There are plenty of articles out there on the biggest mistakes you don't want to make when you start a business. In fact, I've probably written one or two of them, but at least I can proudly say I actually
committed a few of those mistakes so I know for a fact they're mistakes you shouldn't make. What disappoints me is when a consultant an entrepreneur wannabe and professional service provider) who does business plans and financial projections for startups claims to be an expert on the subject and completely misses perhaps two of the biggest reasons new businesses fail.
The article I'm referring to is "10 Mistakes That Start-Up Entrepreneurs Make," (a catchy title, don't you think? :) written by Rosalind Resnick (the aforementioned consultant) for my favorite newspaper The Wall Street Journal. Her top 10 mistakes included 1) going it alone, 2) asking too many people for advice, 3) spending too much time on product development, 4) targeting too small a market (yawn) and, well you get the picture. It's not that this is bad advice--it's not--it's very good advice and you should read the article; but as I said, I think the she missed the critical points. The first "biggest" mistake is not solving a compelling problem or need in the market. In other words, there is no real reason for your business to exist in the first place. If you don't address a significant pain in the market, all the rest of the mistakes won't matter.
Second, if you don't have the right team that can actually execute the startup, you won't be able to raise money and you won't get off the ground. Teams that can execute have experience doing just that, or are well connected to people who can help, or have worked in the industry, or all of the above. So read the article, but add these two points as numbers 1 and 2; then all the rest will make sense. Bottom line: make sure your business addresses a real pain and has a team that can make it happen. Then you can try to avoid all the other mistakes.
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