July 21, 2010 at 13:17Startup Euphoric Syndrome
According to various statistics, 80-90% of companies go bankrupt in the first year of their existence. Simply put, there are no logical prerequisites for organizing your business, the probability of winning is comparable to playing roulette. It is not surprising that all start-ups are distinguished by un motivated optimism, which encourages them to open their own business.
Watching various start-ups, I began to notice that each new project goes through 3 phases of development: “euphoric”, “depressive” and “realistic”
At first, the beginning entrepreneur thinks that he will have everything very, very good, you just need to start. You can argue with him as much as you like. To prove that he is wrong, to give arguments. Even to the most convincing arguments, he will answer that he “feels the coming success” and you will be left without counterarguments. It is at this stage that the entrepreneur makes all the most ridiculous mistakes, including the waste of money on beautiful desks, office repairs and an expensive logo. He is confident that his business is about to meet with resounding success. This is a typical "euphoric syndrome of a beginner start-upper."
But the music does not play for long. Usually, a severe “depressive” stage occurs within 6-8 months. Suddenly it turns out that the idea is so-so, there are no users, and all the money was spent on unnecessary chairs and monitors, which are “very convenient to work with”. Money is gradually running out, and no ideas to change the situation arise. It is at this point that most companies go bankrupt and close, creating the statistics mentioned above, and only a few are destined to go further.
It seems to me that the project will pass this stage or not, it depends not so much on objective macroeconomic reasons, not on an idea, but on a team. If a team on a project is cohesive, if it is self-sufficient and able to develop, analyze and produce a product despite the fact that everything is not as cool as it was thought at the beginning, sooner or later they will come up. That is, it is not a fact that they will become very rich (this already depends on the chosen idea and market), but that the project will survive and occupy its niche is almost guaranteed. It is no coincidence that investors at the seed stage are not interested in an idea, but only in a team.
In any case, when they go through this “depressive” phase and turn out to be “realistic,” they will slowly begin to understand how the market in which they are really working, what the real users look like. Most likely, it will turn out here that everything had to be done differently, and we had to sit down for alterations, but it is this knowledge and understanding of the market that will ultimately ensure the success of the project.
The most annoying thing is that after that comes the understanding that the chosen topic was "not very", that it was necessary to do something else, that everyone around was engaged in real business, and you have "everything is not right", but it just lets you know again about myself a new euphoric syndrome. It begins to seem that just start doing other business and everything will be fine.
We also stepped on and are stepping on this rake. We also launched all our projects ( www.qtrack.ru , www.qcrm.ru , etc.), being in a state of euphoria. But with experience, understanding the nature of these 3 phases, you begin to “pass” them more adequately and competently: you act carefully at the beginning, carefully study the experience gained later.
The original post was posted on my personal blog . M. Tokovinin.
Watching various start-ups, I began to notice that each new project goes through 3 phases of development: “euphoric”, “depressive” and “realistic”
At first, the beginning entrepreneur thinks that he will have everything very, very good, you just need to start. You can argue with him as much as you like. To prove that he is wrong, to give arguments. Even to the most convincing arguments, he will answer that he “feels the coming success” and you will be left without counterarguments. It is at this stage that the entrepreneur makes all the most ridiculous mistakes, including the waste of money on beautiful desks, office repairs and an expensive logo. He is confident that his business is about to meet with resounding success. This is a typical "euphoric syndrome of a beginner start-upper."
But the music does not play for long. Usually, a severe “depressive” stage occurs within 6-8 months. Suddenly it turns out that the idea is so-so, there are no users, and all the money was spent on unnecessary chairs and monitors, which are “very convenient to work with”. Money is gradually running out, and no ideas to change the situation arise. It is at this point that most companies go bankrupt and close, creating the statistics mentioned above, and only a few are destined to go further.
It seems to me that the project will pass this stage or not, it depends not so much on objective macroeconomic reasons, not on an idea, but on a team. If a team on a project is cohesive, if it is self-sufficient and able to develop, analyze and produce a product despite the fact that everything is not as cool as it was thought at the beginning, sooner or later they will come up. That is, it is not a fact that they will become very rich (this already depends on the chosen idea and market), but that the project will survive and occupy its niche is almost guaranteed. It is no coincidence that investors at the seed stage are not interested in an idea, but only in a team.
In any case, when they go through this “depressive” phase and turn out to be “realistic,” they will slowly begin to understand how the market in which they are really working, what the real users look like. Most likely, it will turn out here that everything had to be done differently, and we had to sit down for alterations, but it is this knowledge and understanding of the market that will ultimately ensure the success of the project.
The most annoying thing is that after that comes the understanding that the chosen topic was "not very", that it was necessary to do something else, that everyone around was engaged in real business, and you have "everything is not right", but it just lets you know again about myself a new euphoric syndrome. It begins to seem that just start doing other business and everything will be fine.
We also stepped on and are stepping on this rake. We also launched all our projects ( www.qtrack.ru , www.qcrm.ru , etc.), being in a state of euphoria. But with experience, understanding the nature of these 3 phases, you begin to “pass” them more adequately and competently: you act carefully at the beginning, carefully study the experience gained later.
The original post was posted on my personal blog . M. Tokovinin.