8 Common Mistakes You Should Avoid if You Are Doing a Startup

Starting a company is never an easy thing. It takes a lot of effort and is a soul shattering journey that not many dare to take. Along the way people make mistakes. The biggest thing is to learn from the mistakes you and your fellow entrepreneurs have made and shape your way accordingly.

After working on my own startup that works with other startups I’ve seen a lot of mistakes founders make and I’ve made many mistakes myself. So here are some mistakes that I’ve seen and been through that you can avoid in your journey to success.

1. Lack of passion.
   Lack of passion is one huge issue a lot of entrepreneurs could face. Just because a business idea is great it doesn’t mean that you are gonna make millions out of it. If you are not passionate about what you are doing you’ll get bored along the way and that’s a huge startup killer.
2. Timing
   Don’t launch too early or too late. If the technology or the public is not ready to use what you offer even though your offering is great that’s gonna kill the startup. I’ve come across a couple of startups like this where the founders vision was way too far ahead the technology or the public was not ready to accept what they offered and that could easily kill a startup. Same goes the other way if you are too late to the party. Timing could decide a lot of things. There was this one startup that I worked with which had a killer idea by the time the idea was conceived, there weren’t a lot of competitors and it felt very right. However launch got delayed much more than we ever expected which resulted in launching it to a market filled with competitors and growing from there was an uphill battle.
3. Not knowing your numbers.
   This could be another huge mistake a lot of entrepreneurs fail to address. If you are in the driving seat of a startup you gotta know your numbers. Numbers help you make critical decisions and they help you take correct decisions. If you don’t have any idea about the numbers it’s like steering a ship in transatlantic without a compass.
4. High expectations
   Don’t expect to make a million dollars in the first 3 months. If you have a freaking fantastic idea and massive amounts of luck you might but less than .00001% make it there. Don’t expect too much in the beginning. Startup life is hard and consists of lots of ups and downs. Know that before you start and be ready for the ride.
5. Not doing proper research
   Research like crazy before you ever taking the next step. There is a lot you can learn from your competitors and people who has failed trying to do similar things. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel, learn what you can from the people who’ve walked your path and see how you can use that information to make your business better.
6. Fear of change
   If this is the case with you don’t even think about starting your own company, Period! No seriously, startups never stay the same. A lot change along the way, it could be small or big. As you continue along your journey sometimes you might realize that the idea that you started with might not work in the long run, in such a scenario you must have the courage to pivot and take on the right path.
7. Spending too much unnecessarily.
   Don’t spend on anything unless you absolutely have to. Go lean!
8. Overlooking the culture
   You need to think about the work culture that you would like to see in your company before hiring anyone. If you overlook this initially thinking that you can shape it later down the road when you have 10–15 employees that’s the biggest mistake you can make. There is no coming back if you take a wrong path here.

This is just a small list, but there are tons of other reasons that could make or break a startup. I’ve learned a lot of lessons along my journey and those lessons shape you along the way. Be open to the change and embrace what you think is right. Work like hell and be relentless in your battle, and you will succeed

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