Many startups enjoy sustained growth and success. If that’s your biggest goal, you’ll need to implement some practices to stay humble.
To succeed in your startup, you’ll need the resilience of the Energizer Bunny and the wisdom to understand how much you don’t yet know.
Chris Cardinal, a member of Entrepreneurs Organization (EO) in Arizona, is one of the founders of Synapse Studios, a software and product consultancy that solves complex challenges and helps power businesses with technology. We asked Chris to share his thoughts on how startup entrepreneurs can avoid common mistakes and move toward success.
As a courageous startup leader, if you haven’t already heard the warning, you soon will. Consider it an entrepreneur’s rite of passage: “You know that 20% of companies fail in the first year, right?”
Yes, that statistic is real. Running a successful startup is difficult. There is a lot to balance at once. Additionally, you will have the pressure of having unlimited passion, but finite resources. It’s no wonder so many startups go out of business — fast!
What exactly causes startups to fail? Something I have called the “visionary complex” is a big culprit: entrepreneurs place disproportionate faith in their ideas. They have to do it! It’s the nature of starting a business. Everyone believes they are Steve Jobs and that a successful founder ignores criticism at all costs, constructive or not. But true leadership looks more like a willingness to change course when new information is presented (if appropriate), as well as knowing when to stay the course in service of your vision. Blind adherence to ideas can destabilize that balance. The result? Founders spend a fortune developing an entire product that no one wants to buy.
Another reason startups fail is that founders trust their instincts too much. It’s okay to listen to your intuition, but it’s crucial to back up your “spider senses” with a basic understanding of the fundamentals of running a business.
Obviously, not all businesses fail. Many enjoy sustained growth and success. If that’s your biggest goal (and of course it is), you’ll want to implement some practices to stay humble. Here are five good ways to get started:
If you haven’t read The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick, pick up a copy. The book highlights how difficult it can be to get authentic feedback when you need it most. And make no mistake: you need authentic feedback. That information can validate your concept and ensure you’re on the right path, or it can reveal what needs adjustment before you veer too far in the wrong direction.
What is the most cost-effective way to conduct research? Embrace the power of the prototype. Deliver minimally viable prototypes to a small representative sample of your target audience. Record the answer. Then, make more prototypes. You’d be surprised how much data you can collect, even with rudimentary, non-functional prototypes. And it’s much cheaper than paying for a real product only to find out that it doesn’t work.
As a founder, you’re used to ignoring naysayers. However, it is good to be humble and not reject good advice that challenges your initial vision. The more open you are to receiving new information that you weren’t expecting, the more effective you will be in the long run.
History is full of examples of companies that got stuck in their own ideas. Guess what they are called now? Another statistic of business failure. Instead of burning yourself out, be able to see things from alternative angles.
Want a quick education on how not to fail? Learn at the expense of others, such as mentors. Mentoring is one of the most reliable resources for entrepreneurs. It can also double your chance of survival.
Don’t fall into the category of founders who are unable to hire a good coach. If you want to perform to the best of your abilities, be humble and surround yourself with experienced leaders who are willing to tell you the truth. Consider joining an incubator. If you’re already established and growing, I highly recommend EO’s Accelerator program, which offers mentoring with EO members.
The sooner you start codifying your processes, the better. This means rethinking the improvised workflows you created as an early-stage company. Write down all your internal procedures as soon as possible. You can change them later as operations expand. For now, they will establish a foundation for your systems.
Avoid thinking too much about this. It may be tempting to over-engineer your processes for any eventuality at any scale, but that’s not practical. You build the framework and hope to continually maintain it as a living document. Give yourself enough time, create a creative path forward, and wait as long as you can before automating. Slow and steady is often the best strategy when it comes to major changes.
I’m not the first to compare entrepreneurship to chess, but it’s still an excellent metaphor. You must be able (and, perhaps more importantly, willing) to always see several moves forward. In other words, view the future world through a lens that allows you to consider best and worst case scenarios.
With these scenarios in mind, evaluate each one. Conduct a SWOT analysis. Reflect before making important decisions. It’s harder than it looks, especially when you’re putting out fires or stuck in analysis paralysis. However, being aware of what could be beyond ensures that you are prepared for anything.
When it comes to business success, being humble and a little planning and growth strategy goes a long way. Leave the failure to others. You have a dream to realize.
