#WorldEntrepreneurshipDay: Top 10 ‘do nots’ for all aspiring entrepreneurs

Launching a new business is tough. Most budding entrepreneurs have little or no prior business experience. While they may have incredible ideas, the snags of finance, recruitment and expansion hit them hard. Many can’t handle the pressure, and that leads to the death of another wonderful opportunity.

This World Entrepreneurship Day, Business Insider India compiles the top 10 most common mistakes startups make so you’re more aware when you take the plunge, and come out victorious.

Not having a crystal clear business plan

A solid business plan is indispensable to the success of your startup. Ask yourself these questions:

· What is the purpose of my company?
· Who are my potential customers?
· What are the mission and values of the company?
· Who are my rivals?

If you can’t successfully answer any of these, take a while to step back and ponder. A business plan helps brand your business, and establish an identity in the market.

Faulty financial plans

Money is very important for startups, and one of the biggest goof-ups here is either spending too much or too little.

It is important to have a backup plan, and keep costly overheads and emergencies in mind. Over enthusiastic founders often hire too many people, and go down early. Currency is limited, so blow it judiciously.

Also remember, while running after investors may help you in the short term, prolonged neglect to your customers means you’ll lose them. On the other hand, the Venture Capitalist investing that big amount would be expecting a fatter return very soon. So brace up to work extra hard.

Starting alone

Expect for Larry Ellison's Oracle, very few one-man startups have made it big on the global stage.

The reason simply is that setting up a successful business needs a lot of backbreaking work.

Many can’t handle the setbacks and pressure alone. If you don’t have a co-founder, make sure you have enough friends and colleagues around. Having a mentor is also a great idea.

No strong networking

A startup calls for solid networking. Often it’s who you know than what you know that matters.

As founders you’d need a solid nexus of allies, collaborators and partners to keep going when the going gets tough.

If you don’t have a strong network to bank on, your painfully built business model would collapse like a pack of cards, and nobody can save it then.

Obsessive about immediate success

Most budding entrepreneurs are so obsesses about their ideas that they are ready to risk anything for a breakthrough. Such desperation is uncalled for. Everybody believes they’ll build the ‘next big thing’, but forget those who built them were always open to criticism, and were not overnight sensations.

If you’re banking on immediate success you have more chances in a lottery than in a startup. One should be ready to persevere and set eyes on long term success.

Too eager to be on the headlines

Most start-ups are eager to get themselves featured on that popular newspaper or website. The idea is it’ll help get their brand recognized and boost brand equity. They often spend whopping amounts to pay for the media or PR. However, often budding enterprises are not ready for the attention that follows.

The important factor here is to wait till your idea is really up and running.

That’ll ensure you have the substance to capture the media spotlight.

Choosing the wrong location

It’s important to be where your consumers and investors are. Setting up shop is essential, and you must keep in mind overheads.

Consider this; there is a reason why most of the successful international tech startups are in tech hubs like Silicon Valley, Seattle, and Boston.

Ignoring your instincts

The instinct of an entrepreneur is often what makes the difference between success and failure. It’s indescribable why or how it works, but it has. Never ignore your instincts, use it to your advantage.

However, your instincts can also lead you astray. So make sure you’re entertaining a hunch is balanced manner with proper research to back your business decisions.

Launching too late or too early

Timing is everything for a startup. There is nothing worse than rushing a product or service to the market without proper development and marketing. A half baked product would never beat competition or make any money.

However, if you wait too long, somebody else would introduce the segment and the chance to make that money would be lost. So make sure you procrastinate just enough and establish fruitful deadlines for the grand roll-out.

Too much feedback

Whether advice or criticism, feedback is always awesome. But too much of anything good is harmful. If you listen to everybody, the business would not be what you wanted it to be in the first place.

Think of it, Sean Parker’s advice to Mark Zuckerberg to move to California was a game changer for Facebook. However, mark ensured the vision of the company was always in line with his original advice.

Just make sure you’re having fun, and best of luck with your adventure!

Image credit: Indiatimes