When it comes to the success of a new project, most people focus on the team’s experience, the uniqueness of the product, market prospects and other equally important factors of the feasibility of launching a startup. However, behind the long list of items necessary for success, it is important to highlight how important and significant a role in the life and success of the project is played by its founder. But what are these unevidenced qualities a founder should have? Let’s have a look.
1. The founder should think like an investor, even if they do not attract and do not invest money at the start. Many of us mistake imagining that the points of view of an investor and a project are opposed. But that is not true because both sides pursue the only goal — to make a profit. And the cold, calculating and maximally focused gaze of an investor will be much more useful for the development of the project than the dreamy gaze of its founder.
2. Business model as a tool for dealing with uncertainty. The founder builds a BM from scratch at the startup launch stage, keeps it constantly relevant at every stage of business development, conducts an audit and analysis of its compliance with market challenges and the pace of project development. Creating new and non-obvious solutions will help create a competitive advantage and differentiation from existing solutions on the market.
3. Closeness and unwillingness to criticism. Most often, startups are not ready to go to investors for money until they make a product and get the first results confirming their hypotheses. And this is a mistake. After all, the sooner you present your idea to the market and it goes through all kinds of criticism, the sooner you will be able to succeed.Alas, many are afraid of criticizing the idea itself at an early stage, and another equally common phobia is that the idea can be copied. This leads to the fact that the approbation of the idea takes place on a too expensive resource, because it is quite possible that someone has already passed your way and will be able to share valuable experience and feedback and save the most valuable thing – time.
4. The founder should be able to learn quickly. People who have already had experience and who have made successful startups with their own hands get an undeniable advantage because they have already passed many situations and made the correct conclusions. Nevertheless, success often comes to young founders who launch their first startup. It is essentially thanks to their fantastic enthusiasm and willingness to “absorb” new knowledge and experience, as well as the flexibility of the mind, and it turns out to build a startup of their dream.
5. A successful founder radiates confidence and is ready to go through fire and water with their offspring. A startup is always an attempt to sweep away the current rules of the game. To bring such changes to life, you often need to spend a huge amount of energy, take great risks and go through a high level of stress. Self-confidence and an irresistible desire to bring the idea to the end is the key to success.
