4 Massive Startup Mistakes You Should Avoid

Ilfusion Creative
3 min readOct 12, 2018

Many experienced entrepreneurs know that starting a business is difficult. It’s even more challenging to launch a startup business from scratch when you’re new to the entrepreneurial scene.

The lack of experience in starting and managing a business may be one of the biggest reasons why some fail and some startup businesses lurch into nothingness before they could launch. However, mistakes and hiccups are all part of the growing pains in becoming a successful entrepreneur, and being aware of the common ones can help you start your business off more smoothly.

Here are some of the common mistakes many new entrepreneurs make when launching a startup business, and tips on how to avoid them.

1. Doing everything by yourself

New entrepreneurs often make the mistake of thinking that they can do everything by themselves. It may be due to the lack of funding in hiring the right people or the lack of resources to find a business partner one can count on.

However, the truth is that it often takes more than just one person to launch a business. You need to consider how you can get funds to get started, and having just one investor (you) may not be enough. Some tasks also cannot be undertaken alone, no matter how skilled or talented an individual is.

Consider joining business incubator programs or seeking crowdfunding. If delegation is the problem, identify and consider outsourcing some of the repetitive tasks that someone else can do for you, or specialized tasks that are better done by someone else more experienced.

2. Launching too soon or too late

Timing is everything when launching a business, but many new entrepreneurs often make the mistake of launching too soon or too late.

Launching too soon in the hopes of beating the competition when your business is still very raw might put your entire enterprise at risk. There’s nothing worse than rushing into a business that’s not ready in the eyes of its customers. On the other hand, launching too late while waiting for things to be perfect might be just as harmful too. By then, someone else might have already launched a similar business.

This is where having a solid business plan is crucially important. Consider strategic dates and specific seasons when to launch your business. It’s ideal to establish deadlines in your business plan and make an effort to meet them.

3. Mishandling money

Proper handling of finances is crucial to any business, and more so with new businesses whose funding is still limited. Financial management is often the most challenging aspect and the cause for many startup businesses to fail.

Some over-eager entrepreneurs make the mistake of spending too much on unnecessary expenses, such as hiring too many people or renting a huge store space. On the other hand, spending too little, such as crunching your budget on market research and hiring the cheapest freelancers you can find, isn’t ideal either.

Know your priorities and evaluate which things are most important at this point in your business. Take things and address issues one step at a time. It might also be a good idea to get help from a professional and trusted accountant to handle your finances.

4. Not being flexible

Many companies in the past started out strong but ended up failing in just a few months. While certain other factors could have contributed to their early demise, it’s often accounted to not being flexible enough when uncontrollable changes happen or things don’t go as planned.

To become a successful entrepreneur, it’s important to have a backup plan and be able to pivot your business in case the original proposal doesn’t work. While it’s indeed a big risk to veer from your initial plans, it’s actually healthy for startup companies to make drastic changes to your products and services when it’s called for.

Things get easier if you’re humble enough to admit your mistakes and learn from experience. After all, experience is always the best teacher. Making mistakes is an inevitable part of life, but certain ones can easily be avoided if you are well aware of them.

If you’d like to know more about starting a business, visit our website for more information: https://www.ilfusion.com

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Ilfusion Creative

Ilfusion Inc. is a full-service creative agency located in Fort Worth, TX with talents in web, design, video, social media and marketing consultation.