Top 10 Common Mistakes Made by Startups

Fast Company expert blogger, David Lavenda, a veteran of six startups, recently posted his top ten list (which actually comprises 12 items) of common mistakes made by startups.  These include:

1. “Drinking Your Own Kool-Aid” — Overestimating the enthusiasm for your product/service — thinking it is more special than your customers perceive.
2. Not Validating Market Demand – Thinking that your product/service is a “winner” before making sure you get a solid base of people who agree
3. Starting to Work with Customers Too Late — Only engaging with customers when the product/service is ready for sale.
4. Underestimating the Difficulty in Penetrating the Market — Not expending enough effort to reach customers and to get them to try the product/service.
5. Overestimating the Product/Service’s Uniqueness — Related to “drinking your own Kool-Aid,” this refers to not taking competition into account.
6. Underestimating the Effort Needed to Build the Product/Service — Start-ups are notorious for promising to get to market and then disappointing.
7. Hiring the Wrong Kind of People — Hiring “big-company types” who are used to having a support staff to help them do their work.
8. Not Focusing - Being tempted by side projects and spreading yourself too thin to focus on developing your company’s main value proposition.
9. Not Pricing Correctly — Under- or over-pricing the product/service may inhibit adoption.
10. Not Having a Long-term Vision That Scales — Having a “one-trick pony” that does not lead to future sales.
11. Never Finishing the Product — The “never time to do it right, but there is always time to do it over” syndrome. Constantly re-doing the product/service but never finishing it.
12. Not Offering Employees Enough Fun — Sadly, a common quality of many start-ups — despite what you read.

For the full post, see Fast Company’s Expert Blog.