Challenges are everywhere. Businesses in general, and startups in particular are no exception to a myriad of challenges that we face today. The world of startups is highly challenging. The theory – ‘survival of the fittest” fits really well with the world of startups. Whether it be a product people buy, a service people hire, or something entirely, there are a number of challenges all startups will face along the way.
Here are 5 of them:
1. Tackling fierce competition
Often the biggest challenge in launching a startup is finding a way to differentiate yourself from the competition. The corporate world is quite fierce. There is always a competition going on between the giants. Competition poses one of the biggest challenges for the survival of startup businesses. And if you have an online business startup, the competition gets tougher.
The competitive environment keeps the startups on their toes, as there is no margin of error available. Both B2B and B2C organizations always tend to feel the heat of the fierce competition. To survive in this competitive business environment that covers both traditional and online businesses, startups need to play aggressively and punch above their weight to gain recognition amongst the clusters of ever-challenging and expanding businesses.
What makes us better? This question can make or break your marketing ability and eventual success if you can’t find a way to meet people’s critical needs while being unique and memorable.
2. Finding the right investors
Finding rich folks willing to shell money out on your idea should definitely fall on a startup’s top three list of mountains to climb. The problem with finding investors often falls on companies that aren’t very successful in bootstrapping the company long enough to prove their concept in the marketplace and secure a viable customer base to approach ever-skeptical investors with.
3. Building a winning team
The startup team doesn’t need to be filled with the best of the best in their given specialty. However, you do have to find the right people to make a team that’s perfect for your specific company to thrive. Your people are your company. This is the same way that television sitcoms become either winners or losers with audiences: the popular 90s show Friends is a great example of the right people coming together at the right time in history. A team comprises individuals with similar capabilities and identical focus. In order to develop a highly successful team culture, organizations in general – and startups in particular – need to hire suitable candidates. There is a huge pool of aspiring individuals available.
Therefore, selecting a suitable candidate that fits the job well enough is a particularly tricky task. It is one of the biggest challenges facing startup businesses in this digital age. When hiring a suitable candidate, organizations must remember one golden rule: Birds of a feather flock together.
4. Winning the trust of customers
The customer is the king. And that’s absolutely right. Winning a customer’s trust is one of the most important challenges that businesses in general – and startups in particular – face today. With a highly satisfied and loyal customer base, startups can scale and make progress towards excellence.
Customers are the real force behind a startup’s success. Their word-of-mouth power and their presence on social media can give tech startups an edge against all the traditional businesses.
To win customers’ trust and loyalty, startups need to work aggressively to implement a customer-centric working philosophy, so as to enable them to succeed in their pursuit of attaining the height of sustainable growth and progress they desire to achieve in this tech-savvy and challenging business world.
5. Analyzing failures and working on them
Nine out of ten startups fail. You must fail more to succeed more. Our culture is flooded with this word and it appears we all must suffer through it to succeed. What most startups who eventually close their doors fail to understand is the need to celebrate failures for the information they can offer to help move the company in the right direction.
In a Nutshell
As a startup business owner, realizing this one insight is essential for maintaining a calm head: your competitors face the same problems as you do. Therefore, it is important to remember that these challenges are just that — challenges and people do overcome them.
