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Starting your own business can be very overwhelming. It is often said that If you're not making mistakes, you're not taking enough risks. Still there are certain mistakes that you avoid to turn your idea into a successful business.

Here is a list of the most common mistakes made by first time startup founders that prove to be fatal. Let us know other mistakes that you see founders make (or that you’ve made yourself) in the comments below the post!

1. Is this the right place?

Suitability of market location is detrimental in determining the success or failure of any business venture. So is the case with startups. They prosper in some places and not others.

It needs to be located in a place with a demographic of the right professionals and where there is demand for the product. These things don’t often transcend physical boundaries; you need to accommodate the conditions of the surrounding location.

So, if you are certain you have ‘the next big idea’ that’ll make all your dreams come true, make sure you don’t make the mistake of launching it in a place that curbs it before it can even bloom. Make sure to plant your project in a place that checks all the boxes when it comes to suitability of environment.

2. Day old bread

The present scenario boasts of a new startup spurting every other moment and with such a tightly packed competition you just cannot afford to serve old, derivate ideas to the ever-hungry user base. Focus should be on solving the problem that has not been addressed before.

The market constantly demands the inflow of new products and stale or derivative ideas just won’t do. The product idea is the crux of any startup and similar ideas are bound to clash and raise competition and thus, the chances of being outcompeted.

For example, there is abundance of photo-editing apps floating around the market and any such new app, unless it has something truly unique to offer, is bound to get lost in the crowd of similar apps. There is a reason why ‘Instagram’ is one of the only apps that made it big in the photo sharing business.

If you can solve the problems of the users with your product, you’re here to stay. Startups today need to be nothing less than a wish granting ‘genie’ to people to be successful.

3. No country for lone rangers

If you have been a ‘one-man team’, fully capable of doing everything on your own your whole life and think you can pull off a startup alone, then you need a change in outlook. Startups work on team effort.

The concept of the ‘lone wolf’ does not work in startups as no one person can manage all the intricacies and dimensions of a startup. A single founder raises alarms because his/her trust in the idea itself and ability to imbibe that in people is called to question while a diverse team with different skill sets has often been cited as being critical to the success of a starting a company.

Moreover, all leaders need a team to back them up. A team of trusted co-workers is necessary to keep the leader in check and to advise him/her against any steps that might prove to be detrimental. Finally, an intimate team stays together through thick and thin and thus provides the much needed support in times of distress.

4. What users want?

You are sure to fail if you try to sell blankets when people clearly demand jackets. The wishes and desires of the users are at the core of all successful ventures. A startup will only be successful if it understands the needs of the users and gives them what they want.

Consumer satisfaction is directly proportional to the success of any startup. Often, the founders get blinded by their faith in their product so much as to neglect the popular demand. This is a recipe for disaster.

One such startup was a Gurgaon-based women’s fashion brand ‘DoneByNone’, which despite having substantial investment backing failed to cater to the whims of the costumers and was forced to close shop.

You must be wondering, what exactly do the users want? For the answer to that question, you need to look no further than around you. All you need to do is fill the gap in the user’s life with your product idea.

5. Change is the only constant

Pivoting is very important for a successful, smooth-running venture. This demands flexibility in decision making and timely ‘pivoting’ from a bad strategy or plan of action to a good one.

It’s trial and error, and sometimes the primary ideas don’t work out. You need to be flexible change for the better. Recognizing the errors and pivoting at the right time can not only save your startup but also give it a much-needed make-over. There are many examples of startups that saved themselves by making changes at crucial times while many which died due to failure to do the same. Such was the case with ‘TapCibo’, later known as ‘Dazo’, a food delivery chain which failed to make the right changes and was forced to shut down.

6. Don’t need any bad eggs

The founder needs to know what services he/she needs for a successful startup and thus hire professionals wisely, specially when it comes to hiring programmers.

There needs to be enough diversity for a variety of skills to come into play. It’s the reason why venture capitalists usually go for startups with two or more co-founders. Often the incompetence of a team can drown a seemingly ambitious project and the only way to protect against that is hiring smartly.

Moreover, a successful leader needs to believe in his/her idea and inculcate that belief in his co-workers and employees and motivate them to work harder.

7. Not now, Not never

Timing is crucial in launching products in the startup business. People often go wrong in this very step. If you release your product too early, users might not be ready to buy it. If you release your product too late, you may have missed your window of opportunity in the market. You need to seize the opportunity at the right time and, at such times, you need to be absolutely ready with your final product.

Bad timing can cost you your dream and reduce a great idea to worthlessness. The only way to build a reputation is to launch at the correct time, neither too late nor too early. It is a brutal business where, ‘If you snooze, you lose.’

8. The curse of the spendthrift

Even after raising a substantial amount of investment, there is a long way to go to realizing your dream and one thing that stands in the way is the proper allocation of the funds collected. This is where founders make irreparable mistakes that jeopardize their entire project.

You need to avoid spending too much even if you raise enough money. Startup is not a very expensive business anymore and founders need to be cautious of over-spending. The most common way of over-spending by startups is hiring a lot of people, most of whom they can do without.

You might not think too much of it if you have constant financial backing and faith in your idea but the ultimate judge is the user and the user response is what truly determines the success or failure of any startup.

9. Who’s the boss?

Fights between founders are quite common and can adversely affect any startup and can often end in someone leaving. This can be detrimental to the startup as it shakes the foundation it is based on. You must ensure proper vesting so as to avoid complicating matters which might affect the startup badly. You surely must be aware of the famous billion-dollar dispute between the co-founders of your favorite social networking site, ‘Facebook’.

Moreover, it can also lead to the breaking down of the venture if the involvement of the founders is not structured and the individual rights are not vested properly and things can get messy in the event of someone leaving. This is another circumstance of improper securing of the startup which has lead to the fall of startups and can be avoided by hiring an expert lawyer to draw up clean contracts defining details properly.

10. Do I need help?

Your startup idea is your baby and you’d surely want to protect it in every way. So why let a little slackness let you rob you off your dream? By not securing your startup with the help of a startup lawyer you would be doing just that and leaving you with unwarranted lawsuits. One such case was that of ‘Homejoy’, an on-demand home-cleaning service that was unable to bounce back after an unfortunate trail.

You must make sure not to leave any loop-holes open for exploitation. They preserve the sanctity and originality of your idea and help you enjoy its sole-rights by patenting it under your name.

It is a sorry affair when a good idea loses in making its claim to fame due to faulty preservation and stupid mistakes.

These mistakes are startup sins and committing any of them will leave you in a ‘hell’ of regret. Avoiding these mistakes will surely help you sleep better at nights with the knowledge that your ‘big idea’ is protected.