From Idea to Execution
- Feb 20
- 3 min read
By Paige Arnof-Fenn
When startups fail it usually comes down to weak or a lack of market research in my experience. Research is not about what you, your friends/family like it is all about your target audience and what motivates them to purchase. As a small business owner you have to be scrappy and work fast with a limited budget. Surveys can collect data on habits and practices and focus groups allow you to probe deeper and ask questions to test assumptions. When real customers are willing to pay real money for your product or service, you have a real business. Start with the fundamentals: Who are you and why should anyone care? If you're not passionate about what you're doing, then why should anyone else be? There's a lot of noise in every category, so if you don't have a unique story to tell and a new approach or idea that excites you, then go no further. Every great business is built on a great story so start telling yours to potential customers and see if they buy what you're selling. My tip is that market research and testing should always be done with real customers, not with family and friends (who may only tell you what they think you want to hear so they don't hurt your feelings).
Even with a great idea you do not exist today if you cannot be found online. If we learned anything during Covid it is that SEO is only growing in importance. Being invisible online is a terrible strategy so making sure your website is keyword rich/mobile friendly/loads quickly/produces meaningful content today is the price of entry. Failure was never a consideration for me despite the fact that most startups fail. My business successfully leveraged my relationships and prior experiences so it really felt like the culmination of years of training for this opportunity. There's no substitute for doing your homework so you can be ready and aware when serendipity strikes. The important thing is to keep moving forward and learn from every experience. You can't wait for the perfect time to launch; you just have to course correct as you get more feedback along the way. Being an entrepreneur means making decisions without perfect information. Get used to it--or find another career path.
My biggest mistake was not realizing sooner that the people you start with are not always the ones who grow with you. The hardest lesson I learned when I started my company is not getting rid of weak people earlier than I did in the first few years of my business. I spent more time managing them than finding new customers. I knew in my gut they were not up to snuff but out of loyalty to them I let them hang around much longer than they should have. It would have been better for everyone to let them go as soon as the signs were there. They became more insecure and threatened as we grew which was not productive for the team. As soon as I let them go the culture got stronger and the bar higher. “A" team people like to be surrounded by other stars. It is true that you should hire slowly and fire quickly. I did not make that mistake again later on so learned it well the first time. I wish I had known it even earlier though but lesson learned for sure!
I also recommend NOT spending money on things like fancy brochures, letterhead, business cards, etc. Until you know your business is launched I would say to put your budget into things that help fill your pipeline with customers.
Getting your URL and a website up and running is key. I created online stationery for proposals and invoices, ordered my cards online and made downloadable materials as leave behinds for people looking for more information to help me find clients more quickly. I know other business owners who spent thousands of dollars on these things and found it was a waste of money. Your story will evolve as you find your market, you need to look professional and have a web site to be taken seriously but embossed paper with watermarks and heavy card stock is not going to accelerate your sales cycle. Find those reference customers quickly, use them to get testimonials and referrals. There is plenty of time later to dress things up!
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