Startup has been the most discussed, most inspiring, most criticized still most revered phenomenon globally. For me the startup journey is
An emotion in motion which goes through many painful experiences to make or break you as a human being.
It is more than a word, it means a world for many. You only get to hear the shining part of the startup story, but what goes behind and what happens to 90% of the failed startup founders are least discussed . Nobody bothers to listen and learn from the rich life lessons which are like gold if preserved and shared among the masses.
Have you ever imagined what happens to those startup Ideas which were created in dreams, which were discussed 100 times in a week and then went on to become a zombie as it never kicked off due to N number of probable reasons. It is this topic which I want to discuss today with all aspiring souls who have big dreams to do a Startup.
I will share my learnings as I have been blessed to experience many such powerful ideas which never really came into existence and died within few weeks/months.
Too Much Fuss But No Substance:
Too much talking, but no action is the common phenomenon among many startup dreamers, they simply keep brainstorming for weeks and months without any concrete work plan. They never break down the bigger picture to smaller milestones. This ideation stage goes on for 1–2 month and suddenly everyone who got involved to start-up, disappear from the scene leading to the death of the very IDEA. There is a serious lack of determination and discipline, there is too much fuss around IDEA with no substance to help it become a reality.
Why Startup Idea Never Kicked-Off?
I would like to point out 3 key reasons for startup death even before it got into its first stage of execution
No Specific Business & Financial Planning At Early Stage:
I strongly believe until you are willing enough to put the real money on the table, to risk something from your side you are never going to be a serious stakeholder.
If you can’t risk it you don’t enter into any such startup formulation, startup demands planned financial commitment and hell lot of focus effort matching to your skill-set.
Instead, if we can be more realistic in understanding the problem statement and document the product idea breaking the idea into phases, budgeting it down according to planned milestone, testing small prototypes in real markets, with calculated financial risk, acting small and fine tuning the idea with time and market feedback, things may work. But the reality for most of wannabe’s is quite different they seldom have this wisdom, risk appetite and patience level to test their ability out which put the potential idea to die very early .
2. No Clear Work Responsibility Defined:
Any startup idea is as good as their founding team members. If the team skills are not complementing each others and the roles and responsibilities are not clearly laid down right from the ideation stage, that project is surely going for a toss. Everyone needs to team up with their unique values they are going to bring to the table apart from finance. As it helps to clearly define the roadmap to bring the idea alive.
If you don’t fit into the startup Idea being discussed, be very straightforward in letting other peer members know the same. Trying to fit in, will not be healthy for the startup as you may struggle later on and will end up wasting lots of time which may cost you heavily.
3. Too Much Stuff On The Plate To Serve:
Many aspiring wannabe’s have some prior engagements or commitments, but they try to explore every new idea which comes their way, without assessing the real scenario of how much time they will be able to invest on the same. They have many distractions already in their life and they try to fit into the business idea without committing themselves properly.
It is strongly recommended that if you are already pursuing something either already being in a job or working on your previous startup idea, avoid engaging in other business until it falls into your expertise where you can collaborate or contribute directly.
Never try to experiment with something which doesn’t fall into your core skill-set and if you really like the new business idea first gather knowledge and some understanding about the same, learn the basics so that you can really participate and help that idea to be materialized. Else it is better to keep away, you will do a lot of favor to other partners and also save your valuable time.
Summary:
Your time is the only asset you have, being born as a human being, you need to value every available bit of it. So stop falling into the trap of 3D : Dreaming, Discussing, Dissolving. If you really are passionate about doing something, please develop a thorough understanding about how it works, learn the skills, be patient before planning it to kick-start, find the right partners, which can help you out in getting into the market with their prior knowledge in the given field.
Yes, you can’t do it alone, but trying to get along with anybody who boasts to help you out without s/he possessing the required skill-set needs to be cross-checked earlier. Ask as many questions to your potential partners as possible, do the background check before trusting anybody. Just because they are ready to put their money is not going to help, action should speak louder than words and if your partners are just talking too much with no action, the alarm has to be raised to end this on a happy note. There is no points just talking instead get into action, test yourselves out and then finalize the right team, which will be hustling it out together to make the idea a reality.
Yes team formation also needs to fail fast else it can be a great pain in your ass.