There’s just something so appealing and fascinating about startups, isn’t there? Oftentimes, we may have to compromise between being our own bosses, making money, and following our passion. The beautiful thing about a startup is that it’s one of the most straightforward ways to be all three! 

But creating a successful one isn’t easy. If it were, everyone with a decent idea would be a multimillionaire by now, but that simply isn’t the case. There are a lot of roadblocks that come with attempting to build and maintain a startup, and a lot of times, it leads people to failing before they can even push. 

Luckily, that doesn’t have to happen to you. As with anything, you can scout these problems beforehand and weed them out before they destroy your startup dreams altogether. 

1) Planning Ahead 

Let’s be real – starting a business requires money. That’s just the way it is. Unfair as it might be, it’s the way our current system works and managing capital is just a basic aspect you need to work with. This is why you should never just blindly jump into starting a startup. 

Make sure you’ve saved not just enough money for your business capital, but save enough money as a fallback when operations need to burn money. Apart from that, make sure you also have a separate fund for your own personal expenses – you don’t want your business investment to cut into the money for your savings or daily needs. 

While this sounds like a lot of money you need to save, it’s still worth it at the end of the day. If you don’t have money, the only other alternative is to borrow money – and while this works in certain cases, the people that make it work are still people who plan how exactly they’re going to pay off their debt. Personally, it’s just sounder advice to make sure you have the money beforehand, so that you don’t have to go into hiding when the debt collection comes.

At the same time, make sure you don’t just plan forever. It is, after all, a startup, so you still need to get off your butt and actually start something. 

2) Estimating Market Size

Business, at its core, is very simple – make more money than you spend. Of course, this is very easy when you have an established product like a Big Mac or a MacBook. People know what they’re getting when it comes to those kinds of products, which is the opposite when it comes to a new startup – especially one with an innovative product most people haven’t considered using before. 

This is why a big mistake a lot of startup founders make is assuming that people understand and want their product or service as much as they do. While it’s important to follow your heart and create something you’re passionate about, you can’t expect everyone else to understand its appeal or believe in it the way you do. That’s just not how selling works. 

This is why before even launching your product, make sure to do your due diligence when it comes to market research and assessing your target demographics. It’s better to know what your audience wants and who your audience is so you can drill down on it, instead of showing your product to a world that might not totally understand. 

3) Going All In 

A big roadblock for a lot of people when they build their startups is that they treat it as a side gig or a hobby. If this is how you want to approach it, that’s fine, but you also can’t expect it to boom immensely if you’re not putting enough effort into it. 

The people who succeeded are those that actively made it their full-time work. And in doing so, they had to put a lot of sacrifice, effort, and savings into making their projects successful. 

Think carefully first about how much effort you want to put into a startup. You don’t want to just start without a plan, hire a bunch of people, and then end up abandoning the project. Think carefully about the sacrifices you’ll have to make and how much you want to scale. If it truly is for you and you’ve prepared thoroughly, go all in. 

4) Taking Risks 

Similar to the previous point, a lot of people refuse to take risks when founding their startup. This could be a result of fear, or pride and not wanting to change things from their vision, but the truth is, entrepreneurship is competitive. 

If you have a good idea, you best believe someone out there will want to steal it, and improve on it. Get ahead of that curve, and don’t be afraid to take risks. In the end, it makes you look bolder and more of a boundary-pusher, which are the things investors, clients, and customers all want to see when it comes to the potential of a startup.

To your success,

Mario

[Visit www.mariosingh.com now to enjoy a FREE e-book of my latest “37 Essential Principles for Massive Success” when you subscribe!]