5 Challenges Startup Founders Should Spend More Time Considering

Posted on April 30, 2020 by Tegan Sabatier, One of Thousands of Entrepreneurship Coaches on Noomii.

Creating your own startup can be an exciting venture that requires careful thought and planning. From coming up with new ideas to budgeting, there are several important factors to keep in mind. Starting any kind of new company is no walk in the park. It takes knowhow, time and money and at any point during the process something can go wrong without any warning. However, there are some crucial factors that you must not be overlooked when creating a startup – the challenges. Every startup confronts challenges because that’s just the nature of things, but challenges can be mitigated. Consider these 5 challenges that startup founders should spend more time discussing.

1. Proper Resources

Without the right resources, you do not have a firm footing to get your startup off the ground. While money is a crucial resource, it’s not the only important one to think about. Every business is unique, and you have to think about the resources needed for your startup success. Depending on our particular startup, you may need human capital, a great location or equipment, or all of these. When it comes to resources, think about funds, infrastructure and manpower. Take for example, starting a product line; product design is one of the first things that you have to establish, maybe top-notch manufacturing equipment and skilled tech developers. If your product is web-based, you may need customer support service. All these resources have to be in place for quality assurance, building trust and ensuring overall success. Anyone interested in launching a startup cannot overlook having the proper resources.

2. Market Demand

As the question, ‘Is there a market for my startup idea?’ Prior to diving in head-on and making a big investment into your venture, familiarize yourself with the market and the present demand for your idea. This is regardless of the kind of startup you plan on launching, be it a product or service. While it’s great to have knowhow and passion, business growth requires that your product or service offering has a market demand. Without it, your business will have little to no chance of growing. Ensure that your startup idea is a viable one and perform market assessment for the product or service you plan on offering.

3. Employee Monitoring

Another of the 5 challenges that startup founders should spend more time discussing is employee monitoring. Manpower is often key to a startup’s success and to ensure that your employees are playing their part effectively and efficiently, employee monitoring, as well employer-employee interactions are important. While understanding and keeping a close watch on workflow is essential, understanding the challenges your employees are facing and how to mitigate them will help to keep things running smoothly. As an employer, you can learn from your employees and gain valuable insights, new and unique perspectives, and ideas for enhancing your business. You may be challenged with monitoring every employee as a startup founder when you have other important aspects of the business to worry about, but make time for it.

4. Multitasking

A startup founder has many challenges and multitasking on a daily basis is just one of many. Being a specialized professional is not the end of it for you. Different needs will arise along your journey towards startup success, and you have to be open and ready to perform the tasks that are required of you, especially if you do not have the capital to hire specialized employees to manage these tasks. Maybe project management, for example, is not your forte, but if you need to step up and fill that role when your project manager is absent, draw on your knowledge of the project and put your best foot forward.

5. Budgeting

A budget is a crucial element in any startup founder’s business plan. It is a tough challenge to create an accurate budget, but it is a necessary task for calculating expenditures and incomes. You will have an idea of your financial picture when you establish a budget, and it’s ideal to have a plan for the year that outlines a month-to-month financial roadmap. This will allow you to track and keep your business goal in mind and also keep you out of financial trouble down the road. While you may be able to exercise some flexibility and adjust your budget, you are best served by sticking to it.

These 5 challenges that startup founders should spend more time discussing are crucial to the success of their business. They should not be ignored, and any startup founder should take steps to prepare and plan for these challenges. Give yourself more time to focus on the operation of your business by avoiding major pitfalls before they happen.