Every individual at some point of time must have confronted themselves with the question: would I be better off as an employee? When will I be my own boss? Will I be able to pull-up the business? These are a few questions which linger in everyone’s mind. Often, we see many young management graduates with ideas turning entrepreneurs. Today, startups are mushrooming, but what is the survival rate of these startsups? Moreover, what are the reasons for their failures? These are questions we must assess and address.
Lot of people plunge into a startup and believe there is no way they could fail. But the ground realities are very different.
- Entrepreneurs should study and research the market well. Market research is the first step which acts as a shield and helps them take risks and make decisions. Having a clear path to your destination is very important. Without a path, navigating to your chosen destination would be difficult. The time invested in charting out a course towards your goal helps in achieving it. Time spent preparing and understanding, is time spent growing towards achieving an aim. The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war.
- Market volatility is a critical part, and is beyond ones control. Most ventures in the past have borne the brunt of economic turmoil. Entrepreneurs need to be ready to weather such uncertainties. Is the venture capital incentive? What is the cycle of payments and receipts? When does one expect the business to break-even, keeping all possibilities of uncertainties and market volatility in mind, an entrepreneur needs to have a reserve for unforeseen events and also have a cushion till the venture breaks-even. A sense of financial security is a must for the founder and the employees.
- Role of founders is another crucial factor for the success or failure of the startups. Startups need to clearly define the role and responsibilities for each. The founders often part away, and look for seasoned CXO’s to drive the company. A successful startup requires the founder to be at the helm of the company. There could be a spat between founders and co-founders regarding financial matters, decision matters and so on. There is a pragmatic solution to address this issue, which is a clear demarcation of responsibilities and roles, but that’s not the only key. To unlock a profitable and successful venture, founders need to act in different roles as a team but be on the same page.
- Startups often fail to cater to the customer needs and in the endeavour fail to build relations. A customer’s end-to-end journey with an organisation is important as that brings word of mouth marketing. Customers carry the experience be it in the form of products or services, thus an organization must live up to it. A connect and a re-connect should always be there. Business benchmarks should be set to deliver customer experience, making these the key differentiator.
- The startup culture has a lot of vigour and excitement but an entrepreneur should remember getting too ambitious too early is dangerous. One should use the 3P’s — Patience, Patience and Patience.
Growth is a steady process and success doesn’t happen overnight.
About the author
Rajendra Rao is the founder of U-Wah Solutions and co-founder for Madea Creative House. He has served in media agency, hospitality,advertising and FMCG sectors. He also is a writer and an entertainer. Of all a multi talented persona with a great attitude of making things work in a right way