Top Mistakes That Hinder Startup Growth

According to Forbes, 90% of startups that launch each year fail. That doesn't mean you shouldn't launch your own exciting startup; it only means that if you don't nail the launch, you're probably going to fail.

Fortunately, there are things you can do to make your new startup a success. Learn what major mistakes to avoid, use startup successes as your guide to your own success, and build a successful future for yourself with these useful tips.

Top Mistakes: A Quick List

These mistakes made by startups cause problems more often than any others. Spending a few minutes learning what not to do with your business will improve your odds of success and help you streamline your company for maximum growth.

Spending Too Rapidly	Startups spend their initial money far too fast and struggle when funds dry up.
Not Enough Market Research	Success is built on excellent market research. Find out what customers will pay for.
Being Afraid to Delegate	Startups can only grow with effective delegation. Don't be scared to hand off work.
Subpar Customer Experience	Customers must be happy with your service. Improve the entire customer experience.
Not Specializing Enough	You must deliver exactly what customers want. Find a target market you can serve.
No Business Plan	Get a business plan to guide your company, just don't spend too much time on it.
Delaying Your Launch	Launch a minimally viable product as soon as possible. Build on your initial customers.

Paralysis by Perfection: Launching Too Slowly

If you have a good idea to build your business on, you should launch as soon as you can. The sooner you launch your business, the sooner you'll be earning money that you can reinvest and expand with.

The worst thing a new startup can do is spend months or even years perfecting every detail of their product without ever selling it. Spending too much time developing your product costs the company too much money and prevents you from getting the essential customer feedback you need to improve your business.

Lost time means lost money for your business. For an immediate look at the monetary consequences of wasted time, view this lost income calculator that's based on time lost to scrolling through social media. Now imagine those losses spread across everyone in your company, and it's easy to see how much money startups waste moving slowly.

The Cost of Waiting Too Long

• Burns through your investment funds

• Leaves you without valuable market research

• Gives competitors time to beat you

• Leaves important trends behind

Instead of trying to deliver the most complete customer experience initially, create a minimally viable product with your team that works well, launch that to your customers, and promise improvements in the future.

Spending Money Too Rapidly

Many startups begin with major investments and try to grow too quickly. It's common for startups to hire far too many staff, to get more office space than they should, and to fail to manage cash flow adequately. Every startup should hire a skilled accountant and plan their expenses to avoid blowing their money and getting stuck without any funds to launch products, pivot, and deliver what the market demands for success.

Running Without Doing Enough Market Research

What may seem like an amazing business idea could have significant flaws that prevent your company from being successful. It's essential to spend as much time and effort as possible doing market research on any product or service you want to sell.

The best way to research a product is to try and get people to pay for the product or service as soon as possible. Only paying customers count towards your research, so create mockups, sell your idea, deliver a minimally viable product as soon as possible, and expand your offerings with input from your buyers.

Failing to Delegate

While it's essential to maintain the quality of your product or service as your company grows, it's even more important to ensure you have the workforce to meet your expanding labor needs. It's impossible to grow a company if you feel the need to oversee every detail of the business.

Find others you trust, train them well, and allow them to help you manage your business as it grows. This is the only way to expand effectively.

Providing a Poor Customer Experience

While your product or service likely doesn't have to be flashy, it does have to provide an excellent experience to your customer. No matter what you're offering, you should be making life easier for your customer. This means every step of the ordering process should be simple, and the product should be a pleasure to use.

If customers express pain points concerning your product, invest time in improving your system, and you'll be more likely to succeed over time. Customers pay for convenience, and they pay for results. Deliver both things as well as possible, and demand will surge for your company's product or service.

Selling to Many Market Types at Once

It can be tempting to try and sell your product to as many people as possible, but this is a poor business strategy. While you don't want to limit your customer base to too small a group, you cannot deliver a high-quality product to many different markets at the same time. Different types of people want different things, and to solve the problem for your customers as effectively as possible, you need to deliver your services to one specific type of customer.

Launching Without a Business Plan

While a business plan is not essential to build a successful business, having a plan won't hurt your company. Spend time developing a full business plan when first building your startup, and you'll have a clearer vision for your future, useful information for obtaining funding, and a plan that will help keep you and your employees on the same page as the company grows and develops.

Having a Business Plan

• Guides your company

• Organizes initial and future goals

• Helps attain investments

• Improves future planning

By writing a business plan, you have a blueprint for your business that you can grow and develop as the company evolves. Without a business plan, you could still open a successful company, but you'll be significantly more organized and prepared for the future with a plan. Don't spend too much time trying to perfect your business plan, but create a rough plan alongside your team members and use that to guide your plans and develop in the future.

Conclusion

As one of the founding members of a startup, it's essential that you're running your business in a way that leads to future growth and success. This is difficult to do, but not impossible. Avoid these common mistakes and work hard to deliver a product or service that's superior to all others on the market, and you could have a bright future.