10 Steps to Entrepreneurial Success

Not as easy as it sounds. Nevertheless, here are ten things one can do to increase the chance of entrepreneurial success:

1. Know the business well - Knowing the business by working in the sector or by being connected to it for a long time, will result in valuable insights and invaluable contacts.
2. Plan - Not to be confused with making a business plan. Before you start the venture , the process of venture creation has to be planned out, risks and bottlenecks have to be identified and resources have to be organised.
3. Start small but scalable - Even if you can start big; start small, learn from things that go right and wrong and then expand.
4. Arrange for the money - Do not make assumptions regarding availability of money. Have it on call before you plan on spending it. Also arrange for sufficient money.
5. Burn your bridges - Make the business your sole professional activity; do not have any back up plans in life. That is the way to get hungry for success
6. Hire well - Hire people you need; do not settle for the people available. Sometimes the best way to hire the best talent is to part with a share of your venture.
7. Differentiate - The best way to compete with established players is to have products and services that are sufficiently differentiated from the other offerings in the market.
8. Focus - Everything will seem like a great opportunity but too many products, branches, etc will not be good for the business
9. Persevere - there are likely to be set backs in business, take it in your stride and stick with your business
10. If you fail try again - An out of job software engineer can leverage his experience best by looking for a job in the IT sector. Similarly an entrepreneur can leverage his experience best by starting another venture.