Don’t Make the Classic “Startup Mistakes” – Part 1

startup mess

It takes a great deal of courage to take the plunge and open your own business. The startup lifestyle is a hugely rewarding one, and can be extremely lucrative if it is carried out correctly. But it’s also one of long hours, very hard work, and a lot of faith. As an entrepreneur and owner of a startup, the pressure is on you to make good decisions, as your livelihood (and the livelihood of others) quite literally depends on it.

The one thing that you want to do is avoid making the same detrimental mistakes that other startups have made in the past. The following pieces of advice will help you avoid making damaging mistakes early on in your startup’s life.

 

Make Sure Your Business Isn’t Too Niche

It is true that a niche project can be the ticket to a wildly successful business. The general thought process is that niche industries usually mean fewer competitors and a higher probability of making it big. But, the reality is that a truly good business model will always have competition. The true test is whether your product and business model will be strong enough to beat out the competition. Avoid making the mistake of starting a business with a niche so small that there is little to no possibility of long term growth.

 

Time Your Product (Or Service) Release Properly

Jonathan Wegener, founder of Timehop was quoted saying “”The biggest mistake I see is companies waiting too long to release the product.” This is absolutely true. Many founders and their founding employees get caught up in trying to release the perfect version of their product or service, and that can be hugely detrimental for their timeline. It’s important to take a step back and determine if the Minimum Viable Product has been created. If so, launch! All of the extra bells and whistles can be added on as your business moves forward; they aren’t important for your initial launch. Avoid wasting time and resources upfront; use your initial product to gain resources, a following, and investors.

 

Be sure to check back next month to see more tips to avoid the most common startup mistakes.

 


 
To see the resources for this article, see here and here.