Almost everyone knows the meaning of the word “startup”. The guru of modern entrepreneurship, Paul Graham, summed up the definition of this term in a simple equation: “startup = growth”, referring to technology companies that developed a product in an extremely short period of time and successfully marketed it, such as Google, Facebook, etc.

However, most entrepreneurs and those who are just getting started in entrepreneurship will say that a startup is simply – a newly launched company. The largest number of today’s world-famous and successful startups comes from America. Europe is slowly but surely catching up, and considering the current state of the entrepreneurial scene, it is to be expected that in the near future some of the most successful newly started businesses will come from the Old Continent. The question is rightly raised – what is it that contributes to the explosion of startups in recent years? Is it brilliant ideas, a business community, resourceful entrepreneurs, wealthy investors, a motivating environment, sheer luck, or something else entirely? Can a successful business venture be defined with two or three specific criteria or is it a mixture of all the above?

What is certain is that starting a successful business does not come in the form of instruction manuals and that there is no sure path for new entrepreneurs to follow in order to achieve business and financial success in the short term. On the other hand, 90 percent of startups disappear after the first two years of their existence, which leads to the conclusion that the amount of mistakes that occur when starting a business is proportional to the number of entrepreneurs who make them.

Most mistakes are made at the very beginning of the startup process. All the founder’s decisions at that stage can be fatal. What type of company should I start? Is the market I’m accessing big enough? Does anyone even want the product I plan to build? I believe that most companies that fail fail in these very decisions.

However, there are certain mistakes that every beginner entrepreneur should avoid or at least make as little as possible. It is extremely important not to underestimate them. Anyone who enters the entrepreneurial arena should be aware of how important it is not to commit such a fatal mistake, which will make the company unable to stand on its feet the next day.

1. Fear of starting a business
In times of global crisis, it is not surprising that most people are afraid of starting their own business and postponing it for better times. It is not easy to invest your savings and time in something that we are not even sure if it has potential. Let’s be realistic, is there ever a right time to start your own business and venture into the unknown? By waiting, we don’t really achieve anything. We are not getting any younger, and the vast majority are not getting any richer. Waiting only increases the possibility that tomorrow someone else will start working on what was originally our own idea. For starters, it’s good to focus on one specific thing, especially if you have a regular, full-time job that takes up most of your work day. Don’t forget that there are always at least a few people who want to start something similar at the same time. Therefore, it is important to get started and launch your idea as soon as possible!

2. Know what you want and believe in your ideas!
What and how to achieve what we want? If at first we don’t know which direction to go, we shouldn’t give up. Most people today give up too easily. Looking for what we want to do is just as hard as believing in it when we find it. Knowledge and immense will and faith in what you are doing are two basic ingredients without which you should not even think that you can start a successful startup. The basic thing you must have is faith that what you are doing is really worth it and that with a little luck and a lot of knowledge and work you can really make it happen. If you believe in what you are doing, you will be more willing to take risks. Remember, even when 199 people don’t believe in what you’re doing and try to discourage you, you just have to be willing to believe in yourself.

3. Read, learn, research, plan!
Not necessarily in that order, but yes, all of the above are very important! Many entrepreneurs have both passion and faith in what they want to do, but they forget the fact that a good idea is not necessarily a successful good idea. The best way to start a successful business is to acquire knowledge, and the best way to acquire knowledge is to learn. Read books, magazines, blogs, newspaper articles, and anything else available that can give you information or help you see all aspects of the business you’re about to start. Find out about the competition. In this way, you will find answers to some basic questions, which you should initially ask yourself, and later you will have to give an answer to them anyway (to banks, business angels, investors of any kind) if you need external financing. If at the very beginning you cannot answer the questions: Who is my target audience?; What specific problem will my idea solve?; Is there a demand for my product?; How much will my product actually cost and is it even profitable?; be prepared for the fact that your idea will be doomed to failure, whether you want to admit it or not. Developing a good idea takes time, so anyone who intends to get serious about a particular business should take some time to research the market and create a business plan. Ideas alone mean nothing if you can’t sell them, so one of the biggest mistakes new entrepreneurs make is believing that the idea is good enough to sell itself and that it will succeed without much effort. Remember that there is no shortcut to success!

4. Be innovative!
Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Amazon, Linkedin and many others offered their users a service that at that time no one else offered or did not offer it in that way, so they were different. Precisely because of their diversity and the ability to offer an innovative product in a short period of time to a large number of people who really need that product, they achieved enormous growth and profit. By the time everyone else thought they hadn’t thought of it, Facebook, Google and others had become companies worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The rest is history. We are not saying that you should immediately throw yourself into developing a new technology that is completely different from everything that exists on the market at the time and that you should compare yourself to the technological giants, but it is obvious that for a successful start-up you need a good idea. Most people have some good ideas. Brilliant ideas, on the other hand, do not grow on a branch and do not come to mind every day. This is exactly why the already mentioned reading, learning, research is important.

5. Don’t underestimate yourself!/don’t overestimate yourself!
It is not easy to start a business if you are a “one-man-band” and you are trading with a limited amount of money. In the very beginning, you will be forced to know and be able to do everything, you will have to be an entrepreneur with (even elementary) knowledge of economics, law, IT, everything that a newly started business requires in order to survive. However, you should be aware that you should still leave the company establishment procedure to legal experts (notary public, lawyer), and leave the numerical tangles and tax issues to financial experts (bookkeeper, personal banker, etc.). Outsourcing is a great thing that will not take you as much money as you would have to spend by hiring someone within your company, but it will allow you to get an adequate and financially acceptable service. On the other hand, it is not good to ask too many people for advice. This can result in you delaying starting your own business too much, or if you have already started it, make some wrong business decisions because you “listened to others”. Also, think very carefully whether it is worthwhile to go into business with family members and friends. This may seem like a mitigating circumstance at first, but be sure that problems can arise in matters of running a business, sharing profits and sharing in losses, or wanting to leave. Keep your relationship on a professional level and do not interfere with your private life in work. If you really have to, be moderate.

6. Networking
The importance of creating business contacts is one of the most important prerequisites for successfully starting and sustaining a business. Socialize with people, not only from your profession and the field of work you are engaged in, but with everyone who can be a successful entrepreneurial example for you. Attend conferences, professional consultations and seminars, because they are a good opportunity not only to acquire new knowledge and skills, but also to make new acquaintances that can be invaluable to you at some point. Connect with people from different industries that you met through social networks (like LinkedIn), be open to new experiences and advice from more experienced entrepreneurs, even if you don’t decide or can’t implement them in your business. Be constructive in giving criticism to other entrepreneurs and help them with knowledge and advice if you can, because you never know when their help will come in handy. Remember that traits such as fairness, professionalism and a generally open-minded mindset are extremely important in entrepreneurship in general.

7. Mistakes matter!
It’s simply impossible to start a business without making some mistakes along the way. If you never make a mistake, you’ll have nothing to learn from, which means you’ll ultimately make no progress. The importance of this rule is evident not only when starting a business, but also when the business has branched out so much that it seems to you that nothing can go downhill anymore. Mistakes mean that we constantly have to reevaluate our attitudes and decisions, reevaluate plans and create new ones. They serve as motivation for us to be better and more successful. Remember, success alone doesn’t mean much and is a bad teacher! Keep a cool head and don’t be fooled! And remember – the only difference between success and failure is persistence! The amount of success is proportional to the number of mistakes and obstacles that we have successfully overcome.