Out of all the startups launched, only 8% survive. Startup Genome Report says that more than half of startups are closed because the resource usage is predicted incorrectly.

The success of your startup depends on whether you are capable of avoiding a large number of errors, common for many young businesses.

Having an overview of the mistakes to be avoided can help your startup survive. After years of experience in developing startups, #KeyToTech exposes to you the points which can kill your startup.

      1. Choosing a target audience or market you do not know

The only reason for failure is the lack of target audience for your product. Typically, the creators of the product are simply not part of the target audience. The best products often begin with a focus on a small number of users. And in the future, the product can (and WILL) be scaled.

Spencer Shulem earned $ 1 million at the age of 19 for his startup WeDO, a free application for planning. At first, his mistake was to pursue an audience he did not understand well. But when he started to focus on the audience, which is well known to him, as well as its needs, the product has become much better and successful.

      2. Lack of understanding between co-founders

Co-founders should think alike, they have to be the people who support you. But, if you do not have coherence, how will you support each other?

Stephanie Shyu, the founder of AdmitSee (edtech-startup which is top-10 EDTECH-FORBES COMPANIES) says that creating startup together is like marriage. If the fundament of the marriage is not built on common goals and values, hard times will become even harder.

Consistency is crucial if you want your startup to succeed. If all the co-founders have similar motivation and purpose, they can manage the enterprise in the right direction.

      3. Poor attention to analytics

When you launch a startup, you should pay attention to analytics. Even very promising startups can fail in the first 3-5 years or even in the first year, if they do not pay enough attention to analytics.

It is necessary to digitize all the data: sales efficiency, the price per customer, the rate of their outflow, key performance indicators of the project, etc.

This will help to understand which approach to marketing brings profit or loss - it is important to notice the cause of loss-making in time.

      4. Hiring bad team

About 23% of startups call the wrong team the reason for their failure. And this is really so: a serious mistake can be not only a bad team but an incorrectly chosen marketing specialist.

One more issue with startups is that it’s hard to find the best team. Many of us do not know that creating a startup is absolutely a team sport. Having a well-played team gives you a lot of advantages and new opportunities. But it’s not that easy! Just try to gather at least 3 strong team players to implement just 1 idea!

Most of times team is harder to manage than to find it. Not all of them can make it until the real work begins: someone will not have enough knowledge and experience, someone will not have enough time because of the primary work or family, someone will not be happy with the salary.

There are many reasons but the result is one - quantity of the team players will be decreasing. On one hand, it backs off the development and motivation inside your team. On the other hand, it’s a good check for strength. Besides, you will have more chances to create a Dream Team!

      5. To be the first doesn’t mean to be the best 

Some entrepreneurs follow a wrong idea which is: if you have invented the idea then you are going to make millions undoubtedly. Naive faith in a lack of competitors is a display of immaturity of the companies. Most probably your competitors are already trying to beat you having the same business model.

To make a long story short, young entrepreneurs who have a new idea should always remember that their “unique” project can be upgraded by competitors and created in a better shape and with a better price. You just have to be better than you were yesterday and keep making your product better.

There are much more mistakes which you can do and you will do. Starting to avoid those mistakes will significantly increase your chances to survive. It’s way easier to remember what you don’t have to do than to remember what you have to do. You have to have a clear direction to move. Always remember it. You will get a full confidence if you avoid those mistakes. Thereby, you are prepared for the failure and ready for success!

IF YOUR STARTUP GOES THE WRONG DIRECTION JUST ASK YOURSELF: WHAT STEPS CAN I TAKE TO AVOID ALL THOSE MISTAKES MENTIONED EARLIER?

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