Why is it so difficult to start a business? Here are a few key points where you may fail

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After several entrepreneurial teams such as Yunshi Chain were exposed, the moral issues of entrepreneurs began to be put on the table for discussion. The whole society began a wave of reflection on "entrepreneurs", and the inappropriate remarks of the "domineering president" Yu Jiawen once again pushed this wave to the peak, and there was a constant stream of condemnation for a while.

Although Yu Jiawen issued a public apology soon after, he was still accused of lack of sincerity, which may be the beginning of another round of hype. Today, Eric's article will not discuss Yu Jiawen's behavior, but I hope to take this opportunity to talk about the key points where entrepreneurs may die on this difficult road.

In the initial stage, each is the king

Most startups die in the early stages, which is the most difficult stage. The entire team is always on the verge of collapse. The most important reason at this time is insufficient operating funds, which leads to a series of problems in project promotion. However, the biggest problem is that everyone is king.

The entrepreneurs mentioned in this article are mainly real grassroots entrepreneurs. Teams like Li Ruigang and Li Huaiyu who started their businesses with huge amounts of money are not within the scope of this article. Although funding is indeed a big problem for grassroots entrepreneurial teams, the biggest problem that ultimately leads to their demise is the lack of a leader.

This type of entrepreneurial team is basically brought together because of similar aspirations. Eric has participated in or witnessed many such teams in the past few years. The biggest impression left is the low work efficiency. Although there is a leader in the team, since everyone's investment or contribution is basically equal, the control is very weak, which directly leads to poor work arrangements.

Among the team that is lucky enough to survive, a soul figure who holds the core value will gradually emerge. At this time, the value distribution will have problems, and the equity issue will be exposed at this time. And the person who actually creates value is likely to be different from the person who holds the legal person qualification or the actual leader, and internal fighting will occur at this time. The internal strife of Xishaoye was caused by this problem, and it ended in a bad mood.

Since the hit of "Why I Quit My Job to Sell Roujiamo", Xishaoye Roujiamo quickly became popular, with its valuation soaring to 40 million yuan. However, Xishaoye, which had survived the hard times, did not usher in spring, but entered a difficult winter. The reason is still unclear, and Song Xin also went out and established "New Xishao" to compete with Xishaoye.

The peaks follow, the giants crush

The huge population base has resulted in China having several times more entrepreneurs than foreign countries. Once a product gains market recognition, it will be quickly followed by peers, and a large number of peaks will follow. The end result is that the market will quickly expand, forming a huge outlet, but at the same time, the market share of the start-up team may be diluted.

The market cycle in the mobile Internet era undergoes earth-shaking changes almost every few months. As soon as a project emerges, it will be copied and spread everywhere. In order to invest in the next Alibaba or the next Facebook, investors are willing to invest in conceptual teams, which eventually forms a huge market bubble.

In addition to following the crowd, the crushing of giants has also become a key factor in determining the life and death of entrepreneurial teams. At present, the entire Internet market has almost been divided into three parts by BAT. Most companies have more or less chosen to stand on the same side, and many projects have become cannon fodder in the crushing of giants. The most typical case is the battle between Didi and Kuaidi last year, where a large number of similar teams became victims in the battle between Alibaba and Tencent.

Unclear main business, greed for perfection

Internet startups have a strong media attribute. Everyone is moving forward under the spotlight. If you are not careful, you may be overwhelmed by the applause and flowers. Many startup teams become confused under such circumstances, and they modify their corporate goals again and again. In order to gain more applause, greater popularity, and higher valuations, they start talking about concepts and feelings, and they also try to build an ecosystem. In the end, their size expands rapidly and they are bloated to death.

From the earliest Zhuhai Giant Building and PPG to the later Vancl and Dangdang, all of them were in this situation. A simple thing, under the media's hype, the founder immediately felt a little restless and thought he should do something greater. The Giant Building collapsed, PPG collapsed, and Vancl and Dangdang went from simply selling shirts and books to a full-category e-commerce website. After finding that it didn't work, they started to do subtraction and eventually missed the market opportunity.

Chinese Internet companies have a very obvious characteristic, that is, they always want to build an ecosystem, but they don’t understand what an ecosystem is. The final result is that they do everything that is related to themselves, calling it building an ecological closed loop, but in fact, the essence is greed for perfection. The so-called ecosystem should be a community of interests, like Taobao, where a large number of photographers, artists, web designers, models, logistics and express delivery, and even gray industries are attached to it, forming an ecosystem where everyone prospers together.

However, the ecosystem created by most companies is actually to put all the profits into their own pockets, hoping to dominate the entire upstream and downstream and control every link. So we see that e-commerce has also started to do logistics, logistics has also started to do e-commerce, e-commerce has also been involved in social networking, and social networking has also started e-commerce, and the entire market has finally become a mess.

The media is praising them, and their hearts are swelling

The fourth point is actually an extension of the third point, that is, many media outlets are intentionally or unintentionally praising some entrepreneurs. In order to follow market trends, clicks and sales, many media outlets will irresponsibly report on entrepreneurial teams when they first emerge.

The most typical case is an entrepreneur that Eric saw on a job-hunting show. His family was neither too good nor too bad. He started a startup project while in school and made a little money, which attracted some people's attention. However, under the packaging of some media, the whole story became an inspirational story of a poor student who started a part-time business to supplement his family income and earn tuition fees. The monthly turnover of 10,000 yuan became a monthly profit of 10,000 yuan. Every point under the whole packaging is to cater to the tastes of readers.

The most frightening thing is that this entrepreneur found that the media liked to report in this way, and then she also learned this trick, constantly exaggerating and packaging her resume. When the whole society is condemning Yu Jiawen and others, it actually needs to reflect on who taught entrepreneurs to exaggerate their projects and ultimately rely on hype news to gain promotion.

In the case of Yu Jiawen, the media often first praises him, then criticizes him, lacking self-reflection, which is actually unfair to entrepreneurs. In the final analysis, it is the impetuous business bubble that has led to all of this. As a fledgling entrepreneur, as a young person, it is easy for self-confidence to swell under the huge halo.