10 Most Common Startup Mistakes To Avoid

At first look, it seems easy to manage a startup, but most of them fail due to some reasons. Many of these companies will mostly likely be making the common startup mistakes young entrepreneurs engage in.

Though, India is becoming the world’s fastest-growing startup ecosystem. A study conducted by oxford economics found that around 90% of the Indian startups fail within the first five years.

From 3000 startups in 2014 to more than 40, 000 startups in 2020, there is a revolution in the market and had affected how the market works.

If you want to start your own business, it is always recommendable to learn from failures. There are many mistakes to avoid, pitfalls to not fall in and many warnings for an entrepreneur to take care of.

Few common mistakes that new entrepreneur makes are listed below. Read further to know more.

No proper plan

Many people just think about the destination and not about the strategies used to reach the destination. You need strategies that are efficient and focus on your priorities.

There are also cases where people just start without planning out the goals and objectives and reaching halfway they realize that they have been doing a different thing.

You need to do a lot of research before starting any startup and must stick to proper strategies.

Not having a proper team

It’s not possible that everyone wears multiple hats. It depends on the size of a startup but there should be people in your team with clearly defined roles.

Many new entrepreneurs have fallen into the trap of hiring the wrong people just to save little money and that might have become the reason for the failure of the company.

Wrong marketing strategy

It’s good that you have good quality product but not enough for any company to increase sales. Advertising your product on different platforms with relevant tools is the most important thing in marketing.

Failing in presenting your products nicely to potential customers can lead to the failure of your startup.

Also read: 5 Most Popular Digital Marketing Certifications in 2021

Not preparing for failures

Many times, the startup makes mistakes which are pretty basic and avoidable. One can have a backup plan for those mistakes.

Challenges are inevitable so, it’s always good to have plan B to manage risk and recover from that easily.

Lack of analytics

While investing in marketing, you need to monetize it as well. Having no track of some specific campaign you made or some advertisement, you will have no idea if you made a return on your investment.

There will be times when you will be making more money than you thought, but it is always important to keep track of your business.

Chasing competitors

It’s always beneficial to learn from your competitors and find ways to make it better than them. But don’t fall into the trap of replicating their strategies thinking that they made a profit from that so will you.

Totally ignoring your competition is not good. Tracking your competition might help you to avoid some major mistakes and helping your company to grow.

Poor financial planning

Most of the new entrepreneurs focus on the business model and not on the revenue model. Without a clear and well-defined revenue model, your company might fail to sustain market rates.

Many new entrepreneurs lack sufficient funding, thinking that a bigger budget will simply lead to a big loss.

Make sure to have a realistic idea of profit in your mind and understand the finances of your organization inside out.  

Unable to use technology

Many entrepreneurs lack the skill and experience to do complicated technical things and that is totally okay as one person can’t do everything.

Its simple solution is to bring someone experienced who can handle that complicated stuff and makes thing simpler.

Not taking feedback

It is important to focus on customer feedback, even more, when you are startup. Gaining the loyalty of your customers will surely help you to increase your sales.

Whether the feedback is good or bad, make your customers believe that you will improve your service and do your best to make them satisfied.

Being impatient

Lack of patience will surely lead to the failure of your startup. Many businesses around you have been for years but most of them have not become successful overnight.  You need to work hard with dedication and patience to last your success for a long.

Also, waiting for too long is not good. Develop that sense of grabbing opportunities at right time and rule the market.

Most Common Startup Mistakes Summed Up

Here are the common startup mistakes that we have discussed in this post:

1. No proper plan
2. Not having a proper team
3. Wrong marketing strategy
4. Not preparing for failures
5. Lack of analytics
6. Chasing competitors
7. Poor financial planning
8. Unable to use technology
9. Not taking feedback
10. Being impatient

Frequently Asked Questions & Answers

1. What does a startup need?

Following are the most important things that people need for a startup:

• Support network
• A product that people want
• Proper funding
• A-one team
• Business model
• Revenue model

2. What exactly is a startup?

A startup is a young company founded by one or more entrepreneurs to market their products and to grow their business.

3. How to prevent the common startup mistakes?

According to Enterpreneur.com, following are the things you should take care of

• Customers need
• Unique brand preposition
• Effective calculations
• A perfect team