Fear can be a good motivator or it can bring you down. Everyone at some point has to face their “quicksand” especially in a startup. Only two ways I know to get through it, a great team or having someone in your immediate network you can talk to. While mistakes will happen in a startup the “quicksand” doesn’t have to.
So, what is you startup fear?
There are several things I could recommend to startups to increase the chances of success but I believe their is a key one that gets overlooked. Believe me, I have read books, worked with numerous startups, talked with a few people and more, yet no one really talks about the key ingredient to the future success of your startup.
One successful client.
On the surface that sounds simple, but it’s not. Success does not come from giving it out or getting hundreds of people signing up, it comes when your client is successful because of the product you have provided them. Did their business grow by 400%? Are they making 10x the money? Did they save hundreds of hours? Its always promised to clients but rarely delivered on. At the end of the day if you are not making them successful then someone else will.
Why is this so hard, because as a startup your focused on building a business that you started on a napkin. Its about you building, adding clients, getting capitol and making money. I’ve seen and in the past I have created a few plans went like this: give it away to get people, get them signed up, from that you can begin to charge for the product. All that is great and by all accounts that is what you wanted to do, except for many startups that is not a long term business model.
True success is when your clients are successful because of you. Get that done and your well on your way to a successful startup.
BTW: I’d like to thank Mark Brooks for reminding me of this.
Pick one or make up your own:
I have seen normal people do some pretty crazy things lately? Have you?
For a startup or a business in this economy, pick one:
If your not focused one of those, your just adding to the noise.
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