The Importance of Discipline and Focus for Young Entrepreneurs

Spending resources judiciously is critical to executing a plan until it proves successful or fails.

Photo by Keren Fedida on Unsplash

When I write for entrepreneurs, I do it for young people with scarce resources and at the early stages of their initiative. This is particularly valid in LATAM.

My wife and I have seen many talented young entrepreneurs fail in Venezuela, Peru, and Chile. Sometimes failure comes for the right reasons:

• The product was not attractive to the target segment
• The idea didn’t differentiate enough from its competitors
• The team didn’t have the knowledge or the experience for a successful launch.
• They stick to an idea without analyzing data that shows the need to adjust the product or change to a different segment.

However, in most cases, failure comes after they have depleted their resources.

Distraction and spending on unnecessary activities are to blame for the last case: dedicating resources to launching tests without a follow-up and expanding their teams without product traction.

Failing to launch a successful product is a probable scenario even for a successful serial entrepreneur, but learning from those experiences is of the essence. One needs to focus on activities, analyze data consistently, and stay put until a product-market fit is realized. Only then one can leverage resources. Investors want proof of early success before they commit resources to a high-risk business, and most digital entrepreneurs qualify as such.

In the meantime, one needs to stick to a disciplined plan of spending resources: people, money, and human relations.

Argentina and Chile are good examples of countries in LATAM with successful digital startups. In both cases, a community of angel and medium private investors is in place. This benefits those teams that can prove adequate progress for their startups. However, reaching this stage requires a plan to scale up their business and a dedicated, focused, and disciplined team to execute an ambitious growth plan in the regional market.