TOP 5 MISTAKES THAT FOUNDERS MAKE WHEN STARTING A NEW BUSINESS
Hi everyone,
I’m Anastasia, and I’ve spent the last 10 years as a business consultant for different start-up brands. I help new businesses with developing a strategy for a new market or product launch.
If you want to head straight to the crux of this message, you may skip the first half, which is my background.
1. Preview
I launched my own company a few months ago, which is a marketing research and strategy company that also does advertising for companies in their early stages of development.
What we usually do is add the drive needed by the company’s team to make the launch much more successful.
My main objective, as previously stated, is to help entrepreneurs in achieving their business objectives quickly and efficiently.
But I understand that not everyone can afford to hire me or my company in their early phase, therefore I’d want to share my expertise with anyone who wants to start their own business. And it is for this reason that I have chosen to create this blog.
I’ve worked with over 10 startup founders, and I’m well aware of their recurring mistakes, even if they never admit it.
2. Matter
Let’s start with the mistakes of the two types of founders.
First type. Established his first business.
1. This business will look like I imagined it would be
When people want to start a new business they usually visualize how they think it would turn out in terms of channels, consumers, markets, or even goods.
The more you realize that this isn’t the case, the better you’ll feel, the more flexible you’ll become, this would also increase the likelihood of being successful.
I have two examples among my clients.
The first. The business started with a journal for children in Eastern Europe and has progressed to a subscription service for children in the United States. Perfect example.
The founder’s objective was “to build something valuable in the Education sector for children,” so we made our research and found a business model and type of business that would satisfy this objective.
The second. The client wanted to create an offline dating service and was “stuck” in their idea implementation stage. While working with them, we noticed reluctance to accept clear reasons to pivot. The new wave of coronavirus and obvious signals from customers was enough evidence and reason to stop and reconsider the model. But it didn’t happen because the project was closed. Our team was smart enough and had the expertise, we made a recommendation for the idea to be reassessed, but the client refused and the project failed.
One of the rules that startups need to know is that failure to become flexible would amount to a failed business. In order words, No flexibility — no growth.
When starting up your business, do not be afraid to turn your idea upside down!
2. NO COMPETITORS
Is it possible to start a business with the idea that there are no competitors? Certainly not. If your business does not have competitors, it just means that you do not have a market. What happens in this scenario is that most of the teams or founders do not realize that they have a lot of competition.
For example:
If you created a new technology such as seven-league boots.
If you have a look on Amazon, you would discover that no one has a seven-league boot.
So what does it mean? That you don’t have competitors? Oh no!
You do have competitors, although the competitors might not be direct ones,
You have to realize that competitor is anyone that has the same goals and solves the same problem as you. Remember that humanity has cars, bikes, skates, and so on. Most of which satisfy the same need that the product wishes to satisfy. So saying that there are no competitors is merely a joke.
3. I DO NOT NEED A PROFESSIONAL
Most startups believe they do not need the services of a professional. They would say “we can do everything ourselves” (without professionals).
nope, nope, nope
Of course, you may try to handle advertising, legal issues, and certification, but this commonly results in a waste of time, which is more pricey than paying an expert. Time is more important for any business than expenses, when you try to reduce costs and waste time, your business might spend years on the same spot.
I’m not going to tell you that hiring an expensive specialist or agency is the best method to develop your business.
The solution however is to “consult the elders”:)
Surprisingly, many entrepreneurs and high-quality professionals are willing to offer their insights and experience for free.
You may search LinkedIn for someone who inspires you in some manner. You can even text Elon Musk, and you could be lucky to get a response.
The easiest way to scale your business is to identify successful men in your field and ask them for help.
PEOPLE LOVE TO GIVE ADVICE.
Just look at these articles 🙂.
You didn’t pay for it, but you got it free. Yeah, that’s how it works.
4. You can test your idea just by sharing your product for free and letting people share their thoughts on it.
IT DOESN’T WORK. Unfortunately.
Of course, when developing your product, you can utilize this strategy to make it more user-friendly or to fix certain flaws. But!
Try to market your business idea before you are confident that it is a rocket and will reach the sky.
We have many modern tools for this, such as Kickstarter. If you don’t have the resources to launch or if you want to do it faster, go to a nearby market or mall and try to market your idea to others (if you are a b2c product&service).
If you don’t have a prototype or an open pre-sale, you can create a presentation.
You can use any method that you want, but you must generate sales. You could have an open price of 90 cents, but a real sale will provide you with important information about your idea. Much more than friends’ assurances or a few promises.
Second type. Starting A Second Business
THE MOST COMMON PROBLEM
Many entrepreneurs believe they can do it again because they have done one before.
Well, it doesn't always work like that.
Because you have a success story in your first business venture does not mean the second one would be easy, in fact, the second business will be more difficult and will present much more problems. Why?
The human brain always prefers simpler, shorter, and more inexpensive ways of getting results, so you would likely want to adopt the same approach to problem-solving and decision-making as you did in the past.
REMEMBER! The first business was then (1,2,3,4,5 year ago) and this second business is birthed at a different time and under different conditions.
Oftentimes, you’ll need a completely different approach because you will likely be faced with absolutely new challenges.
Where you have to use different channels, different teams, and different models.
Does it mean that it’s impossible to create 2 or more successful companies?
No. But you have to note 2 crucial things:
- You can make a mistake
- You have to be as flexible as you were the first time, and even more.
That’s all for today. I hope that you’ll find this article helpful and useful.
Follow me and you’ll learn more.
Have a great week and good luck with your startup!
That’s my LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anastasiiakriakvina/
And that’s our website: https://proglobal.market/
