Top 16 Mistakes Every Founder Has Made During Their Entrepreneurial Journey

As a founder starting a startup is quite an adventure. Every founder will tell you, that it’s not all glamorous success stories and sky-high valuations. There will be obstacles, wrong turns, and tough lessons to be learned along the way.

But fear not hustlers, you’re not in this alone! Mistakes are obvious whether you’re a one-person show or leading a core team. The key is to accept, learn from, and use those experiences to create something even greater.

That’s why today we are taking a person (anonymous) example who built 30 startups in 20 years. VC-backed, Bootstrapped, Apps, SaaS, B2B, B2C. We’ve compiled a list of the top 16 mistakes he had made that nearly every founder unknowingly made as well.

Think of it as your survival textual manual for the entrepreneurial journey ahead. We’ll share common pitfalls, like neglecting customer needs or holding onto a failing idea for too long. Consider it a chance to learn from the wisdom of those who have walked this path before you.

Well without any doubt this person is anonymous but learning from the mistakes he had made in 20 years will give you the next level of clarity in your Entrepreneurial Journey. So, without wasting any time, let’s move to our mistakes list.

List Of Top 16 Mistakes Every Founder Has Made

Building Consumer Apps

Developing consumer apps may look cool, however, it also brings various challenges. Here are a few key dangers to maintain in thoughts:

Reasons	Description
High Competition	The app marketplace is exceptionally competitive, with many options to be had. It may be hard to stand out and attract users to download your app.
Keeping Users Engaged	Simply getting users to download your app isn’t enough. You have to continuously innovate and offer value to keep them engaged and coming again.
Negative Reviews	Negative reviews from customers will have a large impact on your download rates, specifically for consumer apps that heavily rely on user reviews.
Privacy Concerns	With the growing focus on data privacy, it’s miles vital to be transparent about how you collect and use consumer data.

The Failure rate of consumer-led (B2C) apps is 100x higher than that of B2B apps, it’s not often a lottery or a bit of luck when it’s successful.

Raising VC Money

VC investment can offer a valuable opportunity for startups to take off, but, it’s crucial to be privy to the potential downsides as nicely:

Reasons	Description
Loss of Control	Venture capitalists (VCs) spend money on your company in alternative to fairness ownership, which could bring about them influencing essential decisions and limiting your creative freedom.
Pressure to Grow Fast	VCs frequently assume high returns, which may result in them pushing for speedy business expansion, causing stress and dangers if your company is not prepared.
Not a Guaranteed Fit	VC investment may not be appropriate for every startup, particularly in cases where your business model doesn’t align with rapid scaling or excessive increase. Consider exploring other funding options.

Well, when you raise the first round of investment then each journalist interviewing you and you experience like a dream. But the truth is most startups fail by way of being funded too early.

Hiring Too Early

In the past, startups used to value having big teams as a symbol of growth. The founders were responsible for most of the work until they achieved product-market fit. Employees and contractors may not have the same level of dedication and enthusiasm for your project.

To ensure success, it is essential to adopt a strategic approach when hiring. Concentrate on recruiting individuals who can effectively tackle obstacles or assist in reaching significant milestones. Don’t fall into the trap of hiring just to “look bigger” or feel like you’re expanding.

Ignoring SEO

None of the people in his network did SEO. They all thought it was something for late and they kept postponing it forever. Well, there are several drawbacks to ignoring SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for your startup:

Reasons	Description
Missing Free Traffic	SEO is a cost-effective way to drive visitors to your site. By optimizing your content for relevant searches, you may attract organic traffic from people surely interested in your services. Neglecting SEO way lacking out on a precious supply of leads and clients.
Unstable Foundation	Even if you manage to attract visitors through other methods, a website without SEO may not be user-friendly or optimized for conversions. SEO is not just about visibility; it’s about creating a seamless experience for visitors that encourages them to do so, such as making a purchase or signing up for a service.
Long-Term Pain	SEO requires effort and time, but the results are worth it. Ignoring SEO now could make it more difficult to establish a robust online presence in the future. Investing in SEO early on will lead to lasting advantages, making it easier to attract organic traffic and grow your business online.

Ignoring Content Marketing

He never took blogging seriously & he confessed it was one of the big mistakes he had made. So not paying attention to content marketing can have a big negative impact on your startup in today’s digital era.

