These Are 3 Myths Of Success For Startup Companies You Need To Know

There are many false myths about startups that need to be avoided. (photo: Mika Baumeister/unsplash)

JAKARTA - The concept of "startup" has grown so much that its essence has been confused by industry norms, stories and media. Around 472 million entrepreneurs and 305 million startups are created every year.

Of those startups, 1.3 million are related to technology. Regardless of the industry, most of them fail. Why do 90 percent of startups fail to make it through? Here are the top three myths about startups that have been exposed:

Myth 1: Startups need unique ideas to succeed

Many assume that a startup is a young company that has developed a unique business idea, aims to make an immediate impact, and take over the market. This is a serious myth. Many believe this misconception because startup success generally imitates unicorn entrepreneurs like Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, Elon Musk, Jack Ma, etc.

However, this fails to reveal the main reason behind their success which lies in their business model, product positioning, and customer experience, and not really the uniqueness of their idea.

Facebook is not the first social network. It is a clone of houseSYSTEM and Myspace. Google is not the first search engine. Google doesn't find search monetization; Overture did it.

Zynga didn't find Farmville; Zynga copied the game from Farmtown. Farmtown, in turn, is a copy of the Chinese game HappyFarm.

Microsoft Windows is not the first OS. In fact, it is technically inferior to its competitors but won market share between IBM and Apple. This is simply because Microsoft understands what consumers really want more than IBM and Apple.

Conclusion: Consumers want your offer to be unique and your execution to be flawless. Success has nothing to do with your business idea.

Myth 2: If you build them, they will come

A second common mystery about startups is the "if you build them, they'll come" controversy. Research confirms that 21.5 percent of startups fail in the first year, 30 percent in the second year, 50 percent in the fifth year, and 70 percent in the 10th year.

Many have been building startups for years, investing their time, energy and life savings, believing that their sponsors will notice their hard work and come up with nothing.

Most people see the tremendous success of companies like Yahoo, Google and Facebook. After all, these are just free websites that people visit. This gives entrepreneurs a false sense of confidence who thinks that building technology and implementing it is all that needs to be done to attract users. They fail to realize that Google languished for years before being noticed by sponsors. Facebook was barely popular at Harvard University, where it started. The point is we only see the tip of the iceberg of success.

Ninety percent of the work done to build startups is not publicly known. It's not talked about in the media. It is only when reading the memories and autobiographies of the founders years later that we learn the true journey they had to take to build a successful startup.

In this world, it is not the best product that wins but the most famous product. As entrepreneurs and startup founders, most of the time needs to be invested in spreading the word about our ideas.

Conclusion: In this world, it is not the best product that wins, but the most famous.

Myth 3: You have to raise money first before you start

It is a myth that is responsible for killing millions of unique business models every year. Millions of young entrepreneurs have brilliant ideas like Amazon, Facebook or TikTok taking over the market.

Unfortunately, they are out there rushing to find investors as the first thing to start implementing. Most are not even ready to invest a dime in their own business or their own personal growth, yet they dream of millions from the top venture capital firms.

Business is about people. If we can understand people's problems and solve them in a meaningful way, then startups will thrive.

The good news is that we can actually start implementing a business model by investing some time. Talk to people. Get feedback on the idea. Perfect it. Make that prototype.

In 2017, Manuj Aggarwal wanted to market his Strategic Advisory services to Fortune 500 executives. But he never had the resources to build a viable international consulting firm for this global giant. So, he launched a podcast for just $100, and today, he can do it.