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Tag: startup tips

  • How to Start a Startup in India: A Step-by-Step Guide

    How to Start a Startup in India: A Step-by-Step Guide

    How to Start a Startup in India – This is a big question in every aspiring entrepreneur’s mind.

    How to start, where to start – this is still a black box in India. In this article, I will try to give you a roadmap to start a startup in India. Let’s go ahead.

    India is emerging as one of the most dynamic and rapidly growing startup ecosystems in the world. With advancements in technology, AI, and social media, starting up is much more accessible than before. India has a huge number of opportunities and today, more and more people want to own their own business. You can start your own startup literally with a phone in your hand, passion in your heart, and an idea in your mind. 

    Through this article, we will guide you through the process of starting a startup in India, from coming up with an idea to validation to securing funding and much more.

    How to Start a Startup in India: A Step-by-Step Guide

    1. Find a Business Idea 

    The very first step to starting a startup in India or anywhere in the world is to have an idea. There are different ways to get a startup idea that actually sells. Here is a tip , rather than trying to look for an idea – look for problems and build a solution around it. An idea that solves a real problem has a high chance of succeeding.

    Before Finalising the idea make sure you have done a proper market research. A good business idea has following traits – 

    1. Strong Founder-Market fit – You should have good experience or deep knowledge of the problem you are trying to solve. Deeper is your expertise in that area or industry, higher are your chances of success. To start a startup in India, If you do not have expertise in the area, make sure to first spend time and gain good knowledge, it will help you take better decisions and solve the problem better.
    2. Uniqueness/Competitive Advantage – You should do deep competition analysis of your idea and study the existing players, their offerings, pricing , strategy so that you are well aware of the gaps. You should have a clear idea on how you are better than your competitors and if a user is given the option to choose between yours’ and your competitor’s product/service, they will choose yours.
    3. Market Size – Do deep analysis on the market to understand how big is the market. It is definitely recommended to start small, do not try to capture a big market in one go – it is not possible and you end up wasting time, money and resources. Having said that, you should know that going ahead how big the market is going to be.

    Do not get into trap of getting perfect idea from Day 1, ideas are made perfect over time by taking feedback from customers and continuously iterating till you hit the right market and right product

    2. Validate your Idea 

    Once founders have an idea, many founders jump into making really big product plans that would take them months and years to execute. Before you invest money or plan to raise investment from external investors, you need to validate your idea from real users. You need to do lots of User Interviews, build Minimum Viable Product and take it to the users, take their feedback and keep iterating till you get the right product.

    After validating your idea, you can choose to raise external funds, raise from friends or family,  or put in your own money. There are different stages of funding – Bootstrap, Pre-seed, Seed, Series A, B, C till IPO. If you choose to raise external funds from an investor, you can try different ways to get an angel investor. You can go ahead and put in your own money as well to gain more traction and then go for funding.

    3. Create a Business Plan

    Whether your plan to raise funding or put in your own money, it is very important to have a roadmap for your business for the next few months to a year at least. A business plan gives a clear idea of what you want to achieve and how much time, cost and resources it will take you to reach that goal.  It will help you stay focused and you will achieve your goals faster. Your business plan should cover the following areas:

    • Vision & Mission: What do you want to achieve, and how will you make it happen?
    • Revenue Model: How do you plan to make the money? You might have the best product in the world but if no one wants to pay for it, you won’t be able to make a sustainable business. It takes some time to figure out the right revenue model but to start off with. you should know why your customers will pay and how much they can pay. 
    • Financial Projections: You might be new to making financial projections and it might be overwhelming for you but you can start making it as simple as possible. Decide the timeline for which you are making the projections. It can be 1 year, 2 years or 5 years. Start with 1 year. You need to write down all the expenses – Infrastructure, Employees and their salaries, Tools, Marketing Cost, Branding Cost, Delivery Cost, Laptop cost, etc along with targeted revenue. The attributes might vary depending on the business but basics remain the same

    4. Register Your Startup

    Whether you want to integrate a payment system or being a new investor onboard – you need to have your company registered. You can hire a CA or CS to register your company for you. For startups in India, registering your business is a very important legal step. You can register as a Private Limited Company, Limited Liability Partnership (LLP),  Sole Proprietorship, depending on the scale and nature of your business. There are other registration types as well but the ones mentioned above are the most common ones. 

