Startup Advice from Some of the Most Watched Startups

If you could ask some of the nation’s most successful small business owners about the mistakes they made in the early stages of their startup, wouldn’t that be valuable information? Fox recently asked some of the founders of the newest up and coming startups, some you have probably never heard of. Nonetheless, they’re making waves in the entrepreneurial space after landing on the list of the 10 New York City Startups to Watch. Here’s what they said.

Location

Adapt.ly works with advertising companies to put construct, execute, and analyze advertising campaigns on social media platforms. The founders of the startup said that their biggest mistake was not getting to New York soon enough. Since New York is where some of the largest advertising firms are located, they found that they had to go to their audience.

If you want your business to be more than a local business, you may have to move to an area where there is more demand and more networking opportunities.

Don’t do it all

Fab is a social shopping website that has gained four million users. There CMO, Scott Ballantyne, advises to focus on doing a few things really well instead of trying to be a comprehensive company. Businesses are not only in competition locally, but also nationally and internationally because of technology. Be the best at what you do instead of trying to do a lot of things mediocre. Business with focus gain more success than those that try to do everything.

Advertise Early

TruthArtBeauty is a platform that allows customers to create custom skincare blends for their catalog of natural ingredients. Co founders Caron Proschan and Emily Graham say that their biggest mistake was to start advertising after the launch instead of building buzz before they opened their virtual doors. It’s going to take a lot of time to acquire customers. Start as soon as your product or service is developed enough to show to the public.

Just do it

Sidetour is a marketplace where users can host or attend experiences and activities. It’s founder said that they spent too much time trying to develop the perfect idea instead of building and launching. Launching a quality product is important but delaying for years only eats up value startup funding.

Bottom Line

You can’t avoid all of the pitfalls of starting a business but reading other people’s stories as well as talking to local business owners about their startup challenges will help you to avoid the mistakes that others made before you.