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“The most common mistake is that they fall too in love with their startup idea…. The fledgling entrepreneur lives in the glow of giving birth to a beautiful dream of an innovative product or service, and he or she does not want to hear that the baby is ugly. Carried away with the idea, the new entrepreneur overlooks how and when he or she can actually execute this idea and turn a profit. Unless the idea can make money, you don’t have a business—just a money pit.
“What successful entrepreneurs know is that launching a business is all about execution: figuring out how to get a product or service to market, if there is customer demand for your product, and if you can turn a profit in a reasonable amount of time. Add to that getting your service or product to market as soon as possible and beat the competition.
“Entrepreneurs must also be nimble and flexible and opportunistic and willing to modify or change their business model as they gain more market intelligence.”
“A very common mistake is not developing a strong support network. This can be avoided with: a partner(s) with complementary strengths and skill sets; an informal set of advisors, both technical and business; and a formal board of directors.”
The most common mistake “is almost always a lack of cash flow management. This could be in terms of operational choices (rent versus purchase, used versus new, etc.) and forecasting (not understanding how to create a reasonable revenue projection).”
4. They think in now.
“Many of the early startup mistakes you can undo. But the hardest one to undo is determining who owns what…. It’s really easy for me and you to, over beers, say, ‘We’re going to start a company—you get half and I get half.’ Then everything’s good. And then a few months into it, you’re working late at your other job and I’m working Saturdays on the new company, and I say, ‘Wait a minute, how is it I’m doing all the work and this guy owns half,’ and that’s the hardest thing to undo.”
“One of the key mistakes entrepreneurs make is they believe it’s one lap around the track and it’s the finish line, and so they try and make a perfect product and have a perfect plan, and try to get the right amount of funding. But what they soon find out is that it’s a multi-lap race, and their plans don’t cover that, their funding doesn’t account for the longer race.”
“In some cases, the [business] idea is not a solution to a vexing problem that people are willing to pay money for. The other mistake I see is that people are not able to monetize the idea easily. For example, most phone apps today are free and much harder to monetize given the large number of them in the two primary app stores.”
The most common mistake is “not being flexible. You need to test assumptions in the marketplace early, be willing to pivot, and redesign a product or service until the proof of concept is established. This is a continuous process and needs to be done before asking for external funding. Following a strict entrepreneurship model early on is important to flexible thinking.”
Wish you a good fortune.
Thanks for the invite .............. error is the search for profit quickly
poor database and poor decision making and planning
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I agree with M's Ghada answers, thanks for the invitation.
New businesses require skills in a wide variety of disciplines : from accounting and strategy, to marketing and legal; from human resources to product/service design. And as businesses grow in people and resources, company founders gain the ability to delegate some of these roles
To avoid those mistakes for any new entrepreneur competing against these odds, nothing is more critical than shortening the learning curve and getting your business on solid financial footing , and here are the most mistakes
They fall too in love
They lack support
They don’t know money
They think in now
They have plans for “perfect
They forget to ask, Will people pay
full agree with ms. ghada on her answer
Thanks for the invition,,,,,,,,,,,, I agree with the experts answers,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Thanks for the invite I agree with the experts answers
Thanks for the invitation and agreed with Ms. answer Ghada Eweda
For any new entrepreneur competing against these odds, nothing is more critical than shortening the learning curve and getting your business on solid financial footing. Here are six common mistakes first-time business owners should avoid to improve their chances of success:
1. Leave your ego at the door.Success in business is often nothing more than making a series of good decisions. The catch is that consistently selecting the best choice isn’t easy to do. And despite common perception, one of the biggest roadblocks to good results isn’t a lack of information or skill, it’s a leader’s inability to put aside his or her ego.
In short, outstanding leaders are willing to be wrong. They develop the ability to select the best idea, regardless of the source. If you want to be successful in starting a business, invite input and keep an open mind. If you can do that, you’re much more likely to do what’s right for your business.
2. Don't treat everyone the same.Learning to manage people is a skill that takes time to acquire; it's not something you’re born with. One of the common misconceptions about management is that leaders should have a particular style and require others to conform to it. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Regardless of your business, your employees are your most important asset. As a leader, your job is to get the most out of them, and the best way to do that is to understand them as individuals. So, take time to identify how to motivate each one and become aware of how he or she responds to your input. If you can adapt your style to align with what works best for each individaul, you’ll dramatically impact his or her performance.
3. Don't hire too quickly.Big companies have the luxury of significant resources, allowing them to invest in the hiring process. Typically, they put candidates through multiple hiring interviews, as many sometimes as eight or nine. Why spend so much time with a simple hire?
These companies understand that the cost of hiring the wrong person is a significant waste of money and time. Small companies, in contrast, commonly limit interviews to the candidate's prospective manager, and maybe the CEO. Don’t fall into that trap.
When you’re small, every individual can have a disproportionate impact on your business. How these people fit in with the team, the alignment between their skills and the job's requirements and whether they buy into the company vision are all critical to creating a dynamic and powerful team. So, vet your candidates thoroughly, and if you can hire them as consultants for a few months to "try before you buy," that’s even better.
Related: Don't Make These 10 Startup Mistakes
4. Admit your weaknesses.Even the most talented people have strengths and weaknesses. One of the easiest mistakes a new CEO can make is to ignore those shortcomings. Maybe you were good at math, so you figure you can handle your company’s accounting. Or, you took a business-law class while getting your MBA and you think you’re somehow qualified to review simple legal agreements.
The best executives know what they do well and what they don’t. And their key hires and valued consultants provide valuable input in areas in which they lack experience. Don’t try to be a superhero.
5. Spend time planning.Most new businesses start because the founder or team has strong expertise in a specific field. That’s a great advantage because it cuts your learning time dramatically. But making the leap from the role of practitioner or product engineer to running the entire company is significant. So, take time to plan. In the immortal words of Benjamin Franklin, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.”
6. Consider that alignment, not consensus, is the goal.Successful teams exhibit numerous behaviors: shared vision, passion for the work and honest communication, to a name a few. But many small teams incorrectly assume that everyone's being in agreement is always optimal. What's more, those teams will compromise the best solutions in order to gain consensus.
That may be understandable; but it’s the wrong way to run a company. Encouraging robust debate and thoroughly vetting competing viewpoints is the process that usually yields the optimal result. As long as detractors are on board and the team aligns around the plan or vision, differences of opinion, not consensus, should be the goal.
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