It’s a paradox. Next to homeownership, owning your own company is the American Dream. Yet, most start-ups fail. A staggering 80%+ is the statistic. Unsurprisingly, the second leading cause of start-up failure is unbalanced experience at 30%, with the first being incompetence at 46%.
Like the pursuit of being a physician, being a business owner embodies commitment on a higher level. You break away from the 8am-5pm to a 24/7 consuming commitment. It’s not a job, but a vocation, a calling. The siren song attracts many and weeds out most. A select few make history, create jobs for others, and become the true masters of their destinies.
Millions of individuals around the world take on the Herculean responsibility of small business ownership. According to Dr. Paul D. Reynolds, Director, Research Institute, Global Entrepreneurship Center, “There are about 300 million persons trying to start about 150 million businesses. About one third will be launched, so you can assume 50 million new firm births per year. Or about 137,000 per day.”
At Skillquo, we have made our own business out of helping more of these budding American Dreams a reality. We all understand that having a phenomenal idea is only the beginning – the most basic pre-requisite of building your own lasting company.
So, what does it take to create a company with a success that endures? After researching 100s of start-ups (112 to be precise) we filtered it down to the following qualities:
1) An absolute passion that consumes the founder, where money is NOT the ultimate goal.
2) A tangible or intangible product that serves definitive and current need in the marketplace.
3) Success is attained within the first year of operation. Almost always, a company that is successful attains profits in the first year.
4) A company with more than one co-founder. Wait! Before you start spouting out companies with one figurehead, this is based off a statistic. Two heads are generally better than one and are 30% more successful garnering funding.
5) Developing the right mentoring and partnership relationships.
Stay tuned for the SkillQuo ‘American Dream Series’ of podcasts and articles. We will talk to an entrepreneur each month to share their journey and story.
