【Management 0328】这几个步骤能帮你提高创业成功的几率

刘颖

The Entrepreneur Insiders network is an online community where the most thoughtful and influential people in America’s startup scene contribute answers to timely questions about entrepreneurship and careers. Today’s answer to the question, “What must every entrepreneur know about startup success?” is written by Tina Hay, CEO of Napkin Finance.

The rise of many prominent, self-made business moguls has led to a lot of discussion about what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. If you’re considering starting your own business, you need to ensure your focus is clear and your plan is actionable. The following steps should help you maximize your chances of launching a successful startup:

Beginning stage

If you have the entrepreneurial spark, it’s likely you have lots of ideas. Resist the urge to pursue every new avenue. Choose the path that is mostly likely to be successful and focus on building on that idea.

All businesses need capital to get off the ground, which means you’ll have to ask for it. This doesn’t mean you should take investments from anyone. But you will need to get comfortable putting yourself and your idea out there and asking for people to support your startup financially.

Raising money can be a full-time job and the constant rebuffs from investors can take their toll. I have had my share of rejections, but have also been very lucky to attract investors that became our greatest allies. All of this took time and patience. The lesson was to have a focused and strategic process for fundraising and to manage our internal bandwidth and resources to keep us moving forward in the meantime.

Also remember that the most successful startups don’t just add something to the marketplace, they solve a problem. Even if you have an amazing, creative invention that the world has never seen, it’s unlikely to take off if it doesn’t meet the needs of a large enough proportion of consumers.

Getting to market

Starting a company can be overwhelming, and having investors and co-founders will only increase this pressure. The most important tip successful entrepreneurs give is to take action—any action. If you’re feeling stuck, break down the next stage of development into the smallest possible tasks, and then keep moving forward.

One of the biggest challenges in launching Napkin Finance was staying focused. New ideas, partnerships, and features were important for our long-term strategy, but early on they were distractions and delayed the launch of our core product. I avoided getting stuck by having systems in place that helped our team focus on immediate goals. We used product management software to collaborate and keep us committed to a timeline.

Keep in mind that the best market research comes from simply launching your product. You don’t need to go all-in right away, but you definitely don’t need to wait until your product is “perfect.” Release your product, iterate, and see how the market responds; then adjust accordingly.

Post-launch

One of the hardest lessons new entrepreneurs learn is that nothing happens as quickly as you think. Be prepared for everything to take longer than you planned, and for the evolution of your product to continue long after launch. Let the progression flow naturally; don’t rush yourself or your product.

You are going to fail, maybe several times. Failing is perfectly fine, as long as you learn to dissect your failure and learn from it. You should also try to fail as cheaply as possible by resisting the urge to go all-in right away. Consider strategically limiting advertising budgets or production runs until you see what works.

No matter how much you love an idea, you’re not the one that decides if it’s worthwhile—the consumer is. If you launch a product and it’s unsuccessful, trust the market. Don’t try to push a product that no one wants by offering a discount price or increasing your advertising budget. Instead, focus on improving the product or developing something new.

刘颖

TRANSLATIONS

透视企业家是美国的一个在线社区，美国创业界最睿智、最有影响力的一些大咖会在这里及时回答与创业和职场有关的问题。今天的问题是：初创公司若想成功，企业家应该具备哪些知识？回答者是多媒体理财咨询公司Napkin Finance首席执行官Tina Hay。

近来许多杰出的商界大亨白手起家，引发了成功企业家应具备哪些素质的热议。假如你在考虑开始创业，要确保重点明确，计划可行。以下步骤能帮助你尽量提高创业成功的几率。

初创期

要是有了创业的灵感，你脑子里可能有许多点子，但要克制冲动不能每条新路都走一下，挑选最有可能成功的道路，然后努力实现目标。

企业都需要启动资金，所以创业者都得找融资，但并不意味着不管哪的钱都要一概接受，应该坦然亮出自己的态度和想法，请对方在财务上支持你。

募资是一项全职工作，你可能经常遭到投资者拒绝而备受打击。我被拒过很多次，但也很有幸遇到一些后来成为好盟友的投资者。这一切都要投入时间和耐心。我吸取的教训是，融资的过程要有战略性，有侧重点，还要管控公司员工的精力和资源，确保大家同步前进。

另外别忘了，最成功的初创公司不是给市场锦上添花，而是要解决实实在在的问题。即便你想出了一项举世震惊的发明，但如果无法满足相当多一部分消费者的需求，成功的机会也很渺茫。

进入市场

创业会让你压力山大，投资人和联合创始人只会让压力有增无减。成功企业家最大的秘诀便是采取行动，不管怎样先动起来。如果你感到陷入僵局，不妨拆分下一阶段的工作，分解成尽量小的任务，然后持续推进。

Napkin Finance成立期间的最大挑战是保持专注。新创意、新合作伙伴和新功能上线对我们的长期战略固然很重要，但在创业之初，这些都会分散创业者注意力，导致核心产品不断拖延。为避免负面影响，我设立了一些系统，帮助团队专注近期目标。我们使用产品管理软件相互协作，保证遵循计划安排如期达成目标。

请谨记，只有先发布产品，才能谈得上真正的市场研究。倒不用急匆匆推出产品孤注一掷，但肯定不能等到产品“做到完美”再推出，迅速发布产品，多次迭代，看市场反响如何再相应调整即可。

产品发布后

创业新手应该汲取的一大深刻教训是，任何事都不会如想象中迅速。一切进展都可能比计划中耗时久，产品发布后的改进也会是漫长的过程。你要为此做好准备，让公司自然发展，不要把自己逼得太紧，也不要对产品揠苗助长。

你会失败，可能屡战屡败。如果能好好分析失败案例，吃一堑、长一智，失败焉知非福。你也要尽可能降低失败的成本，克制追求一击即中的冲动。不妨考虑一下，获得收益以前限制广告或者产品运营的预算。

无论多钟爱某个创意，你都无法决定其价值，决定权在消费者手中。假如你推出的一款产品没能获得成功，请相信市场的判断。不要通过打折或者增加广告投入强推消费者不感兴趣的产品，多想想如何改进现有产品，或者直接放弃转而开发新产品。