Five things you should do when launching a startup business

Starting a new business is never easy, but many young entrepreneurs are hungry to begin their journey and lots of them make the same mistakes in their bid for success.

As many as 90% of startups fail, but everybody goes into it thinking they will be one of the 10%. Below are five things you can do in order to give yourself the best chance of turning your big plans into reality and be successful when launching a startup business.

1. Focus on the customers

When launching a startup business, you need to solve problems for other people, and regardless of how good you might think your idea is, without feedback you simply cannot be certain of it.

Of course, you need to spend time building your product in the early stages, but user research is equally important. 

Remember, you are not the user, so whether or not you think the product works for you doesn’t matter. The only way you can truly gauge this is by testing with real users who have an unbiased view.

2. Surround yourself with a well-rounded team

Building a business is significantly harder when you are on your own. It will take you longer to move beyond the startup phase, and there is nobody to motivate you and help you with the tasks you are less comfortable with.

When building a team for your company, you must get the balance right. Working with friends who are similar to you in many ways can be fun, but you want to make sure that each member of the team has different attributes.

If one person is great with tech, another is an ace salesman, and the third piece of the jigsaw is a creative genius, then there you have the foundation of a team that can work well.

3. Be passionate about your field

When you embark on a new business venture, you need to be prepared for long hours without a great deal of financial reward. This is a lot less fun when you do not enjoy your line of work.

For example, if you are looking to build a flat share app, then you must have a big interest in property. Likewise, if you want to create a website about online betting sites in the UK, then iGaming should be something you are very keen on.

If you love what you are doing, you are far more likely to put the extra work in and ultimately give yourself the best opportunity to succeed.

4. Keep your focus

Many people seem to think that just because they are a budding entrepreneur, they need to be having coffees with everyone who messages them on LinkedIn, or going to conferences in an attempt to network.

These things are all well and good, but you need to be focusing on the product and your users. Wasting your energy on other things is not a good use of your time.

Developing a social media strategy is another thing that startups can become obsessed with, but until you have a product that solves problems for users, it is likely to be unnecessary.

5. Expand at the right pace

If things start to go well for you and you can sense that your business is becoming somewhat successful, it can be tempting to strike while the iron is hot and scale up.

This is where you need to be careful. Just because you have experienced a period of success, there is no guarantee that it will continue in that vein, and if you begin to hire more people and the revenue slows down, you can leave yourself in a pickle.

Instead of going all guns blazing, approach your expansion with caution, and assess all possible risks before making decisions that could change the face of your business.