7 Issues Start Ups Should Be Prepared for in their Infancy Stage
Posted by sidgoyal1 in All, Entrepreneurship on Nov 1st, 2010 | 27 comments
The infant stage of a start up is the one when it is trying to establish itself in the market. It could last a year, 2 years or more, depending on its situation. The following is a list of hurdles which many start ups face along with a remedy. Reading this post should reduce the time your start up spends in the infancy stage.
- The Number 1: If you are a solo entrepreneur (just like I used to be till this year), your biggest problem will be finding someone for emotional support when you think the going is getting tough. Remedy: Always have a couple of very close friends you can share your apprehensions with. I am lucky enough to have such friends and I rely on their support even though I am not a solo entrepreneur anymore.
- Competition and your inexperience: No matter what your idea is, you will have competition there. It’s a jungle out there and people are ready to kill you for prices. Consumers trust well established names. A start up is, well, a start up. No matter how good you think you are, it will take you time to establish your name in the market. Remedy: Except for time, there is no real remedy for this issue. Develop your niche and specialize in that. People love specialists and specialists can command any fee they want.
- Cash: Funding might become an issue in case it takes you a while to find your first client. Remedy is very simple: Don’t try to be a hero. Ask your daddy for cash. It’s ok. There’s nothing wrong in doing it. If they are ready to pay for your education, they should be ready to pay for your start up too. Thinking you will first earn the money and then invest only that money might not be the best approach always.
- Exhaustion: If you get too much work, then there will be times when you will be working long nights. You will have absolutely no choice in the matter and most entrepreneurs go through that phase. I still go through it from time to time and my buddy Matt with 5 times more capacity to work than me, also has those days. Remedy: Hire someone as soon as you start believing you will be able to do enough business to pay them.
- Fraud: This is something you are highly likely to face whether you like it or not. One jerk will come who will get his job done by you and will just disappear after that. Remedy: Insist on down payments in case you think you cannot trust the prospective client.
- The never ending deal: This is once again something you are likely to face throughout your entrepreneurial career. There will always be people who will ask you to send them a “detailed proposal”. Once you send them the proposal, they will tell your they will follow up in a week’s time and then when you call them up, they ask you for another week and this continues for some time till you give up(and then he decides to call you).Writing detailed proposals, when you are already too damn busy doing other stuff is not something which every one can do. Remedy: Sound judgment and assessment of your client is important. You should be able to tell which client is worth spending your time on. Have pdf proposals ready all the time. That will cut down on the time you spend writing customized proposals for your clients.
- Marketing Yourself: Marketing will always be an issue till you become well established. In the infancy stages and specially when you are low on cash, you will have a hard time deciding where and how you should market yourself. You are very likely to make some mistakes and then learn from them. Also, in case of internet marketing, things are always changing and it is important you keep yourself informed about the latest trends.
Have you faced any other hurdle in your entrepreneurial career? Do share your experience in the comment section.
27 Responses to “ “7 Issues Start Ups Should Be Prepared for in their Infancy Stage”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
I think these 7 facts are very interesting and helpful to all of us…
Hey Afsal. Thanks for your comment. It will be awesome if budding entrepreneurs know what awaits them so that they are mentally prepared for all eventualities.
This is really interesting.. I just though how this author collected and assembled this so nicely.. Appreciate it.
A must read item..!!
~S
Hey Shabreen. Most of the points that I mentioned were from my own experiences and from some of my friends’ experiences. Thanks for the appreciation anyway.
Nice and very informative
Thank you Rema.
. Really appreciate your time.
I think startups faces also another problem which is time management they often think they are going ok with time factor but actually they are late.
after all this is too much you shared . Thanks…..!!
Hi Rajnish. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment.
Time management is actually an issue of life. I believe entrepreneurs and small business owners are juggling almost as much as any other person.
It’s really upto the individual. But that’s just my opinion.
well I accept as factual entrepreneurs and little enterprise proprietors are juggling nearly as much as any other person.
It’s actually up to the individual. But that’s just my opinion.
Agreed 100% man. That’s my opinion too.
Wonderful blog! I truly love how it? s easy on my eyes as well as the data are well written. I am wondering how I can be notified whenever a new post has been made. I have subscribed to your rss feed which need to do the trick! Have a nice day!
Thanks for your kind words of appreciation.
Right now we just have the RSS facility but soon we will be creating the option for email subscriptions. I will personally ensure you are informed whenever we launch that facility.
This is a great list Siddharth. I think the most pertinent on your list is the issue of cash and cashflow.
We think we’ve come up for a solution for many startups that solves the problem of unwanted assets depreciating. I’d really appreciate your feedback on this one too.
You are right. I think renting or leasing equipment is a good idea. For start ups it can prove to be a boon. The only issue is that equipment’s value depreciates over a period of time and so should the rent (ideally).
You should also think about “renting to own” stuff, real estate style! That is actually something start-ups and small businesses will die for!
My cousin recommended this blog and she was totally right keep up the fantastic work!
Thanks a ton for the compliments.
Do keep recommending us and let us know what all content you’d like to see in future.
Thanks very much for posting all of the excellent information! I am looking forward to seeintg more posts!
I agree on the comment amazing post I may add
hi,
Nice writeup.
Can u tell me a sole proprieter can use the names international/ group/ corporation etc.. or not.
i live in rajasthan, as far as i know thereare no charges from the govt side on filing returns . But all C.A’s charge too much.
Awaiting a reply.
Hi Abhinav
I think your above queries can only be answered by a qualified CA. There are certain words which you are not allowed to use in your company name till you fulfill a certain criteria. I am not sure what that is. The good thing is that, you can all up any CA and for this information and get your answer free of cost.
awesome, great article, will bookmark this for future reference.
Cheers, Sarita Cdebaca, Article Writer of <a href=”www.goronifelli.com”>Goroni Felli Article Assistors</a>
When I started my first business, I had a habit at looking at things on a micro level and because I was so focused on individual things I was neglecting other parts of my business. It was not until I started to look at the big picture did everything begin to fall into place
Neil recently posted..Symbol MC55
Great info, especially the part on having a support system. I am at the begining of starting my own business and I sometimes forget that I am not alone but its hard to want to contact friends and family. Its good to know that lots of folks starting thier own business do still ask for support cause we all know we ended up where we are seeking independence.
John Campos recently posted..Conversational Hypnosis Info
A lot of the tips linked to this write-up are in general high-quality nonetheless found me personally wondering, did they actually suggest that? Another thing I have got to bring up is your publishing skills are incredibly good and that i will most likely be coming back again back for any brand new post you generate, you might well have a new fanatic. I saved your website page for reference.
i am a bit scared of businesses as i had a very bitter experience where we set a up a grocery store for nearly 40 grand and it was a flop show as we sold it for just 8 grand.. a whooping 32 grand loss. it was a serious disaster. from them i think a hundred time before taking any step.
Nice post…thanks for sharing your thoughts. Hope that we have some more folks add their input.
Thanks so much for the blog article.Much thanks again. Keep writing.