5 Mistakes That Start-up Founders Make During The Early Days

In business there is no one-size-fit-all template to follow to ensure success. Most of the time it’s trial and error until you find a product-market fit for your business to grow exponentially. However there are some mistakes that many first-time founders make which prevent them from making the right decisions.

Here are some of the mistakes you need to avoid:

1. Trying To Sell To Everyone

It’s very common for founders to think that anybody is his/her customer and thus the approach to appeal to everybody. This belief will always drain founders and lead them in the wrong path. Every product or service must have a target customer base so that you can get the right feedback and win customers.

When starting a company or developing a product, you must have in mind the prospective customers and where you are likely to find them. If you are selling books, you should show up in book forums, book fairs, reading groups, book discussion clubs and social media groups on the same. This way you will be able to meet people who are likely to buy your books. It’s the same case with other businesses.

A fitness supplement company should advertise to fitness enthusiasts, not everybody in the world. This way you will attract people with high chances of buying your products.

Luckily, social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and even X (formerly Twitter) has profiled users according to their interests so that when you are running ads, you target people who are interested in your industry. 

As a founder you should have your target customer in mind as you develop your product/service. One key advantage of having customers in mind is that you will be able to visualize what your prospects are likely to be looking for in a product/service rather than looking at the whole population. You have to define who your customers are.

2. Having Too Many Products or Services

In business, you cannot afford to be mediocre because competition is stiff. You always need to be better than your competitor. But many start-up founders often have so many product or service offerings.

You need to focus on one product or service first until you find product-market fit before moving on to add more products. You have to be monogamous before you become polygamous in your business

Having too many products/services to sell will spread your focus too thin. Instead focusing on one product/service is key because it enables you to understand your customers needs and more importantly have sufficient time to improve it.

If you have several products, focus on the one that brings the most money and leave the rest until your business is well established.

3. Neglecting Marketing Strategy

First-time founders are victims to this. Many of them often think that developing the best product or service is enough to attract customers. That is a big lie. You may have the best product/service but if no one knows about it, it’s worthless. Marketing is one of the most important aspects in your business. Nobody will come looking for what you sell, you have to go find your customers wherever they may be and let them know what you offer.

READ: 7 Simple Steps On How To Start A Business In Kenya

Taking time to market and talk to potential clients is key in understanding their needs. When starting a business you might have a clear blueprint on what product or service you are going to make. However, what you have in mind might not match your customer’s needs. That’s why it’s necessary to market aggressively so that you can get enough feedback to guide you when fine-tuning your products or services. More importantly, you must understand that selling makes money, not developing your products all day long. Yes, it’s good to have the best products but that will not make money if you don’t sell.

4. Failing To Understand The Industry Landscape

Sometimes a founder may be so obsessed with the product/service to the point that they can’t check on competitors and trends in the industry. Customers will always buy from someone who understands the industry in and out.

If you are a software company, you need to understand how new technologies impact your industry, how to adapt them and most importantly how your customers will use your software. A customer might refuse to buy from you because there is a  feature that your competitor’s software has that you don’t have. This is why you need to know your industry well. In short, you have to be an all-round expert in that sector.

5. Trying To Do Everything Alone

It’s so important to monitor what’s happening in your business every time. You must be in charge all the time, especially during the early days. When your company begins to grow and customers begin to increase in number many founders try to do everything alone.

From developing products/service to selling, managing social media, managing clients marketing etc. All these roles can be daunting especially when dealing with physical products.When your financial capacity makes sense for you to hire an employee or two, do it. Tasking yourself with everything is a bad thing. You might burnout.

Having an employee or two even on a casual basis is important to help you do extra work. If you have a co-founder(s), it is crucial to share roles according to one’s strengths. 

Conclusion

Making mistakes and failing is common in business, in fact some pundits believe that you have to fail in order to succeed. That said, some mistakes are avoidable. You can learn from others. You don’t have to know everything when getting started but avoid as many mistakes as possible.