Startup Mistakes New Entrepreneurs Make (and How to Avoid Them)

By Fernando Berrocal

Scaling your startup - and increasing the revenue of a business without much investment - might be a very difficult task at first. It can also be one of the most exciting decisions you'll ever make in your professional (and personal) life.  It's easy to get wrapped up in all the different aspects of starting a brand-new startup; you can lose focus on the most important objectives. Given that mistakes happen, you will boost the possibilities of your startup's ultimate success by recognizing classic beginner errors; and learning from them.

Startup Mistakes

Fortunately for entrepreneurs, recognizing these sorts of errors is the first step toward avoiding them and it’s simpler than expected. 

  • Scaling up too quickly (or too slowly:)  Every startup entrepreneur aspires to build the biggest and finest business possible. This is not realistic; even a major corporation, such as Amazon (a multinational technology business that mainly focuses on e-commerce, cloud computing, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence,) didn’t accomplish this success in a brief span of time. It took several years for this enterprise to begin making a significant effect in the world of technology business today; Amazon still aspires to be the greatest largest corporation in history. The key takeaway?  Attempting to scale up too quickly should be avoided at all costs. It’s almost certain that it will backfire at some point in the business cycle. After all, this type of race must be run slowly and steadily. You must aim for your main goal while being very optimistic about it.

On the other hand, it’s not advisable to scale up your business too slowly.  Keep in mind: a new startup is similar to a newborn shark; it must start to swim near its close environments and adapt to the situations that are presented.  Otherwise it will eventually perish. You should ensure that you are scaling up consistently and that procedures do not spiral out of control, but you should also be sure that you are not going too slowly. Since you must continue to improve continuously if you are to succeed and have your startup concept properly acknowledged by the general public. Have a lengthy and serious conversation with your startup team to ensure that you can strike the correct balance between work ethics and team commitment. It’s critical to put your business in the best possible position to keep scaling up.

  • Lacking a business strategy:  You must have a proper solid business plan in place. This will guide you through each stage of starting and managing your business. That’s why you should do this before you start seeking any type of business financing, securing a business space (and furniture,) hiring appropriate professionals for the startup, or even planning organizational operations. Once you get started, you'll want to make sure that every day has a specific main goal. You should be making plans for the next five to ten years of business operations (most of these organizations fail in the short term.)  You will have a far greater chance of obtaining the essential funding to help your organization prosper in the long run by simply doing this.

Main Startup Mistakes to Avoid

  • Not investing in data security: If you are serious about ensuring that your startup lives up to high expectations, you must invest in an effective data security system. This is very important because, if you eventually get hacked, you risk losing everthing you’ve previously worked on (and the time you have invested.) Make sure that your information system security is always up to par if you want to keep your sensitive data protected. There are main security tools such as firewalls, anti-virus software, virtual private networks (VPNs), and other options. However, make sure to consider other data safety precautions.  Security threats are always evolving. Also, be sure you conduct your research on new data security technologies, so you can have the greatest software to keep your business safe at all times.

Ready to bring your startup to the next level? Apply to MassLight’s next batch. MassLight supplies capital and a dedicated tech team. We take equity in return. Have questions? Refer to our FAQ page.

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