FEW STARTUP MISTAKE WE SHOULD TRY & AVOID
Fatima Hayat
Investment Specialist @ Khalij Group | Profitability Analysis, Marketing Communications
We all get too excited to start a ew business. Hearing all the success stories ALI BABA, FACEBOOK etc.... we think positive and pink. Few points below are for young enthusiastic entrepreneurs which will help them learn not to fall but to rise high!
HIRING TOO MANY EMPLOYEES QUICKLY
By far, the biggest mistake a startup can make is hiring employees too soon. Such as hiring full-timers when a part-timer might make more sense. Or hiring an employee when a sub-contractor could have done the same job/function. Nowadays it is very easy to run a small business with part-timers, sub-contractors, and the services of other professionals.
AVOIDING GOOD MARKETING
The biggest mistake I see businesses make over and over is they spend all of their money on product development and overhead and they leave zero money for marketing to generate customers. They have this mindset that, 'if you build it they will come.' They do not realize that if people do not know your product exists and that it can help them, they can't buy it.
Salary to yourself - What amount is right or wrong??
Paying yourself too little or too much [is a mistake]. It's often easier to determine the salary for a new hire than determining an owner or partner's pay. Consider paying yourself a percentage of revenue. Whatever you choose, make figuring out your pay and that of your partners a practice and foundation to healthy expectation of management.
Being too materialistic
They overpay for office space or luxurious appointments that have absolutely no impact on customers. I've watched companies whose customers never see their offices waste hundreds of thousands of precious capital remodeling old warehouses and buying the latest and coolest office furniture, when they should have been developing their business in a garage someplace.
KNOWING IT ALL
The biggest mistake an entrepreneur can make (and most do) is to believe that, just because they are an expert at what they do, they have what it takes to run their own business.
Solution Architect and BI Specialist
9 年Thought provoking article. Start ups should get services and products out quickly and engage with the target market well in advance of completing the product or service definition, solicit as much early user feedback as possible to orient features to the needs of the market. A minority of products are successful in the form they were first envisaged, the best are a collaboration between provider and consumer. Build what they want, establish a good value proposition, then they will come. Build a visionary product in secrecy and you are a high risk speculator, which is only for those with the deepest of pockets.