3 Mistakes To Avoid In A Startup – Jared Blank – Founder TripMela
We spoke to Jared Blank who recently took the difficult decision of shutting down his company Tripmela. We spoke to him on the 3 mistakes that a startup should avoid. Here is our interview with him.
WATBlog: 3 mistakes that entrepreneurs should be wary of making while running a startup?
Jared: If you only make 3 mistakes as a startup you are the world’s greatest entrepreneur 
That said, I think the top 3 mistakes to look out for are:
- You need a sufficient amount of funding from the beginning. There is no problem starting with a small friends and family round to do a proof of concept and prove that the idea may work. But very, very soon after that you need to start looking for the next round of capital. Of course you need to be careful with how you spend the investment. But insufficient funding will not allow you the room to make the mistakes that every startup will make in its first year.
- Create a board of advisers from the very beginning whom you can trust for strategic advice. Being an entrepreneur is actually quite lonely, and there were many times when I had no idea how to solve a problem we were having. Creating a board very early on will help provide a range of opinions on the company’s major issues and help you foresee problems that you may not have seen coming.
- Entrepreneurs need to be very flexible about how they think about their business. It is extremely likely that the idea they had in mind will need to be changed in the first 6 months. Being inflexible will kill the company. You need to think broadly about the idea you have. For us, it took us a long, long time to realize that we were not a site where people can go to find cheap airfares; rather, we were a way for brand advertisers to reach a wealthy audience. It’s a subtle difference, but we went a long time without catering to advertisers (which is crazy, since that’s where the revenue comes from).
Jared: I would’ve focused on our Searchmela fare & hotel search piece of the business. Tripmela was too dependent on cheap travel deals – and the Indian market simply doesn’t have enough deals in the way that the US or European market do. That left us struggling for content. Had we focused instead on search engine optimization and unique content for the Searchmela tool, I think there’s a great business there.
WATBlog: Piece of advice to young budding entrepreneurs?
Jared: Surround yourself with a great team from the beginning, and be as flexible as possible about how you run the business. You have to understand that even though you have a great idea, you don’t have all the answers…
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If you have all three things at the same time you are lucky, almost the time opportunity can’t wait.
IF I have to start where you have stopped I guess I have escaped all the 3 mistakes mention above.
My two cents:
FUNDING: Well, an enterpreneur should be able to measure at all times and cut or increase his team size accordingly. If you believe in yourself, you would come out of it. Worst could be that you might be able to work ALONE for some length of time. But, if one is passionate, he will be able to sell through. After all, 1% success rate in startups has not been set just like that. One has to prove time and again that he really deserves it.
ADVISORY BOARD: This really helps. If one could get some smart guys on advisory board, well and good. If one couldn’t, never mind. Once passion will find the way. Perseverance is key at this point.
FLEXIBILITY: I think this is the MOST CRITICAL part. One MUST NOT fall in love with his idea. Value addition in user’s life MUST always be the key thing to keep in mind.
cheers!
My 2 cents, except a handful all Indian startups are a replica without any innovation.
From their ebay listing
“Revenue was generally in the range of Rs 1,00,000 – Rs 1,25,000 per month. We generated most of this from Searchmela. If you sold advertising in the newsletter, you could do much better that this.”
For a 2 page affiliate marketing site the revenue from Searchmela looks impressive. Wonder how much they spend on Advertisement.
Do we understand that “Innovation” is not only about “Innovative Idea” but also “Innovative Workflows”? This could also be said in simpler manner: Leadership is not only in doing different things, but also about doing things differently.
Cheers!:)