Jignesh Barasara – Do’s and Dont’s of a startup

Jignesh Barasara, the epitome of entrepreneurship is an amazing example for understanding what to do and what not to do while raising your new start baby. His ideas have played a significant role in determining the future of many businesses.

Do’s of a Startup:-

• Be practical and understand that it’s not easy:- 60 % of startup businesses fail within the first five years and for the remaining 40 % that succeeds, it’s not a cocktail on the beach, like that 40%of successful business owners don’t go on vacations for years. Now the key here is to work on something that you are passionate about so that you don’t regret sacrificing your sleep and vacations.\
• Surround yourself with the best possible people:- Most of the time you are building your startup with a team of founders. The average size of a startup is 5-8 people. It’s very important to have skills onboard that complement each other well. The founder team should have the same vision, idea and work ethics. When hiring go for staff that have similar vision and zeal for your startup.

• Find a Mentor:- You can’t have all the experiences, knowledge, skills, experiences and insights needed to get your startup off the ground. It’s up to your mentor to guide you above and beyond. Find out about the accelerated programs that help startups to get up and running. They provide mentor schemes and may be able to get you fundings. Also, try local meet up groups on social networking sites. Scroll through your contact list and try to catch up with people you already know, as you might end up with valuable insight.

• Research the Market:- Do your homework about the market you are aiming at. Research about the demographics of your customer base and know all about how your competitors are operating. This will help you understand what your customer wants and where you fit into in terms of price, quality and what you offer.

Don’ts of a Startup:-

• Pick the wrong business: Most of the startups failed by the beginning of the first few years as they picked the wrong business and made money as the only output of a successful startup. If we look at the history of great leaders, none of them started their business only for money. They started the business to change the way certain things were done. Of course, money is very important but it should not be the number one priority. You should be passionate enough to start with your startup idea and lead it successfully.

• Make the ‘perfect; plan:- Too many entrepreneurs are caught in this “overplanning syndrome”, where they plan a lot and execute late. This can pull you back a long time. The key is to remove the assumption that there is one perfect plan for the success of your business. Remember, both poorly devised and over-exaggerated plans can do more damage than benefit. So plan wisely and plan less and adapt more, as per the customer’s requirements. Most people wait so long on creating a perfect plan that they don’t ever execute.

• How to spend money:- Most startups fail because the entrepreneurs are busy deciding where to spend money and where not to. They are under an assumption that they need infrastructure, vehicles to start your business. The reality is your concentration shift should be more about how to sell your ideas and the division of money can follow at a later stage.

Also read: Jignesh Barasara- Let’s rock the Business Entrepreneurship