There might be as many reasons people wish to be entrepreneurs as there are new projects sailing out. And although your experience will be specific to you, it can help to know what gave the others success. The good news is, everything you you need to know are learnable and possible.
Matching Product with Market Need
It is important to sell a product or service that customers actually want. The should have the money and the willingness to pay for it. This may seem too obvious, yet a lot of startups have difficulty defining their product-market need. Nearly half of unsuccessful startups pinpoint poor market fit as the reason behind their failure. A wise tech entrepreneur will first ensure that their innovation satisfies a concrete market need and is something that people would actually want to purchase.
Burning Passion
Fact is, even a bit of passion can mean a lot in terms of making or breaking a tech entrepreneur. If you are passionate about what you have created, you can more easily motivate your team and your customers. Moreover, if you can prove to an investor that you have that specific quality they want, and that you are keen on becoming successful, then you have a higher chance of landing an attracting investment.
A Solid Team
Investors are looking for the next BIG THING – powerful innovations that can develop into giant companies. But rarely do they invest in ideas alone. They want a strong and balanced management team that can successfully run a startup. It is equally crucial to ensure that founders have all the right agreements in place as to the protection of the new business and its technology. Such agreements should cover all the major issues like founders’ roles and responsibilities, equity ownership, and IP ownership, etc. In the end, things can only work when the right people are behind them.
Fast-Tracking Growth
Every tech entrepreneur, investor and market craves growth. Quick growth – or traction – signifies a great idea in a hot market. A tech entrepreneur successfully showing traction is very attractive to investors and will likely keep growing. And, a growing startup is more equipped to handle early challenges to success, like losing customers.
IP Protection
An unprotected innovation will not be attractive to investors no matter how great your team, pitch and business concept are. Patents can offer wide-ranging protection for invention and innovation in every aspect, from hardware to software to materials to business methods. With a strong patent portfolio, up and coming tech companies will be able to attract greater interest from investors.