3 Things Entrepreneurs Forget When Launching Their Startups

They say that 96% of all businesses fail during their first 10 years, and this incredible statistic highlights the universal challenging facing commercial ventures in the digital age.

Attempting to mitigate these risks and challenges can be exceptionally difficult for entrepreneurs, who must manage a number of individual elements if they’re to launch a successful business venture. This is particularly true with so many individual elements required to launch a successful business.

This can cause entrepreneurs to forget even the most fundamental rules associated with launching a start-up, including the following:

Always Overestimate Costs

The failure to deliver a viable profit is one the biggest reasons that underpins business failure, particularly in instances when entrepreneurs fail to manage their costs efficiently.

More specifically, business-owners often forget to overestimate their costs, causing them to mismanage their budgets and ultimately overspend. Subsequently, the margins are squeezed until the business becomes unprofitable, triggering the eventual collapse of the venture.

So, remember to overestimate costs and create a financial contingency plan, as this will help to sustain your business during times of austerity and market depreciation.

Protect your Business Online

While the emergence of the Cloud and e-commerce platforms has created significant opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs, it has also raised challenges surrounding security and cyber-theft.

After all, the risk posed by cyber-thieves and hackers continues to grow in line with evolving technology, and the failure to keep pace with this can undermine the integrity of your brand and place your customer’s privacy at risk.

With this in mind, it’s crucial that you take steps to safeguard your businesses online identity and platforms in 2018. This involves investing in 128-bit site encryption and 24-hour network support, while also seeking out expert assistance that can deliver both proactive and reactive security services.

Protect your Businesses Intellectual Property (IP)

On a similar note, entrepreneurs often underestimate the importance of IP in the digital age. After all, your IP may be central to your businesses core proposition, and capable of setting your venture apart from its competitors.

Not only this, but IP can often be leveraged in the same way as physical property, whether it is used as collateral for a secured loan or monetized to create generative revenue streams. With the right agreements in place, for example, you can effectively license your IP to third parties in exchange for potentially lucrative royalties.

If you fail to recognize your protect your businesses IP, you risk the very existence of the venture and will miss out on numerous opportunities to increase revenues.