Start-up’s need to be Smart-ups! Time to Wise-up!


Morning Folks!



I look at a startup as a Dual-Decathlon with the obstacles and challenges that must be met before you even get to the actual Decathlon itself.



Sorry, but almost every startup I see flunks right out of the gate. It’s like taking a math test so they got a 33 and they think they’re cruising. Your single biggest and most everlasting decision is the name of your company. There is none bigger.



Most importantly any good or service needs to be market tested. So if you haven’t tested sales you’re probably going to flunk.



Oh, you want to keep it a secret. But with that, you might be wasting valuable TIME. Sorry secrets don’t last, first-movers do!



I have been involved in a number of startups in my life and you know how much time they spent on naming,? Not enough! It was horrible. It was something that they want to get over with fast, not something that they wanted to be thoughtful about. They never took enough time to truly discuss alternatives. The first name was what they picked each time.



So once you have your name the next most important thing is your website name. Your domain name. We all know how bad startups do when it comes to that! So maybe start with the domain name. If you are having a newborn, choose one with an available name. Same with business. Find the domain first or you flunk again unless you get an exact match.



There are only a few jobs in business thinking planning and doing. Pretty simple. But most DO, then they THINK then they PLAN how to fix the calamity they themselves created by rushing and not thinking. They FAIL!



Do you want me to tell you how many businesses start with DO with the power thing and then they can do cleanup mode. And that cost money. To recoup money that you just pissed away is your profit.



Don’t minimize ANY pitfalls. Must be magnified AND amplified. MUST BE!!!! Can't stress this enough. It's part of my "Back Pocket Stories" (It's on my twitter feed)



So, if you are a startup these are mistakes that will likely put you out of business before you even start. YOU are the only ones that don't know it!



That's why failure is so so so easy to spot. You can't bowl a 300 game or even a 200 game if your first 6 frames go in the gutter. You championship bid was over long before that. lol



Startups need to smarten up and be smartups or they will not survive long in the wild. They will be eaten alive by mistakes and leaks and doing w/o thinking. They always say they will do it right: "Next time"!



Rick Schwartz