Characteristics of Every Successful Startup

As an entrepreneur, I have seen several failures and successes. I have been part of startups, I have worked for startups that have succeeded and failed as well. I have also committed mistakes and learned several things that helped me to be successful. In this article we discuss Characteristics of Every Successful Startup.

According to stats, only 1 out of 10 startups succeed. In my journey as an entrepreneur, I have understood the reasons behind success and failures. Successful startups share some common characteristics, here is my take on those:

Table of Contents

Founder Wearing Multiple Hats

This is one of the key success factors for startups where founders are working in various domains to make sure company is setup for the success path. They understand that hiring a team is not enough to keep things moving in right direction. In a startup, things are more organic and the responsibilities will overlap. Therefore, the founders or other partners at startups can not segment their responsibilities.

For example, a CEO at a software development company might be working with a marketing team to drive the sales and also working with the project team to make sure projects are being done properly. The successful entrepreneurs understand that they need to work on their business rather than working in their business.

Conduct Market Research

In the beginning, successful entrepreneurs do not directly jump into the market to sell their products and services. They conduct market research to identify the expectation of the customers from their products and services. This is one of the biggest mistakes founders make while entering the market without doing market research.

They should conduct detailed market research because that will help them to identify their targeted audience. You can also conduct surveys regarding the products and services to identify the expectations of your customers. Successful research, let the entrepreneurs know that their products or services are appealing in the market, they apply to the small market.

Managing the Timeline

A successful entrepreneur focuses on managing the timeline properly. In startups, every timeline doesn’t go according to your plan. Therefore, entrepreneurs continuously adjust their launch timeline based upon the progress and resources.

They are aware of the truth that it takes years to convert the startup into a successful company– not weeks, not months. The chances of success for a startup increases, where the estimates based on guesswork are frequently closest to the actual estimate.

Market Their Product

A successful entrepreneur has more focus on marketing of their products and services than building the product. They know their product and services are appealing, but the customers are not aware of it, therefore marketing is the key driver of success.

They understand that customer acquisition is an important thing for a startup. This will help their business to grow from small scale to large scale. They prepare multiple marketing plans to introduce their product to their customers. If one marketing plan fails, they quickly turn to another marketing approach to get the success.

Prepare Their Personal Finance

A successful entrepreneur always makes sure that their personal finances are in order before they start working on their venture. If you are also entering into the business world, then you should review your personal finances to make sure you have enough money or income to pay your own bills.

You have to make sure that you can build your business without worrying much on paying the bills. You also need to ensure that you have other sources of income, for example, savings, part-time jobs, etc. These will help you to meet your daily expenses.

Have a Versatile Team

Every startup is supported by a team of experts. The startups that have a versatile team have more chances of success. Versatility means a person knowing two or more skills. Versatile team has a mindset to perform multiple tasks; not just one task related to their primary skills.

For example, a project manager might be able to do some of the HR functions and accounting functions. A versatile team can help the other team members and work in coordination because they know that skill. These will help the startups to easily go through the tough times.

Entrepreneurs Have Faith in Themselves

Several changes do not happen overnight, such as getting fit, changes in lifestyle, and starting a business. An entrepreneur must have significant qualities, such as sacrifice, persistence, and certain stubbornness. Many of the failed entrepreneurs do not possess such qualities.

The startup’s owners must have faith in them. They must be realistic, right attitude towards everything, and believe that anything is possible for them. The successful entrepreneurs have committed several mistakes, but they have planned for the unavoidable mistakes.

Entrepreneurs Overcome Every Obstacle

Several people think that being an entrepreneur is an easy task. They think that becoming an entrepreneur is a destination but they should know that it is a journey. A successful entrepreneur does not expect to arrive at a finish line, but walk on a path. In the journey as an entrepreneur, they have to go through several obstacles. A good entrepreneur figures out ways to overcome the obstacles.

Conclusion:

If you are still surviving the competition, then you have done something that most of the entrepreneurs failed to do. There is a lot of luck and hard work involved in the success of every successful entrepreneur. Besides these, there are several other reasons for the success of the startup owners.

They have not ignored anything, worked on their launch time, had faith in themselves, found a versatile team, and overcome every obstacle. If you’ve also got these characteristics, then you’re preparing yourself for major success in the startup world.

We hope you have enjoyed this article about Characteristics of Every Successful Startup, and be sure to leave your comments below as we love to hear from our readers.

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Author Bio
Piyush Jain is the founder and CEO of Simpalm, a mobile app development company in the USA. Piyush founded in 2009 and a leading mobile and web development company in the DMV area. With a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins with a strong background in technology and entrepreneurship, he solves problems using technology. Under his leadership, Simpalm has delivered 300+ mobile apps and web solutions to clients.