Startups mistakes
Many entrepreneurs get the idea to start company from family and relatives, some get ideas from friends. These people may NOT be the best source for startup ideas. They usually read something from newspapers, articles and websites than suggest an opportunity based on what they think. If the idea is known and published is it still an opportunity?
The best idea must come from you, the entrepreneur, based on your passionate about doing something. This is something that makes you think about it all the time. This is something that makes you excited every morning when you wake up. This is something that you have nurtured it in your mind and continues to think about for weeks and months. All startups start with this type of idea. The idea could be a product, a service, a vision about the future market, a solution to a problem, or a new opportunity that people do not even know yet. From the idea, entrepreneurs formulate a concept about what they want to do with the idea, determine whether it should be a product or service as well as its features. They determine who could be their customers, how much they pay for their product or the market value of their ideas. All of these are just guesses, or wishes. There is no fact about it so it must be validated to determine its real business value.
However, the common mistake that most entrepreneurs make is that they love the idea so much. They are blinded by their “personal ego” that they already know everything. Instead of validate the idea, they start to build that into their “dream product” then spend money to establish their “dream organization” structures, hire people, appointed each other positions and tittles … without investigate the market to validate their idea. Many entrepreneurs told me: “I know what the market need, I know what customers want and when I deliver my product, people will rush in to buy it” When asked: “How do you know?” The answer is always: “I know”. This is a fatal mistake; it is an opinion that has no fact in it. It is arrogant and stupid and that is why so many good ideas become nightmares.
Because of “personal bias”, entrepreneurs even hurry to start a company based on that single idea. They believe that they know all functions that the customer need and the market is waiting for them to deliver their “dream product”. A professor called it “The Steve Jobs symptom” as these people all think they are Steve Jobs. Some even set a date for their software release and announce their intention to newspaper or TV. It may satisfy their egos but it does not mean anything. To hurry to do something without fully investigate and validate is a guarantee for failure. To succeed, an entrepreneur must conduct market research to analyze the needs. They must identify who are customers and validate with them to determine if the idea is correct. Without validation, everything is a guess and most guesses are wrong.
If you expect your startup business to make money soon then you must be dreaming. It is unrealistic to expect significant revenue at this early stage (despite what you might read about business opportunity websites.) The pressure of making money fast may force you into bad business decisions. Please remember that it took Steve Jobs many years to grow Apple into an enterprise. It took Bill Gates several years before Microsoft makes money. During this time, both Jobs and Gates had many financial difficulties and even wanted to quit. If it took them years to make money, could you do it faster and better than them? You must understand about reality and be practical about what you want to so. Set a realistic expectations and stick to it. You are just beginning your journey, there is long road with many obstacles ahead, so do not hurry too fast or expect reaching destination too soon.
An entrepreneur is NOT a job. It is an attitude, it is a passion. If you only want a job – do not be an entrepreneur. If you cannot find a job – do not start your own company. You will lose more money and be frustrated. Entrepreneurship is hard work, and you must know your strengths and weaknesses. A successful entrepreneur is a business person first, then a technical person. Please remember this, you must be a business person first, everything else is secondary. You can be the best technical person, the best project manager but without business skills, you will not be able to grow your company, you will not be able to start your company successfully. You simply cannot do business if you do not have business skills. What I mean “Business skills” is not something that you learn in school such as finance, accounting but the skills that allow you to survive, the life experience, the practical thinking, and vision about business. Before start your own business, you must be honest with yourself whether you have the skills needed to enter this adventure or not.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
