21 Mistakes that “kill” Startups !!!
from Entrepreneur Zine 01/15 enhanced by Peter/CXO Wiz4biz
1. a Single Founder. Two heads are better than one. A different point of view, expands your wisdom.
2. Founder Fights, if you cant agree on significant issues.
3. Hands-off Management, where you expect others to do most of the planning.
4. Not much Passion. Only putting in a fraction of the effort. A founder is expect to set the tone & pass on your passion.
5. Ideal Customer not defined, because you haven’t talked to any or many to find out what they want.
6. Marginal Niche, which is not growing, to open up opportunities.
7. Not assessing the Competition realistically, by under estimating their impact & what their response might be to your product.
8. Derivative Idea, that’s not sufficiently different than other products/ alternatives.
9. No or weak Biz plan. Failing to plan, is almost planning to fail. What’s you’re Vision? How are you going to get there?
10. Poor Biz Model. Not figuring out how you’re going to make $$$ from your product or service.
11. Obstinate, Stubborn, Inflexible, by giving your Customers what you think they want vs listening to what really want.
12. Hiring poor Programmers, (ie, friends), who are not that familiar with your type of product or business.
13. Using the wrong Platform, that is one of the common ones that is accepted and instead trying to create a new one.
14. Not getting Expert help, when needed. You’re not an expert in all aspects of the business. When you don’t know, get help. You can work out compensation.
15. Launching too early, before most of the bugs are out of the product, can leave a bad impression with future potential customers.
16. Slow Launch. Not being prepared. No Marketing Plan. The window of opportunity is not open long. You’ve got to take advantage of it.
17. Not enough $$$ for development or Launch. This is almost always the case. If you are passionate about your product, ask family, friends & fools for $$$. They will believe in you & take a chance.
18. Too much $$$ may be worse. Then you may “throw money” at a solution, rather than be creative.
19. Spending $$$ too fast, may cause you to spend too much time in development – trying to make it perfect – rather than launching to find out what Customers think.
20. Not keeping Investors informed. They get nervous if they see their $$ going down a black hole – with no apparent results.
21. No Exit Strategy. Do you intend to stick with your product when demand declines? or sell on the way up & pull off a big windfall.
Comments: Are there any mistakes you can add to these?