The elements of failure in a startup

Blood, sweat, and tears are the basics of a startup but that’s not all it takes to win. As a businessperson you need to put together the right team with associates who have contemporary ideas. You need to receive constant feedback from clients. You also need to trust your partners and empower the people who work with you. Lastly, you need to lean on the job and consistently work to understand the marketplace.

The necessary conditions for a startup

The first important thing you need to ask yourself is whether or not you have a feasible large or small medium business idea that you want to pursue. Most people assume they only lack a few things for starting up such as help with legal and tax issues or money. Yet, these are just a few of the concerns you need to address. You should make the following inquiries into your own situation:

• Am I an active salesperson?
• Do I accept responsibilities for my actions?
• Am I able to motivate and inspire people I work with?
• Am I a fair representative?
• Do I have what it takes to overcome hurdles?
• Can I operate in surroundings of uncertainty?
• Do I recognize my own limitations?
• Do I know when to ask for help?
• Am I willing to fully commit myself in order to be successful?
• And Am I easily discouraged?

You can’t be an entrepreneur by chance, you need to be an entrepreneur by design. Therefore you need to ask yourself, “What is the most important condition for a business?” Most people may think of one of the following:

• Company values
• Competitive advantage
• Investors
• Money
• Strong team
• Vision
• Business plan
• Customer need
• Technology
• Product

Well, all of the above are essential for a startup, but the single most important element is a paying customer.

The possibility of your startup growing into a large company will come true the day someone starts paying you money for your service or product. This is the truth in its simplest form because you can’t define your business as a service or product if no one buys them. Buying customers open doors for your startup. For larger doors to open, you need to get enough customers paying the right amount of money in a short amount of time. As a startup, you have few resources so every action you initiate must be hyper-efficient.

Why do 60% of startups succeed and 40% fail?

According to the ‘2015 Sage State of the Startup Survey’ most successful entrepreneurs stated they had no prior experience. Furthermore, they said it did not stop them from pursuing their dreams. These entrepreneurs revealed that their success is based on the following practices

1. Having a viable business plan.
2. Doing extended and significant research.
3. Hiring a trusted advisor.
4. Maintain a desirable balance between work and life.

Based on the experiences of the entrepreneurs who took part in the survey, having a viable business plan helps to answer questions that you might have never thought of when it comes to your startup.

In addition, a plan is basically a tool for seeking prospective funding sources. Research should be conducted extensively and significantly, which mainly involves market analysis. A trusted advisor will bring into the business knowledge, skills, experiences and tactics that you may not possess. Never be tempted to do everything on your own as you might end up overwhelming yourself.

Do not be a workaholic as you need to give room for life as well. Most of the successful entrepreneurs in the survey had a balanced work/life relationship.

What breaks startups?

There are too many reasons for why a startup breaks. Each of the reasons depend entirely on the founder. The following are the top causes of startup failure, according to Fortune, with respect to an analysis of 101 startup post-mortems:

In conclusion