10 ways you’re sabotaging your startup and potential

Photo credit: Jtanki

Sabotaging your startup is like crack, except that it won’t get you high. It will bring you down.

As with alcohol and any other drug, we get addicted to it and only realize its impact when it’s too late —team members leaving, investors not doing another round, customers not buying anymore, you spending 10 years of your life on nothing. It’s extremely challenging to recognize the signs, figure out the causes, and resolve them.

In the midst of uncertainty, indifference, and dissatisfaction, what’s crucial is being able to take control of your startup’s trajectory. You owe it to every potential customer, team member, partner, and most importantly, yourself to stop sabotaging your startup.

In this article, I’ll explain what I’ve seen the most successful entrepreneurs do to move their startups to thriving businesses.

(Disclaimer: I failed at my own startup and am no successful entrepreneur. I actually messed up in all of the points below. Because of that, I can’t tell you how to be successful. But I can tell you which things will kill your potential.)

1. You don’t start at the end

One of the most telling moments in Alice in Wonderland is when Alice encounters a fork in the road, meets the Cheshire Cat, and the following conversation takes place:

Alice: “Which road do I take?”

Cheshire Cat: “Where do you want to go?”

Alice: “I don’t know.”

Cheshire Cat: “Then, it doesn’t matter.”

Research has found that the most successful founders are driven by where they want to go—their vision of making a positive impact. What that vision looks like basically depends on four factors:

1. What trends currently have a strong influence in the world?
2. What will the world look like in five years?
3. What problem has a huge impact on a large group of people?
4. What role do you want to play in solving this problem?

Solution: Spend time determining what the end point looks like, and then reflect upon this every three months.

2. You don’t question assumptions enough