Original post by KEVIN COLLERAN via WSJ
KEVIN COLLERAN: Most entrepreneurs will not succeed in building the next global business success story. In fact, they are even unlikely to build a business that can be self-sustaining. Yet the allure of entrepreneurship and the chance to build a product or company that changes the world is overwhelmingly motivating and justifies the risk for many. Rather than looking back on the mistakes that entrepreneurs have made in the past, let’s look forward at the potential pitfalls that entrepreneurs just starting out should avoid:
Don’t chase momentum if there is no viable business model. All too often entrepreneurs get enamored with the early growth and traction of their product and forget all about sustainable business models. There are few examples of this strategy working successfully, but the graveyards full of companies that have suffered tragic deaths by this same model are vast. Ideas that seemed “smart” in the early 2000s and even in the past several years seem pretty ridiculous now. The truth is that rapid traction, growth and momentum do not always equal business success.
