According to many notable entrepreneurs, timing plays the biggest role in the success of a startup. Whether a startup achieves its desired goals or not is often dependent on factors that have affected the success and failure of many startups in the history.
It is, in fact, astonishing to know that many ideas that were not accepted by the masses early on but were later picked by the same people as a great idea. Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to say that perfect timing is the key to every great startup.
With time, the world changes and so do people and their choice. Only the one who can provide people with their changing needs and adapt continuously through time, will find long-time acceptance by the public. Let’s find out how timing affects the success of a startup.
Time to develop and grow
Every startup needs its own time to grow and develop itself before it is launched into the market. This is called the development phase. The time you give to this development can decide the fate of your startup.
If you end up giving less time, you might not be prepared to take on the challenges that the market has to offer. Again, if you give too much time to the development, you might lose the race to your competitors. Hence, it is important to respect the right time and jump into your endeavours.
The perfect time to enter the market
One of the crucial debates for aspiring entrepreneurs has been the timing of the establishment of the startup. Consider these two factors when deciding the ideal time:
Is your product or service ready or not? Are your design requirements done? Factors like the final logo which may often seem trivial are as important. Ensure to implement your logo ideas, website deployment, content, etc. before you go live. You can reach out to Designhill for your logo needs.
If you really want to be appreciated by your customers, you need to give them the best of services you can. Entering unprepared in the market will bring no good. After all, it is surrounded by tough competition. So, if you cannot deliver better than your competitors, there is no reason why people would choose you.
The market plays an indispensable role in the success of a startup. Sometimes, the market may not be ready to accept your product. In such cases, you have to wait. The recession during the launch of Airbnb played a huge role in their success as is the case with Uber. If Amazon was launched a decade before, it may have not been accepted.
The point of change
Successful companies have found ways to change them with time. With time, your product may go out of fashion and that is when you have to change. Many diesel cars are now changing its production to electric cars. Similarly, a lot of brick and mortar stores have moved online with the change in market needs. Sergey Brin, the President of Alphabet once quoted, “If you are not providing as per the needs of the customer, you are out of the game”. For a successful startup experience, you have to find the point in time where you have to change.
How quick should you change?
As important it is to know to change, it is equally important to know how fast to change. Timing also decides the pace at which you must change and grow to sustain in the market. Sometimes, a new trend spreads fast only to witness that it doesn’t work for all. If you go wrong, you might end up being completely irrelevant to the public. The pace at which you change depends on changing needs of the customers.
Time to move on
It is perhaps the most important and the least perceived thing in the market. Timing has a high role in our success as well as in our failures. Clinging to something you believe in is important but sometimes, that something may be too far-fetched to cling to. Sometimes, you just have to let go.
Even moving on has the right time. If you don’t move on when it’s time, you may lose opportunities waiting for you in the future. Again, if you give up too early, you might fall just a step ahead of the success you have always desired to achieve. A wise entrepreneur always understands it and moves on when the time has arrived.
These were some of the crucial ways time can affect your endeavours. What makes a startup succeed or fail depends upon a lot of factors, some are in your hand and others are truly out of your reach. But to know the right time to take the important decisions is not one of those factors.
When we talk about startups, we talk about failures as learning experiences. Perhaps, the most important thing there is to learn is timing because nobody can teach you that except time itself. Sometimes it takes a lot of failures to know the art of timing and it is always worth it.
So, to all the aspiring entrepreneurs that are carrying their dreams in their eyes and have the courage to live it, jump into the unknown and be prepared to take whatever comes out of it. Because while success will bring you happiness, failure will bring learning and perhaps the most important of those learnings is to know when to jump again.