7 ways to kick business failure out of the way

The truth is that you cannot train entrepreneurs. Singaporean educational and governmental institutions have tried but you cannot teach someone the entrepreneurial way of failing a lot.

There is no way you can instruct a person to go broke trying to make their code, service or product work.

Entrepreneurs are born - with the curious nature to ask “Why Not?” instead of “Why?” and to take the plunge where most would not. In pursuit of the elusive world changing “Why Not?” solution, everyone fails. By learning from those failures and pressing on, success will be patiently waiting.

A good example of failing to succeed:
Steve Jobs - the Apple III computer – the first PC built by Apple from the bottom up rather than as a hobbyist project–was so poorly designed that the company advised owners to pick it up and drop it a few inches whenever it stopped working

Entrepreneurs do not come from a factory production line armed with the same knowledge, generic tools and classroom thinking. The best that Singapore can do to foster entrepreneurship is to identify those who are inclined and prepare them for the worst. Natural selection and time will weed out those who are not cut out for it.

“Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can’t” - Unknown

Hence to help those who are foolish, hungry and in it for the long run, here are seven words for the wise entrepreneur. This list comes from someone who is still fighting the good fight, refusing to go down despite the pressures and after it all, does it all over again.

Build

Build a Minimum Viable Product as soon as possible. The faster you get to the market with something good enough (not great yet), the better the cash flow. Also, getting market feedback helps with future improvements

Lean
Stay lean and spend as little money as you can means scrimping on the unnecessary. There is no need for a nice office, fancy furniture or other cosmetic additions. Everything should be put into drivers for the business.

Traction

Spend money on traction as it is easier to convince existing and potential investors to pump in more money if you can show it. Use targeted, efficient, effective advertising can drive user signups and usage. These are key metrics for evaluating a business’ potential.

Decisions

Make hard decisions early and fast. Sometimes, entrepreneurs learn on the journey. If something doesn’t work or something else works better, make the necessary changes early on and implement it quickly. When building the wrong product, it will quickly be irreversible as more time, energy and money is depleted. If necessary, pivot and change the business entirely.

Team

Find the right team – at the moment. With limited resources, an entrepreneur will not be able to recruit many to help move the business along. When strapped for cash, outsource work to cheaper sources like coding to India.

Or outsource certain projects like a PR launch to a consultant. Or perhaps find a co-founder to share the burden. An entrepreneur can’t do all the functions in a startup.

Survive

Make money in other ways to survive and stay alive to fight another day. If absolutely necessary and desperate, position oneself as a specialist in your field to consult for others. It brings in money and also puts the word in the public of your expert opinion.

Fail

Most of all, fail quickly and get over it but don’t give up. What doesn’t work now, doesn’t mean it never will work. Maybe the timing is not right or that the product is too early for the market. A true entrepreneur will learn from the failure, get over it quick and persevere in what he or she believes in.

The entrepreneurial path is hard, long, tiring, expensive and lonely. Many, if not most, will drop off before the end. For those who persevere, serial entrepreneurs everywhere wish you happy failing - until you succeed.