Entrepreneurs are consistently coming up with notions and ideas that may ultimately prove to be a hindrance to startup success. This list denotes common notions that many entrepreneurs possess that may lead to failure.
“I’ve got a hot new innovation” Yeah, you and about 100 million other people on the planet! Ideas are worthless unless they are complete, tested and acted upon promptly and diligently.
“Everyone will recognize and appreciate my idea” Not likely. If your idea is truly unique it will take a LOT of missionary marketing to get people to understand why they need this.
“It will sell itself” If that were true, Billy Mays would not have become a household name.
“I just need some money and I’m all set” Money only makes sense after you’ve got the zillions of other details in order.
“If I only get 1% of the market I’m golden” Not! Market forecasting and penetration doesn’t work that way.
“My idea is worth millions right now” Highly unlikely, unless you’ve got big buyers for your startup bidding it up which is VERY rare.
“Non-technical team members are not so critical” Technology hubris might impress your employer but not an investor. They want to see a whole management team, not a lone wolf tech-head.
“This idea is so new that I have no competition” You always have competition, even if it’s the old way of doing things.
“I’m going to do for my industry what [insert company name] did for theirs” Comparables are a good reference, but realize that you’re only seeing the tip of their iceberg of what it took them to get there.
“I won’t take risk myself, but that’s what investors are for” If you’re so uncertain about your startup that you won’t put your own “skin in the game”, why should you expect outside investors to do so?
Smart entrepreneurs are humble and honest about their weaknesses and look to complement and strengthen them instead of denying them. Effective online startup training can help entrepreneurs gain the insight needed for startup success.
Visit StartupWiz.biz to learn how. Thomas Bosque is a project manager at StartupWiz (http://www.startupwiz.biz) – an online training course for startups and entrepreneurs.