Top 10 Warning Signs Your Startup Will Fail
Being an entrepreneur is no simple task, given the fact that 90% of startups collapse. But based on the learnings from past flame-outs, there are some leading indicators that can identify whether your startup is headed for failure.
1. Lost Focus on Primary Goal
For some startups, their focus can divert to unimportant factors than the primary goal at hand. A successful startup learns to prioritize its efforts, and stay religiously focused on that end goal. Keeping the team firmly focused on the end goal can also be beneficial for the work environment as it will keep the team all rowing in the same desired direction. If you see a startup flailing in the wind of change, going in multiple directions based on the "flavor of the month," you know that business is in trouble. pgslot
2. Poor or Slow Execution
There are startups that begin with innovative concepts but cannot execute them properly. This is due to a number of reasons—lack of relevant resources, lack of motivation or poor working habits for starters. Firms that are properly tracking their progress with regard to a particular project will quickly see if they are falling behind and come up with ways to correct the problem before it becomes a material one. Those that are not executing well will suffer deficits in capital or timelines. There is also a problem with the speed in execution, with many startups not being able to push out products or services as fast as their competitors. Speed is critical, to staying ahead of your competitors as the first mover, and not being forced to play catch up.
3. Lack of Customer Engagement
A lack of customer engagement is something many early-stage startups face. There are a many possible scenarios in which customers might lose interest in a product or service. Maybe the startup didn't properly research the market to ensure meaningful demand? Maybe sales and marketing efforts are not the best strategy for that business? If you don’t truly understand your customers pain points, they will never have a serious interest in your product or service. It is best to figure out why customers are not engaging, sooner than later, to try and resolve those product or marketing related issues to see if they are fixable, before deciding to cut your losses and close shop.
4. Poor Teamwork
Sometimes, perfectly capable and promising startups begin descending into failure because of differences among team members or lack of effective teamwork. This does not necessarily have anything to do with how well a person or a group of people can perform in the workplace. It just means, at times, some people cannot work well together. It is a startup CEO's responsibility to know what is required to keep the team gelling and how to improve the team's performance in thinking and acting like one well-oiled machine. If ineffective teamwork goes undetected or unresolved for an extended period of time, the startup will struggle to recover.
