Ever heard of the saying “Rome wasn’t built in a day”? It fits perfectly for every business, especially startup businesses in India, irrespective of the industry and size. However, this is only half the truth. The other half, “but destroyed in one,” is often conveniently ignored. A grave mistake indeed, especially in an era where social media rules our minds and one word can put your years of hard work to waste if not handled well.
Let’s dive into a deeper analysis of startups and unravel the mystery of why startups in India fail. Afterwards, we will discuss some easy strategies and tips for startup business to avoid startup failure.
Why are 90% of startups failing in India?
Startups in India falter for multiple reasons, such as lack of scalability, bad timing, fallout within the team, lack of leadership, no PR, and so on. However, after working with multiple startups, we have found three primary reasons. Let’s understand these problems before we jump on to the solutions.
Marketing Mistakes
Failure to market their product and service alongside a lack of effective communication with the audience and primary stakeholders has been accepted as the biggest reason for failure by most owners of failed startups. In fact, in a study by Failory, as many as 60% of former startup owners accepted marketing mistakes as the reason for failure.
So, what are these marketing mistakes? The two most common were:-
- The cost of acquiring the consumer becomes higher than the lifetime customer value.
- It takes an unreasonable amount of time to recover the cost of acquiring a customer.
No product market fit
All startup owners and founders enter the market thinking there is none like them, which is indeed the truth. However, the quality of being distinguishable is far from being persuasive. Failing to have a product-market fit framework beforehand is why startups in India fail. In fact, a study by CBS insights shows that 42% of the failed startups never had a market in the first place.
Having a product-market fit, i.e., the capacity to fulfill the existing market demands, is mandatory for any business to become scalable. It is this quality that determines whether consumers are willing to spend their hard-earned money on your service or product. However, many founders start their production process without gauging this aspect of their business and inescapably get crushed in the market competition.
Lack of communication
Did you know? There were fewer than 500 recognized startups in India in 2016. Can you guess how many startups there are in India today? By 2022, the country will have recognized over 80,000 startups. The hike in startups is only going to increase in the upcoming year. In such a cut-throat competition, it becomes more difficult to get noticed without a robust communications strategy. You might offer the best products, but when people do not know about your existence, your products won’t sell. Thus, having an integrated marketing and PR strategy will boost your sales in due time.
3 Tips for startup business in India to become successful
Add value to the market
As a startup, you enter the market to provide an innovative solution to a problem faced by your target audience. While your solution to the existing problem might be unique, it is not necessarily impactful. At best, it is an alternative solution.
There will always be a brand or organization sitting on the industry’s throne with an unfathomable market share. Thus, working on your unique selling points from the perspective of need is one of the best startup strategy examples. Focus on emphasizing the change your product will bring to the lives of your consumers while developing your content marketing and public relations strategies, and your foundation in the market will strengthen in no time.
Focus on media
Want to ensure that people realize the added value your solution brings to their lives? What could be better than earning third-party endorsements without sponsorship? Alongside making claims yourself, earned media endorsements could open new avenues of growth for your startups.
This is where public relations plays a vital role. It could be a solution to your problem related to value addition and market fit. Through the right PR strategies, you can easily penetrate market competition and gain market equity.
Startup strategy consulting
No one understands the concept of scalability more than veteran business owners. The market can be as capricious as it wants to be, but you can exponentially grow if you have a mentor who can periodically provide you with startup strategy consulting.
It is most likely that you have a team of young enthusiasts. You might also have generous amounts of funds and a brilliant business idea. Yet, you cannot fill in the gaps that lack of experience brings to a startup. You will need an expert opinion when handling any unexpected and unfamiliar crisis situation. As a result, startup strategy consulting can help you avoid making poor decisions.
Bonus tip: Don’t get carried away
Often, startup founders bite off more than they can chew in an attempt to create something grand. However, it is important to remind oneself that startups are at their experimental stage, and overcomplicating things will only hinder functioning. Moreover, overworking yourself and your employees would be the last thing that you want to do.
Thus, our last three tips for startup business owners are:-
- While you have the pressure to be perfect, it is important to understand that the scope of improvement never ceases to exist.
- Instead of micromanaging everything in the startup, put your trust on your members and let them do what they are good at.
- Do not accelerate your production when your startup is still maturing.
Conclusion
We hope you liked our tips for startup business and found them valuable. One final point to emphasize is that your passion can often become a roadblock in your ascent to the top. Getting overexcited and adding too many elements at once can be insidious for a startup. Focus on one or two unique selling points at a time, for there will always be an opportunity to augment your business in later stages. Lastly, do not neglect your PR if you don’t want to falter. If you are facing problems with business strategy, you can explore our services and reach out to us.
