The story of every successful startup is unique, and their results may be attributed to different things. Some created a product or service that was genuinely new. Others managed to get the timing right and launched at exactly the best time. Still others have appealed to a commonly overlooked demographic.
Yet there are characteristics shared by most, if not all successful startups. Let’s take a look at them.
1. They Know How to Manage Money
All too often a start-upper launches a potentially promising business but wildly miscalculates how much money he is going to need to get it off the ground. A new business is very rarely profitable from the outset, whatever you may think of your product – and as a result, it burns out before it has a chance to flare up. In order to avoid it, you should calculate your possible losses and raise enough money to keep your startup afloat for at least half a year with the assumption it won’t bring you a single dollar for the entirety of this period. Cut your costs, find dependable investors, and make sure to do without anything that isn’t strictly necessary.
2. They Know the Importance of Design
That said, there is one thing you cannot do without – design. Design of your product and of the website that represents your company in the Internet are both of crucial importance in today’s world that is oversaturated with mediocre products and services with mediocre design that look and feel too much alike. According to Magicdust, a Sydney web design company, startups that make top-notch design one of the mainstays of their business have a much greater success rate than those that neglect it in favor of other features.
3. They Are about Ideas, not just Money
If you found a startup simply to earn money, you are not likely to be terribly successful. It may sound idealistic, but it is truly so – all outstandingly successful startups were based around an idea shared by a number of individuals, not their desire to make money. They want to make lives of their customers better in some way and are passionate about achieving their goal. It is not karma at work; it is the fact that people tend to be more efficient when dealing with things they are genuinely interested in.
4. They Gather the Right Team
The most important asset of any startup is people. Some businesses may function satisfactorily even with mediocre to poor men at the rudder, out of sheer momentum; a startup with poorly chosen team will fall apart immediately. A good startup founder shouldn’t necessarily understand how to implement his ideas. But he must know how to find the best specialists, how to train them, how to make sure they stay, how to single out those who don’t contribute and get rid of them.
There is no foolproof method of building a successful startup – when all is said and done, it is down to a good idea and a lot of thoughtful decision making. Hopefully these tips will help you with the latter.