Thousands of articles and research papers are published on success. A lot of inspiring quotes have tried to simplify the process of achieving the grand success. However, we all know that the path to success is a non-linear one.
To reach the destination faster, we speed up on smooth roads and drive carefully and skillfully on bumpy roads. Many even break the traffic rules in the conspicuous absence of traffic cops. Passionate travelers discover less-travelled roads and interesting places.
The journey of successful startups is no different. Their success is not just the total of the work they have done or the decision they have made but also includes several other non-tangible factors. Here is a list of four things that are common among 70% of the successful startups.
They solve fundamental problems
Successful startups solve basic significant problems. So, Google made the information search easier, with Facebook you could connect with friends easily, Twitter made the communication faster, and Uber made the transportation easier.
They didn’t discover an unmet demand or found a very complex problem that needed a solution. They simply solved the basic problems with better efficiency than others.
They focus on “One” thing at a time
Most of the successful startups focused on one thing in their early stages of the foundation. Humans face several problems; however, they didn’t take responsibility to solve all of them or even some of them.
They focused on one problem or thing and did it in a much better way than others. LinkedIn focused on career opportunities while Pinterest focused on image-based social networking.
Had they tried to do a lot of things, they would have become another grocery store and not a successful organization. Yahoo tried doing exactly that – search, news, finance, mail, sports, entertainment and what not – and you know what happened to it.
Founders are passionate about their ideas
Founders don’t change their basic ideas after facing enormous challenges during the execution of the project. They are passionate about what their core idea is and try to address the problems in various ways without compromising on the core idea. They are passionate about the work they do, and they know that it will make a difference to a large number of people.
Listen to their customers
No product is perfect. Successful startups listen to their customers carefully and consistently improve their product to meet their demand as closely as possible.
On the other hand, the internet is full of stories where promising startups failed after few rounds of fundraising as they couldn’t keep up with evolving demand of the customers.
Easy funding and technology have made entry of new businesses easier than ever. If startups don’t listen to their clients, they have a higher risk of losing the business to their newer counterparts.
Conclusion
Building a successful company requires more than what an article or a book can cover. The founder should have the sound judgmental skills to make quick and efficient decisions. More importantly, they should have the hunger to learn new things.
No founder will have all the skills that are required in day to day to business operations. However, three to five years down the line, learning right things quickly, will differentiate one founder from another.
2 comments
Nice content. Thank you for sharing.
Richa, thank your for the feedback! Appreciate it!
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