5 Startup Advice that are Plain Wrong

There’s a lot of advice out there for aspiring startup founders or entrepreneurs that can do more harm than good. While some startup advice can help prepare you for entrepreneurial challenges to come, others can make it harder if not impossible to make your startup dreams a reality.

Here are some of the popular startup advice that are just plain wrong. 

1. Do something original

A lot of entrepreneurs get stuck here because coming up with an original startup idea is not something that happens very often. This advice has its biggest error in implying that you need to create an entirely new solution that the market has never seen before. 

When you take a look at the history of some of the world’s greatest products, you’ll find that most first ideas are terrible. Google was not the first search engine, YouTube the first Video Channel, nor was Amazon the first book store. Some of the best startup ideas came about by entrepreneurs making major improvements to pre-existing ones.

2. Just Do It, Customers Will Come

This advice is dangerous because it puts you in a state of mind which ignores the crucial need for proper planning while launching your startup. Turning an idea into actual business involves a lot of planning. You can not just rely on your belief that the product you’re creating is something people will. Ensure to validate your idea and test the product before going to the market. Even when you’ve launched your product you still need to do some serious marketing to bring the solution you’re providing in front of people that need them.

3. You need to work round the clock

When you follow this advice, you’d be giving virtually every second of your time to work, ignoring friends, family and all other forms of social contacts. What’s at risk here is your sanity, because living like this can lead to panic attacks and serious physical and mental fatigue. Better to give some time to have a life than spending valuable cash on psychotherapy.

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4. There is a market for everything

While this might be true, you need to need to consider how large the market for the solution you’re proposing could be. You need to create a product that has the potential to attract a large number of customers.  If the market for the product you are proposing is a small market which will have a negative influence on your profit margin, it might be a sign that you need to move on to something else.

5. Trust your gut

This is like saying ‘gamble with your career’. Entrepreneurs should take risks and not gamble. While risks are guided by intelligence, gambling is simply making guesses and hoping it favours you.

However, when you’ve gained some experience your instinct can go a long way in helping you make better decisions.