Whoever you are, whatever your age or entrepreneurial field, you need to know these things. According to Paul Graham, founder of the renowned startup support program Y Combinator, to succeed in entrepreneurship you simply need to do the opposite of these things.
1. Starting Alone
It is no coincidence that successful startups are founded by at least 2 people, Paul Graham says. So if you want success and more funding sources, never start alone.
2. Choosing a poor location for your company
You can change any detail of a building, but you cannot improve your company's location.
Likewise, you may have an impressive headquarters with luxurious interiors, but if it is in an area with poor transport access, weak security, or a bad reputation among partners, your other efforts are almost meaningless.
Choose a better location, where large companies have their offices. They have surely researched thoroughly and measured the relevant factors to choose a suitable site.
3. Choosing a niche that is too narrow
By choosing an overly narrow niche, entrepreneurs make things harder for themselves. Naturally, you want a market with little competition in which to start, but this is not a smart choice.
4. Copy existing ideas and products
This is a common mistake among startup brands. You lack the courage to carry out your own ideas. Instead, you imitate and repeat what others have done.
Paul Graham wrote that tomorrow’s Google will no longer be the Google you see today. This means that if you simply imitate others, your business will always remain behind.
5. Refusing to change
If you are too stubborn to listen to others' advice or customers' opinions, you have killed your own company.
6. Choosing the wrong employees
It is very difficult to choose truly excellent employees without any flaws. Your task is not to find the best person, but someone whose personality and interests fit the business and its team.
Smooth coordination and a good working environment increase productivity and improve business performance.
7. Choosing the wrong sector to invest in
You have devoted all your attention to your company. However, if you choose the wrong field to start in, starting over will cost a great deal of time and money.
8. Hesitating and delaying the launch company
You cannot gain experience or success without launching your business. The longer you hesitate, the longer you delay your chance of success.
9. Launching too early
Not hesitating does not mean rushing to launch your company before everything is ready. If people know about your company while it still operates poorly, that creates a negative image and harms your reputation and business results.
10. Failing to Identify Prospective Customers
Many entrepreneurs invest heavily in building and promoting their brands but fail to invest in research to identify their potential customers.
That is a serious mistake that prevents you from selling your products and services.
11. Investing too little money
Preparing too little funding leaves you unable to create quality products and services or promote your brand sufficiently. Customers then do not know your company, resulting in ineffective business operations.
12. Spending too much money
By contrast, spending too much without a savings plan will put your company into a budget deficit.
13. Investing too much money
Putting all your money into a startup is not a smart choice. With a large amount of capital, you and your co-founders may feel overly well-off, fail to economize, and invest inefficiently.
14. Lack of investors
Every startup should have investor support. Beyond providing capital, investors can offer valuable experience gained at great cost in money and time.
15. Focusing too much on profit
Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of becoming obsessed with profit. Remember that you have plenty of time to earn money later. Now is the time to make customers aware of your company and love your products, rather than expecting them to pay you a great deal.
16. Not being prepared to always be busy
When starting a business, you must prepare yourself to be constantly busy and work hard. If you think owning a business will immediately make you rich and give you a leisurely life, you are truly mistaken.
17. Disputes between founders
In the difficult early days, the founders—or, in other words, the people within the company—need to unite and support one another. If internal conflicts and disputes arise, your company has defeated itself before truly entering the marketplace.
18. Impatience
Many people start businesses, and many have given up. In reality, few entrepreneurs succeed, and the first reason is a lack of patience and the courage to pursue their projects to the end.
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Chương trình liên quan tại YUP Education: X-Startup – khóa học khởi nghiệp «Khởi Chánh Nghiệp» · The Journey – lộ trình phát triển doanh nhân
