The 21st century human is exposed to a very dynamic environment, trends are changing before they become fashions. Today, every individual with a decent education and active mind looks at himself/herself as a potential entrepreneur. Internet, angel investors, freelancers, crowd-sourcing – all give massive impetus to the art of entrepreneurship. However, startups are stormy journeys, make no mistake about that.
Here are some troubles that a startup is almost sure to face:
- Scaling up too fast than you can handle, hence causing quality diffusion.
- Getting your ideas of the market size wrong.
- Pressures on the working capital from all sides, with slow inflows to recuperate the finances.
You get the idea – driving your ‘startup’ vehicle is always a tough time, there’s always heavy rain, sunshine evades you more often than naught, and you’ve got to be on your a-game all the time to brave the storms.
An Emotional Rollercoaster that Just wouldn’t End
A startup is a challenging test for the thinker, the seed of the whole enterprise. For most entrepreneurs who decide to come out of their sole proprietorship and partnerships to give a structured incorporated shape to their ventures, the first few months and years are a real toil. The primary reasons behind is the whole spectrum of people, philosophies, and attitudes that get involved in the game.
Your startup is your life and soul, the reason why you live, while for your hired programmers and marketers, it’s just another addition to the CV. This is where the hardcore entrepreneur has got to accept the reality, and look to dissociate emotionally from the daily operations, keeping focus on the ulterior goals.
The Vacuum – Working without the Safety Net of Conventional Job
For entrepreneurs who quit their routine jobs to form a startup, the going can be really tough, because it’s natural for them to miss the regularity and predictability of the job. No travel reimbursements, no weekend pizza and baseball game parties, no ‘I’m on a vacation’ automated email responder messages – startups are tough on the founders. This is where several management strategists and experts suggest working with a co-founder. Here are some concrete reasons that could justify you looking for a co-founder.
- Together, you make for a wider skill set, from which your startup can benefit.
- A co-founder is your friend by default, because your goals are tied together.
- You know there’s somebody to keep things in motion when you have to be off work.
- Co-founders, working in different time zones, ensure that your startup won’t be caught sleeping.
Stuck with expensive hires that promised more than they could ever deliver
Engineers, developers, marketers, domain experts, process owners, financial analysts – the industry is always hunting for good picks, because these are the people that make a business successful. Startups often have to hire expensive personnel, because they need to get things off the block quickly and need the magic touch to come from these ‘premium’ hires. However, these resources can often prove to be brick-bags on the shoulders of the directors of the startup firm, when they are not able to deliver substantial results quickly. Getting stuck with these expensive employees is a real nightmare for entrepreneurs and their startups as they put pressure on working capital. No team wants to be pulling dead weight. Just go ask the 2010 San Francisco Giants that in regards to Barry Zito.
Then, you can’t always be hammering them for results, because they are the touted ‘experts’. The solution – identify people who share your idea and who are excited about making things work. Hire carefully, the more involved people you have, lesser will the grind of the initial phase of your startup be.