Here’s why it can harm your business:

Reasons	Description
Establishing Trust is Challenging	Content marketing allows you to showcase your expertise and build trust with your audience. Through blog posts, articles, or informative videos, you can demonstrate your knowledge and position yourself as a thought leader. Skipping this step makes it difficult to convince people that you are the best choice.
Competition Takes the Spotlight	Your competitors are likely using content marketing to attract customers. If you’re not in the game, they will dominate search results, social media feeds, and ultimately, customer attention.
Ineffective Marketing Efforts	Without a content marketing strategy, other marketing efforts become less effective. Ads or social media promotions need a strong foundation – valuable content that attracts people in the first place. Ignoring content means your ads might go unnoticed.

In short, content marketing is like the fuel that powers your online presence. Neglecting it can cause your startup to struggle instead of thriving.

Social Media Marketing

This is his biggest regret. He regrets not starting Twitter sooner. He only began using it a year ago and now has 20k followers. If he had begun 20 years ago, perhaps he would have 1M fans by using now.

Moreover, not paying attention to social media marketing can greatly hinder the progress of your startup in today’s digital era. Here’s the reason:

Reasons	Description
Customer Feedback	Ignoring social media means missing out on valuable customer feedback that can help improve your product or service. It’s like having a room full of people giving you suggestions, but you choose to ignore them.
Image Issues	If something negative is said about your brand online and you’re not there to address it, it can turn into a bigger PR nightmare. Social media allows you to proactively manage your brand reputation.
Looking Outdated	In today’s world, a lack of social media presence can make your company seem outdated. It’s like showing up to a meeting in an outdated suit – not a great first impression.

Social media is like a massive ongoing conversation. When you’re in the game, you can engage with potential customers, set up brand loyalty, and receive valuable feedback. Neglecting it would mean losing out on all the advantages.

Skipping Idea Validation

He used to constantly consider the audience’s perspective, trying to anticipate their needs. However, it rarely ended up being accurate. Surprisingly, his most successful projects were the ones he initially believed would fail, while the projects he had the highest expectations for ultimately disappointed him.

Here are a few downsides of neglecting idea validation for your startup:

Reasons	Description
Building something nobody wants	Pouring all your passion and effort into an idea, only to find out later that there is no demand for it. Validation is crucial to determine if your idea truly addresses a genuine problem for a substantial number of individuals.
Attracting the wrong investors	Investors support companies that address genuine issues. If an idea lacks proper validation, it may face difficulties in obtaining funding since investors will be uncertain about the demand in the market.
Missing out on a better solution	The first idea may not always be the greatest. Validation can assist in improving your concept, discovering unforeseen possibilities, and potentially finding a much better solution.

Simply put, not validating your idea is risky, with low chances of success. Validating your idea boosts success rates, prevents future problems, and leads to a product people adore.

Hiring Managers

He still hasn’t come across a helpful manager in a startup. While they may be beneficial for big companies, in a startup, he believed he should only hire people who took action.

Well, hiring managers in an early stage of a startup has a downside as well:

Reasons	Description
Focus on Big Company Experience	Hiring managers often give more importance to candidates with experience at well-known companies, which means they may overlook candidates who excel in startup environments.

Chasing Investors

For every startup, he had to spend 40% of his time on fundraising. He succeeds in most of the cases, but at what cost? Chasing investors for your startup can have both positive and negative effects.

It’s important to secure funding, but putting all your attention on it can lead to drawbacks also:

Reasons	Description
Loss of Focus	Constantly trying to find investors may take your focus far from the main aim of your business: developing extremely good products or services that customers will enjoy. You could end up prioritizing features that investors desire instead of what your customers require.
Focus on Hype over Reality	To attract investors, you might be tempted to oversell your capability or downplay demanding situations. This can cause a disconnect between your pitch and fact, making it more difficult to deliver on promises.

It’s been a solid 2 years since he last reached out to investors, yet he finds himself pleasantly surprised by the constant stream of venture capitalists knocking on his doors. The reason behind this unexpected attention is his impressive traction, which seems to have caught their eye as they actively seek out promising projects daily.

Betting On Partners

He collaborated with numerous billion-dollar corporations on various startup projects. They always make grand promises of millions of users and incredible achievements.

Still, in reality, they only waste your time, distract you from your goals, change your priorities, force you to invest heavily in security and compliance, and ultimately fail to bring in any users or money.

Well, the majority of the time even I don’t wanna in a favor to do a partnership in business because of many reasons mentioned above very clearly.

