Startups.ie

[paulag]

My Mistakes

As a start up micro business I am very much learning from my mistakes. I am still in the pre-launch stage of The Excel club and already learnt so much from the things I could have done differently.

First I outsourced the development of the website using Guru.com. Guru.com however is not the problem. The developers are the problem. They had very good ratings and feedback and my research into the company all came back very positive.
Communication was fantastic at the beginning; however once I made a substantial payment the levels of communication began to slow down and almost came to a complete standstill. The Excel club was due to launch in March, to date the site is not finished. To my frustration no matter how many calls I make or emails I send I get no reply or no satisfactory answers. So what I have taken from this. Would I still outsource? Regardless of geographical distance? Yes I would. Although I would love nothing more that to reach across a desk to my developers and give them a good ass whopping, I failed. I failed to plan for delays and I failed to build in a late completion penalty to my contract.

And that’s not all, as my site was due to launch in March I began a soft launch in February. I promoted my business prematurely. Let’s get real; it’s a micro business not a multinational brand I am trying to promote. Personally I feel its down to credibility, how many time can I say “Launching soon”…….who cares really, just let us know when it is live. I have learned from this too. A basic lesson but a real lesson…………don’t run before you can walk…………………..

[Stephen]

Hi Paula,

Thanks for the post, well if we were to list my startup mistakes we would be here for a very long time...Brody Sweeney has been quoted as saying that he became successful when he ran out of mistakes to make, I often feel the same. As a general rule if it can go wrong it will go wrong however persistence is the key, a good day and a mini triumph is normally just around the corner and this is what keeps me going,

Keep the faith you will get there,

All the best

Stephen