The greatest mistake start-ups make is hidden in plain sight: the word “company” literally means “a group of people.” It’s not just the definition of the word - it’s a clue to your highest responsibility: assembling the best group of people you possibly can. Over 95% of start-up founders mistakenly believe their success will be determined by the quality of their idea, their personal skills, or the hours they work. I used to believe this too. This mindset leads founders to overlook the single most important factor - recruitment. The truly successful founders I’ve met spend at least 10-20 hours every week hunting for or meeting with exceptional talent - even when they don’t have open roles. Why? Because they understand that the difference between good and world-class talent isn’t 10% or 20% - it’s often 10x or even 100x (we call these unicorns). Successful founders know that their primary job isn’t building a product; it’s assembling world-class talent. People are your product. You are a recruitment company. Everything else is simply a consequence of how well you do that. The biggest competitive advantage you can unlock? Spend more time, effort, and energy hunting for unicorns!

​

“The secret of my success is that we have gone to exceptional lengths to hire the best people in the world.” - Steve Jobs

One of the most common mistakes is that entrepreneurs fall out of love with their own product. At first, there’s so much excitement and passion - it’s the driving force behind everything. The reality of running a business is when challenges start piling up, being as invested then as at the beginning can be difficult. Inefficiency and a lack of commercial focus are also common. Entrepreneurs may focus on the wrong details or fail to make practical, profit-driven decisions. Some entrepreneurs struggle to be truly objective about their offering. This lack of transparency, even with themselves, can hold back progress and improvement. Finally, many give up too early, losing patience just as they might be on the brink of success. Staying passionate, truthful, and persistent is key to avoiding these pitfalls.

One of the most common mistakes is hiring experienced people. Experience usually equates to higher salaries, so not only will you burn through precious cash quickly, in a start-up, experience isn’t always a benefit. Experience can mean people doing it the same way it’s always been done. Naivety can be the super power - people thinking of new ways to do things because they don’t have preconceived ideas on how it ‘should’ be done. It’s amazing how often common sense can be overlooked by experienced people because they are programmed to always do things in the way they are used to.

The single greatest mistake I see young entrepreneurs making is focusing on planning over adaptability. The desire to build out a perfect business plan, a perfect 5-year plan, etc. is dangerous, because the reality is that it doesn't exist. The explorer doesn't set out on his voyage trusting that the seas will remain calm and that he will stay perfectly on course; but rather, in his ability to adapt when the inevitable storms and chaos arrive. You are the explorer and life is your voyage. You don't need to place your trust in the perfect plan, but just in your ability to adapt. Planning is fine, but beware the perils of over-planning. As Mike Tyson famously said, "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth." Be the explorer: Make a plan, set sail, and trust in your ability to adapt when the inevitable punches of the sea start raining down on you.

Many start-up entrepreneurs focus on the “supply-side” of what they do before checking to see if they can generate demand. A typical start-up gets to work building a website and customer portal, hiring developers, designers and customer success agents. They can spend months or even years perfecting their product and only then do they face the realities of winning customers. A smart start-up launches with a basic waiting-list or a pre-launch event. They do 150 sales meeting before they have a product. They run £1500 of ads to test headlines and potential features for an offer that doesn’t yet exist. They sell first and then build if they get strong signals from the market.

Different entrepreneurs make different mistakes, so I'll speak from my own experience of connecting with other women and what their experiences are. The huge mistake female entrepreneurs make is unfortunately to do with confidence. I see it time and time again - women with incredible ideas, but they don't have the confidence either in themself (they believe they are not worthy) and because of this, they don't believe in their product or service. This has a knock on effect, and can cause a variety of issues or mistakes including women underselling themselves, and worst case scenario - marketing that doesn't do that product or service any justice, leading to a stagnation of growth or complacency. This is where people tend to want to give up and quit, because they begin to compare themselves to other businesses and wonder why they're growing at a quicker rate, when in reality the difference comes back to the individual who started the business. Those who thrive are the ones who believe in themselves, and rate their own ideas and aren't afraid to talk about their business, whether that's online or in person to anyone and everyone who will listen.