    5. Set Up Your Team

    You can start as a solo founder and hire people in your team to do execution based on your strategy or you can look for a co-founder. You can start looking for a co-founder the moment you know you want to start a startup and make sure you both share the same passion for the problem you are trying to solve. Irrespective of whether you have a co-founder or not, depending on the stage of the company, you need to start building a team. Depending on the amount of work, type of skills needed – you can either hire interns or full-time folks in your startup and grow your business.

    Conclusion: The Future of Startups in India

    Many founders try to get all the answers on Day 1 about starting a startup in India but the truth is no matter how many articles you read or how many prompts you write about starting up, you will get real insight only after you actually start up. This is the best time for you to startup. Starting up is the most difficult but most rewarding journey in an entrepreneur’s life. You learn everyday, every moment. Having a mentor with you in this journey will make things a little easy for you. 

    If you have not started yet, start with looking for the right idea for your startup and just keep showing everyday, rest will follow 

  • Why Startups Fail: 10 Silent Killers That Lead to the Failure of Many Promising Startups

    Why Startups Fail: 10 Silent Killers That Lead to the Failure of Many Promising Startups

    Starting a startup is exciting and scary. The thought that makes it exciting – You have an idea, the drive, maybe even a co-founder, and some seed funding.

    The thought that makes it scary is that over 90% of startups fail.

    So why startups fail? Different startups fail at different stages – Some die at ideation stage, some get really fast growth but eventually turn out to be a disaster, some are not able to scale beyond a certain point – leading to founder burn out and shutting down of startup.

    As many experienced founders and investors will tell you, ideas are cheap. Execution is everything. Sadly, most startups don’t make it.

    According to research, over 90% of startups fail, and not always for the reasons you think. Sometimes, it’s not a bad product or lack of funding that ends a business — it’s something quieter. Something less obvious. Something that slowly chips away at the foundation until there’s nothing left to stand on.

    In this blog, we’ll explore 10 silent killers that have destroyed thousands of promising startups — and how you can avoid them.

    1. No Real Market Need for your Product/Offering

    This is the #1 reason why startups fail. Founders often build what they want to build — not what customers need. The idea looks cool. you discuss it with your friends and family and they don’t give a real feedback because either they do not want to demotivate you or they are not the target audience of your product. You spend months and years building it only to realize later on there is no real need for your product. People are not willing to pay for your product and this leaves you deeply shocked. Many start-up founders iterate based on user’s feedback and try to build something that people would care about but many founders quit at this stage leading to the startup failing. 

    How to avoid it:

    • Validate your idea early.
    • Talk to at least 50 potential users before building anything.
    • Build a quick MVP and hit the market as quickly as possible
    • Iterate based on user feedback and take your product in the market again and again till you reach Product Market Fit

    2. Running Out of Cash is one of the biggest reasons why startups fail

    Money is the oil that keeps the engine of a startup running. You run out of money, and your startup halts. When I say that, I don’t necessarily mean raising funds can keep your startup alive. It is about using cash in the most optimized manner, having a runway planned, and keeping your expenses in control. Start-ups burn through money fast. Hiring, marketing, product development — it all adds up. Many startups fail because they run out of runway before finding product-market fit or even after finding Product Market fit due to a lack of financial management many startup founders end up burning money leaving their bank accounts empty leading to the closure of the startup.

    How to avoid it:

    • Be Frugal and try all ways possible to market your product by burning as little money as possible. 
    • Keep a strict eye on your burn rate and the runway of your company
    • Do not incur unnecessary costs. Delay hiring until absolutely necessary.
    • Start fundraising well ahead of time before your bank account goes empty. Always be fundraising or revenue-generating.

    3. Hiring and betting on the Wrong Team

    There is a famous saying: “If you want to go fast, go solo. If you want to go farther, go with the team.” Many founders are great at getting things done at an individual level but, when it comes to hiring and retaining the right talent, they fail. Attracting and retaining the right talent is the most crucial factor for the startup to grow beyond a certain point. Even with a brilliant idea, the wrong team can kill your startup. Lack of skills, poor communication, or misaligned values between co-founders can doom a business early. 

    How to avoid it:

    • Choose co-founders with complementary skills and high trust.
    • Spend a good amount of time in hiring and make sure to have the right processes in place for hiring the right candidates
    • Have clarity of role while hiring and make sure to communicate that properly to the candidate while hiring
    • Don’t hire people just because they’re available.
    • Prioritise the right attitude over technical skills. 
    • Build a culture of accountability from day one. 

