We all get to face failures in our lives, be it professionally or personally. They unite us and our aspirations under an umbrella called hope. But, if we begin to lose that hope, the catastrophic changes that follow are hard to get over with. Startups fail too if aligned along principles having lack of conviction.
Picking the wrong approach: When you begin with a business, you get to face a dilemma between wanting to be seen as ‘reputable and big’, or master of a niche. But, you need to realise that you don’t have to get your glass filled-up to the brim. Trying and exploring new stuff is important, but you need to do it one at a time. If you experiment with different approaches all together, you’ll lose control and seem lost while explaining them to the investors. They’d want you to have a focused mindset, clarity, back-ups, and most importantly, an accurate study of the customer’s data.
You need to first establish yourself in a single segment and then pick up the other. For example: If you’ve started a food takeaway, you need to have at least one single dish that people like. They’d come for it, and can try different recipes introduced by you.
Colliding mindsets of co-founders: The people you’re going to start with need to have a resonating mindset for the company to rise. If you plant a defective seedling, no matter how much you water the plant, it won’t grow up healthy. The seed needs to be in fine fettle, the soil fertile and the care proper. If your co-workers have different perspectives, you need to form a consensus in order to strive in a single direction. Disagreements under one roof can have disastrous effects on the audience you cater to.
Not researching the market well: A proper market research is the foundation of a startup. If you don’t know what your customers actually want, how they react to different methods, and how your idea can make their lives easy, there’s no point in working on a prototype. You need to have a dedicated team of professionals who leave no stone unturned in preparing a top-notch customer survey for you. It should analyse the pain points of the audience, such as buying capacity, inconvenience in travelling to buy stuff, personal obligations, mobile literacy, etc. It can also help you get golden feedback about how you can improvise your product.
Not being smart enough in hiring a team: You need to have sufficient employees, but they have to be efficient too. It’s one of the major reasons due to which startups fail. If you’re constantly hiring a bunch every month that doesn’t possess the capability, you won’t reach anywhere worth your efforts. A team of lazy and unmotivated individuals won’t try to adapt to the environment you’ve created. They won’t be in touch with you seamlessly, providing valuable customer insights. If you’re unclear about your objectives and business model, you shouldn’t hire too many people at the front. You’ll be paying salaries to the employees for nothing!
So, you need to see the bigger picture. It’s simply not about starting a company and minting money. If you don’t have a proper plan in execution, and let it be, success won’t come knocking at your door. Startups fail when shortcomings are left unattended. You don’t need to have thousands of employees or too many funds. A thorough plan and a like-minded, small team can help you set milestones you’ve been dreaming to reach.
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