Startup – keep going or quit?

Over last few years we have seen craze for startups but it is very lonely at the top for the entrepreneurs as they have very few people whom they can approach for help or advice. This makes success rate of startup very low. Hence, the entrepreneurs need to be careful as they need to know how far they can go and when to call a quit.

Do you have a startup which is not working despite your best efforts? Here are few points which will help you in your decision-making process.

Are you in product or service that addresses any of customer’s pain points?

Is industry/market big enough?

Is your business scalable?

Is there any entry barrier? If not whether your product or service is distinctly better than others?

Do you have competent and motivated team?

Do you have adequate funding? How long your funding will last?

Do you have 1/3 years’ business plans? If yes, are you going as per your plan? If not, is negative deviation small?

Do you know what is not working? If yes, do you have ability and resources to fix it?

Sometime you need to be tactical to sustain your business longer without distracting from your end goal. Did you use these tactics? If not, you must try these.

Do you have timeline on when to quit? If yes, are you within your timeline?

If answer to above is yes, you should keep going. If answer is no, then you need to think of quitting. If you decide to quit it is not end of the world. It is also not a total failure. It is just that your idea is good but you are not the person who can execute it well. If so, you should think of passing it on to somebody else who can execute it well so that you can cherish your idea as being “visionary”.

Good luck!

Author: C M Sharma 

Twitter: @cmsharmag