hiring employees too soon, such as hiring full-timers when a part-timer might make more sense, or hiring an employee when a subcontractor could have done the same job/function. It is very easy to run a small business with part-timers, subcontractors, and the services of other professionals.” – Joseph C. Kunz Jr., CEO and president, Dickson Keanaghan
7. Financial needs and management boost your start-up.
Finance is always an important part of a business, you should make correct estimates of your financial needs, by considering all the variables. If an Account is out of your mind, Hire an accountant and calculate expected costs that might be required in investment on inventories, raw materials requirements, investment on distribution, sales and marketing, and miscellaneous expenses, etc. and set up the time frame for each task.
8. You never thought of seeking help or Delegate the work
No one is a one-man army, so never try to do any work that you are not experienced with. It is a problem among entrepreneurs and managers, they wanted to do everything on their own Instead of trusting others and delegating the workload,
9. Trusting experts blindly may lead to failure.
Sometimes you need to do it with your guts. You can see many examples where people get in trouble trusting other advice. You need to analyze and judge what people say with its pros and cons. by ignoring this common startup mistakes you can grow your startup at a new height.
However, advice is to listen to the experts but do what your intuition says. It is true if you have fallen into a perplexing situation, where it is becoming difficult for you to make the right decision, think carefully about what is best for you in the current situation and act on it. Nobody could understand the situation better as you could.
10. You are spending time on product development but not on sales
Another mistake entrepreneurs make is spending more time on product development and less on sales. Businesses need sales. Of Course, it’s true but what if you focus on sales rather than your product.
You know what I mean, right?
11. Startup might make the mistake of finding the gap between sales and profits
Why you are in business? I have no doubt 100% for profit. Starts up runs for sales. Let’s suppose you have more sales than you expected but you don’t have a good profit in corresponding to your sales. So always analyze the gap between sales and profit. You should maintain constant gaps and should check whether you have a constant gap between sales and profit with the help of your accountant and market advisor.
12. Draining Money to what you don’t need
Draining Money to unproductive is another mistake from startup. In some cases, startup starts spending money on wrong things, but by the time they realize that what they are spending is actually wasting, it’s too late for them
13. Startup mistakes by moving too slowly.
A startup usually makes decisions slow in comparison to an established company. As it is very difficult to manage all things with limited resources. As long as you take time to decide you are left behind by your competitors.
14. Scaling too quickly
Another common startup mistake is scaling too quickly. As a start upscaling quickly can be also a mistake. you should understand all aspects of your business and then only decide to scale up. If you scale up without making all aspects strong you might end up with failure.
15. Grow up in the right place.
Location is the most important formula for business. As a start-up, you might not have the right perception about the perfect location for your startup and you might make mistakes as a start-up set up your business or market to the wrong location.
16. You are following the wrong marketing idea
Another mistake entrepreneurs make is follow the wrong marketing idea. Everyone thinks differently. You might have an awesome idea that might dominate the market. The question is what if it results as shit?
So you should not implement a new idea totally. You can experiment or study by implementing on small scale. But as a startup, you might not have enough manpower and skill to do so. Better to understand market trends as a start-up.
17. Misinterpreting your market
You might end up your startup if you misinterpret your targeted market. For example, You can take the example of Nokia. Nokia used to be dominated mobile phones. While android is emerging to dominate, Nokia misinterpreted and move to Microsoft and you know what happened.
18. You are assuming that money can solve all your problems
Money can solve Millions of problems but not the one you are facing. Never think money is superior. Your problem-solving technique or leading ability is bigger than money for your business.
19. Your estimation on sales is wrong
Another financial mistakes business owners make is, you are excited about your startup and you have estimates of the vacant of your product. You are sure you will sell 99.99% product but you fail and ended at 52% as a startup it might be your biggest pain.
20. Don’t give yourself the wrong salary
Most startups fight for funds and they compromised with very less or no pay to themselves. Don’t think it’s the right choice. Consider paying yourself a percentage of revenue. Whatever you choose, make figuring out your pay and that of your partner’s practice and foundation to a healthy expectation of management.
21. Fear of Failure
Fear is the king inside you if you are new to your work. Fear of failure is always within you as a startup. It might be the last and most important thing you should manage as a start-up. if you ignore these common startup mistakes it won’t be hard for you to achieve success.
FURTHER READING
- Startup in 6 Easy Steps
- The Initial Legal Documents For Your Startup Business
- UK Startups: Essential Legal Documents for Your Business