Don’t Believe Your Own Hype

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You’ll never forget the day when you came up with ‘the idea’.

It started as a small seed growing over time, then suddenly, you had a clear vision and it took hold. You became passionate; it’s a genius idea right? Everyone will want a piece of it. How have you been this clever? You’re mostly worried about how to control the hype. Well, think again. 

According to Failory, 9/10 start-ups fail. Sorry, I don’t want to put a downer on things. Too often founders repeatedly fall down the same rabbit hole, eyes fixed on a mad and marvellous idea. But don’t let fear of failure stop you from pursuing entrepreneurship; common pitfalls can be avoided so read on to be better prepared, with these three chunks of wisdom as you develop your business. 

The starting point. Ensure there is a DEMAND for it.

Will you be in the 35% (CB Insights) of failed start-ups who went chasing a business idea to only realise there was no demand for it? Do people really need your offering? Will they part with hard-earned cash so they can have it? 

Don’t go down the route of developing your business without conducting proper market research. Don’t twist those results; you will have to face the reality head on and adapt. Also developing a minimum viable product (MVP) can allow you to soft launch your business to test its viability. 

PLANNING is not your strong point, you say?

When it comes to start-up success, a meticulous yet agile plan is a must. You wouldn’t take a flight somewhere without researching where you’re going. Likewise, you must have a clear strategy and an in-depth understanding on where your funds are going to take you, so you don’t run out of money. Knowing what to spend the money on, and when to reign it in will serve you well.  

Good planning will also give you the confidence that you have validated the concept before developing it. You can resight plan A,B,C in your sleep and you know how to be responsive, allowing for all (or shall we say almost all) scenarios — sometimes, freak-events happen, like crazy pandemics that change a world almost overnight. 

You’re starting to wonder why you haven’t changed the world overnight too but with your MARKETING?

Have you taken a good hard look at your marketing? Are you spending loads but don’t feel you’re seeing a good ROI. Many start-ups fall into the trap of thinking ‘we must go big, or go home’. This is simply not the case. 

Your marketing needs to be well thought-out. Know your buyers, live and breathe what they like and what they’re looking at and properly plan your brand accordingly. 

And you don’t need to spend big money. Look at our client, Thursday– an events based dating app who started their marketing with an intern wearing a cardboard sign reading ‘Single? Download Thursday’ and on the reverse ‘This internship sucks’. Thousands of people outside Liverpool Street Station downloaded the app in a matter of hours. Go for it! Think outside the box. 

So your business is doing pretty well is it?

Don’t be fooled. Yes, you might be printing cash right now, but will it last? Successful start-ups understand the long game. But steady on, there is a fine balance between blissful ignorance of how hard it will be, and becoming cocky. As soon as you start to believe your own hype, complacency sets in and stabs you in the back. 

Consider partnering with a solid dev agency who validate and grow ideas as their bread and butter. Here at Love the Idea, we are pretty good at what we do and genuinely care about your success. We’ll help you to properly consider these pitfalls before you waste your money creating ‘just another app’.