Today, we’ll be discussing about what makes a startup successful. The Startup industry has been known for reaching great heights. Amazon, Flipkart, Snapchat, Instagram, all started with humble beginnings but they became huge Industry giants even in turbulent waters. In a previous post, I talked about Amazon’s strategy to success. But what is the secret spice that made all these startups so successful? What is that blend of ingredients that has propelled these companies to greater heights than any other? Research has shown that 60% of startups fail while only around 1% make it to the peak of their respective Industries.
The success of a startup is based on three things- Vision, passion and skill. Ofcourse, there are many other factors that play a key role in determining the success of a startup like timing, location and seed investment. A seed investment is the first investment put into a startup by a person or a group of people. This seed money handles all the key requirements of a startup. Research shows that many startups fail due to unclear vision and passion. The remaining fail due to lack of experience and/or skill. A greater team experience also leads to better performance of the startup.
There has to be a balance of hard and soft skills. Hard skills are your core skills (programming, finance, market analysis, etc.) while soft skills could be your communication, public speaking, social intelligence, etc. One has to be equally efficient in both of these to be a successful entrepreneur and businessman.
There are also skills that are developed over time. Like predicting the direction of the market and making decisions that will not hurt your company in the long run. Another important skill developed over time is intuition. It can play a huge role in whichever direction your company goes in.
I know this goes without saying, but you also need the right idea. What I mean by this is, in order to increase your chances of success in this startup era, you have to make sure that your startup will not disappear because of heavy competition. For eg. The smartphone industry is already occupied by mammoths like Apple, Samsung, Huawei, etc. This does not mean your chances of success are 0, but your idea has to be very unique in order to succeed.
All the behemoths I mentioned before; Apple, Snapchat, Instagram, became successful because they separated themselves from the crowd and developed their idea. They also made sure that the execution of their idea would be done properly.
If you want to start your own startup, go for it! There is no time better than the present. Analyze the market, plan your moves, evaluate your mistakes, and believe in yourself.
So, these are some of the most common problems that startups have to overcome in order to conquer the skies. If you have any suggestions or any more ideas as to what makes a startup successful, do get in contact with us.
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