Starting a business can be exciting, but it poses several challenges. Uncertainties around innovation, market shifts, and evolving industry trends are common obstacles to entrepreneurial success.
Approximately 90 percent of startups fail, with 20 percent not making it through their first year. Despite these challenges, nearly 543,000 new businesses are created in the U.S. each month.
If you’re struggling to get your venture off the ground, here are five resources and tools to help you succeed.
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1. Education
Advancing your education is valuable when starting a business and can provide the skills, knowledge, and network to make your venture successful.
One path is attending business school to develop professional skills such as:
While business school can benefit your career, you may not have the time or money to commit to a traditional degree program, such as a master of business administration (MBA). If that’s the case, pursuing education through online courses can offer the flexibility to enhance your professional development as an entrepreneur.
For example, Launching Tech Ventures teaches the skills and frameworks to build a viable, valuable tech venture that can profitably scale.
Related: Entrepreneurship Essentials vs. Launching Tech Ventures: Which Course Is Right for Me?
2. Mentors
Whether you’re a founder or an aspiring entrepreneur, mentors can provide career guidance, industry advice, and networking connections.
If you’re in the market for a mentor to help launch your new business, here are a few factors to consider:
- Experience: Your mentor’s professional experience should align with your startup’s industry.
- Growth mindset: As your venture grows, your mentor should understand your business model and overall goals.
- Mentoring approach: Not all mentors provide the same level of support and guidance. It’s vital to find one who complements your learning style.
As you mull these factors over, jot down people you think might be a strong fit. A mentor could be a colleague, former manager, fellow entrepreneur, or someone in your industry whose work you admire. Before reaching out, be clear about your goals so that when you contact them, you know why you're seeking their advice and what you hope to achieve by learning from them.
3. Industry Publications
Starting a business exposes you to uncertainty. Through seeking guidance, you can learn how to better navigate and deal with ambiguity.
One way to do so is by reading entrepreneurial success stories and business publications, such as the Harvard Business Review, TechCrunch, and Entrepreneur.
Another publication to consider is Seeing Both Sides, the blog of Harvard Business School Senior Lecturer Jeffery Bussgang, who teaches Launching Tech Ventures. In it, Bussgang offers industry expertise around technology startups and venture capitalist funding for founders, investors, and joiners.
If you aren’t a big reader, TED Talks are valuable sources of entrepreneurial information. TED offers an extensive video library showcasing speakers—many of whom are business owners and entrepreneurs—with powerful testimonials, advice, and insights.
4. Ideation Tools
Innovation and creativity are essential to your startup and ensure your product or service remains novel and meets customers' needs.
Innovations don't have to be technological breakthroughs; they can be simple improvements to your business model.
If you’re struggling with this aspect of your business, consider using tools or applications to come up with innovative ideas, such as:
- Lucidchart: A diagramming application that allows you to visually collaborate, revise and share charts, and improve processes, systems, and organizational structures.
- Miro: A collaborative digital whiteboard software to create mind maps, organizational charts, and roadmaps on a single, infinite canvas.
- MindMeister: A mind-mapping tool to organize ideas and boost creativity in brainstorming sessions.
You can also use design thinking to help find product-market fit and develop a successful go-to-market strategy.
Related: Innovation in Business: What It Is & Why It’s So Important
5. Venture Capitalist Firms
Securing funding is critical to launching your business and one of the most challenging tasks you’ll encounter as an entrepreneur.
According to Zippia, around 33 percent of startups begin with less than $5,000 in capital—under half of what most small businesses require to succeed. In addition, a large percentage of entrepreneurs report lacking capital or cash flow.
When financing your startup, consider contacting venture capitalist (VC) firms to help acquire equity. Those firms often play active roles in the companies they back—providing not only capital but also expertise, mentorship, and industry connections.
“Raising VC money isn’t a fit for every startup,” Bussgang says in Launching Tech Ventures. “But for many—particularly those that are technology-oriented—it can be an important step along the path to success.”
Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Help
Asking for help during your startup’s early stages can be difficult. While independence, decisiveness, and self-motivation can fuel success, they can also create overconfidence and self-reliance.
Taking a course in entrepreneurship and innovation could make the difference between your short- and long-term success. For example, in Launching Tech Ventures, you explore the tech industry’s nuances through a highly interactive experience featuring real-world examples that illustrate course concepts.
Do you want to get your startup off the ground? Enroll in Launching Tech Ventures—one of our entrepreneurship and innovation courses—and download our free e-book about how to start your entrepreneurial journey.