    4. Lack of Focus

    It is very easy to lose focus as a startup founder. At every stage, there are lots of distractions in terms of features, markets, mission, and vision but as a startup founder, you need to be very focused and clear about your goals and mission. Chasing every shiny object, feature, or market can spread your team thin and dilute your impact. Many startups die because they try to do too many things at once. Startups have a lot to do within a limited period of time to grow fast but the effort should be concentrated towards a common goal.

    How to avoid it:

    • Define a clear North Star Metric.
    • Ruthlessly prioritize. 
    • If it doesn’t move you toward PMF (Product-Market Fit), park it.

    5. Ignoring Customer Feedback

    Customers are your biggest critic and biggest blessing, they give you the most honest feedback. Do not get defensive with your customers – if a majority of your customers are reporting the same feedback/concerns then do not ignore it. Consider it as an opportunity to improve and gain customer loyalty. Startups are meant to evolve. But if you don’t listen to your customers, you’ll end up building for yourself — not for them.

    How to avoid it:

    • Set up feedback loops (emails, surveys, communities).
    • Track feature usage and drop-offs with analytics.
    • Be humble enough to pivot when data shows you’re wrong.

    6. Poor Marketing and Distribution

    I know many founders who have built an amazing product, but they have no idea how to take that to market. You can have the best product in the world, but if people don’t know about it, it won’t sell. Many founders at the growth stage do not experiment with different Marketing channels leading to the saturation of existing channels and a decline in growth of revenue. Do not underestimate the power of marketing and do not run away from it. Right Marketing is a very crucial part of a startup’s growth and failing to nail it leads to startup failure. 

    How to avoid it:

    • Start building your audience early (email list, waitlist, social).
    • Experiment with different channels (SEO, influencer marketing, paid ads). Do not place all your bets in one Marketing channel.
    • Invest in storytelling — not just selling. Be creative with your marketing strategy.
    • Don’t just get customers; build relationships/communities.

    7. Running after Perfection along with Overanalysis paralysis

    Perfection is a roadblock to progress. As startup founders, we always feel that things something is missing but we need to find a balance between perfection and speed. Many startups spend months or even years building a “perfect” product, building a “perfect” Marketing strategy only to discover that perfection slowed down their progress. Many startups fail because they keep chasing perfection over progress. 

    How to avoid it:

    • Launch fast. Iterate faster.
    • Stick to the deadlines and maintain a balance between progress and perfection
    • Set standards and quality checks that ensure speed with good quality

    8. Pricing and Monetization Mistakes

    Many founders have a product but no business model. They have no clear idea of how they are going to make customers pay. Many founders think that keeping pricing cheap will help them sell more, Underpricing without understanding the unit economics, can ruin your margins. Overpricing compared to competitors without any strong USP can make customers run away. Startup founder fails to understand that their product is right just the pricing is not right. How to avoid it:

    • Talk to your customers about what they’re willing to pay.
    • Study competitors’ pricing.
    • Do not sell your products cheap; make them worth the price
    • Run A/B tests to find optimal pricing.

    9. Founder Burnout

    Startups are a marathon, not a sprint. Unfortunately, as founders, we run sprints every day in this Marathon. Many promising founders quit too early due to mental and emotional exhaustion. They fail to delegate timely and get so involved in the operations that they are not able to come out due to huge dependencies leading to burn-out. Many startups fail because the founder gets burned out and is not willing to continue.

    How to avoid it:

    • Delegate Timely and Transfer Ownership and Accountability
    • Build a support system (mentors, co-founders, strong team).
    • Try to take breaks and include physical activity in your routine
    • Try to sneak out of small weekend gateways
    • Celebrate every win, but do not let loss get to you 

    10. Refusing to Pivot

    Some founders can clearly see the signal that the business requires a pivot. Customer feedback, investor feedback, Market feedback – everything and everyone is telling you that it’s not working, but you choose to ignore the feedback. Sometimes, your first idea isn’t the right one. The market shifts, customer needs change — and if you’re not willing to adapt, you risk becoming irrelevant and your startup failing. If the founder of Instagram and YouTube had not pivoted, their startup would have failed. 

    How to avoid it:

    • Fall in love with the problem, not the solution.
    • Understand that pivoting is part of building a business, not part of failure.
    • Study how companies like Slack and Instagram pivoted to win.

    Our Final Thoughts

    Start-ups don’t usually fail overnight. It’s the accumulation of small missteps, ignored warning signs, and silent killers that lead to collapse. But now that you know why startups fail,  you can protect yourself.

    If you’re dreaming of building something great, remember this: startups don’t die because of one big failure — they die because founders didn’t act on what they knew deep down all along.

    Stay focused. Stay curious. Stay humble. And keep building.