Shiny Objects

He got caught up in the cryptocurrency hype. Made a number of cash, however ended up losing the whole thing. It become a waste of time. It turned into disheartening to see how deceitful and egocentric people may be, even those near him.

This thing may work if you’re a newbie but if you’re already engaged in some work then there are several drawbacks to focusing on “shiny objects”:

Reasons	Description
Lack of Expertise	Chasing new ideas all the time stops you from gaining in-depth knowledge in a specific field. This can make it hard to compete well and establish a solid foundation for your business.
Loss of Focus	Chasing after shiny objects, such as new trends or technologies, can divert your attention. If you constantly pursue every new idea, you’ll lose focus on your main business objectives and the long-term vision for your startup. It’s similar to chasing butterflies – you may capture a few, but you won’t be able to cultivate a flourishing garden.

Think of it this way: Constructing a house. Getting distracted by shiny things is like altering the design constantly during the building process, adding a turret here, a sunroom there. You’d end up with an unfinished, impractical house.

Holding on to a Bad Project for Too Long

He continued to have confidence in his initiatives in spite of no longer seeing any progress for years. He believed that someday, something astonishing might arise and the whole lot would improve. Unfortunately, it became all only a waste of time.

Moreover, there are several drawbacks to holding on to a bad project for too long:

Reasons	Description
Reputational Damage	Continuing with a project that is clearly not successful can harm your reputation. Your judgment and ability to make wise choices may be doubted by investors, partners, and customers.
Sunk Cost Fallacy	People often keep investing in something because they’ve already put a lot of time and money into it. Remember that sunk costs are in the past, so decisions should focus on the project’s future potential.

Keeping a terrible project can lead to wasting resources, lacking possibilities, and probably harming your business and group. It is essential so that you can let go and pass ahead while needed.

Scrum is a Scam

He said If his team needed constant reminders every morning, treating them like kindergarten children, it would lead to failure. The successful projects he worked on were with responsible adults who could handle their tasks independently. We simply communicated through chat to synchronize our goals and plans.

Started with a Free Tier in B2B

Free projects attracted the wrong audience who provided feedback just to please others who got it for free. However, paying users have different needs. He initially launched without a free version and had no sales, so he eventually added one. But that was also a mistake.

Although free tiers can be an effective method to entice users in the B2B industry, it is important to acknowledge certain disadvantages that come with it :

Reasons	Description
Resource strain	Providing a free tier can burden your team and infrastructure. Users who don’t pay often need more assistance and can use up more server space and bandwidth. Ensure you have enough resources to manage an increase in users before introducing a free tier.

If no one is willing to pay, may need to improve the product or target a different audience.

Code From Scratch

In the beginning, his team focused on coding basic features for 3 months, such as authentication, admin panel, and CRUD operations. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a significant time drain.

Here are the disadvantages of starting coding from scratch:

Reasons	Description
Maintenance Burden	After creating something from the beginning, you must take care of it. This involves repairing errors, incorporating fresh elements, and ensuring it works with any changes to the coding language or setting.
Bugs and errors	The more codes you create, the better the probability of bugs acting. Correcting these errors may be quite frustrating.

However, once they switched to using boilerplates, their productivity increased tenfold. Naturally, coding from the beginning allows for full control and customization of your project. However, it’s crucial to consider the disadvantages before starting.

Spent Little Time with Family & Friends

He overworked himself and never took breaks. This negatively impacted his creativity. When he finally took some time off, his creativity flourished. Quality is more important than quantity.

Neglecting quality time with your loved ones can bring about numerous disadvantages, impacting not only you but also those closest to you. I thought don’t need to discuss about drawbacks in detail because it was easy to understand.

Finding a balance is crucial. Career success matters, but so does nurturing relationships with loved ones for a fulfilling life.

Final Verdict

Remember, making mistakes isn’t shameful. The key is to analyze them, select yourself up, and hold moving ahead. Use these instructions as stepping stones to build something even better and more resilient. And remember to revel in the journey!

There can be moments of natural magic while you see your imaginative and prescient come into existence, and those moments are well worth each uphill struggle.

So take a deep breath, my buddy. You’ve been given this. With determination, humorousness, and awareness from this list, you’re properly to your manner to achieving the top. And who is aware of this? Perhaps from there, you could assist and guide the subsequent generation of adventurers on their own tremendous journeys.

That’s it. Also, in the comment section, tell us about your biggest regret as an entrepreneur.