4 Signs That a So-Called Entrepreneur Is Just a 'Wantrepreneur' Entrepreneurs build businesses. Wantrepreneurs find excuses.
By Rahul Varshneya Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
How do you justify spending thousands of dollars in building a product and quitting just midway through the entrepreneurial journey?
Wantrepreneurs find excuses, whatever the situation. On the other hand, entrepreneurs build businesses.
It's a well-documented fact how some of the most successful startups have evolved over the years and they are a very different product from when they first launched.
Every product goes through several iterations, sometimes a pivot, but it's only the wantrepreneurs that quit after launching the first version of their product.
Here are some of the differences between wantrepreneurs and entrepreneurs that I've come across in my experience of helping 100+ entrepreneurs build mobile and web apps.
1. Competitor weakens their stance.
We built an app for a customer in a niche space that was uncharted until then. Just when the product launched on the app store, another app in the same space launched and garnered press and customer traction.
The wantrepreneur shut shop because a competitor launched and got press and customers ahead of them.
How would an entrepreneur approach this situation? They would take a competitor launching ahead of them as a validation of their idea (in an uncharted space).
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In fact, there's a school of thought which says let the first comers educate the customers and make all the mistakes, while you launch in a market where you don't have to sell a concept before the product.
2. More for marketing than product development.
A fantastic product with no marketing budget is far better than a crappy product with over a million dollars in marketing. Customers can see through bad products and experiences.
No amount of advertising or promotion can engage a customer with your product if it doesn't live up to its promise. Wantrepreneurs want to build a product on the cheap, keeping a larger share towards marketing.
By looking for the cheapest deal in product development, they're hurting their business directly and eventually shut shop, often making excuses on why their product didn't work.
3. Underestimating resources.
Wantrepreneurs underestimate the resources required to build a business. It's surprising to see the sheer number of people who still believe that they'd get customers to buy from them once they launch the product.
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The resources needed by entrepreneurs can get overwhelming if one isn't prepared for every step of journey. This can be as basic as requiring funds for product iteration, funds for marketing to a lack of understanding of the kind of resources that can push their startup forward.
For instance, many make the mistake of not having any analytics in the first version of their product. They are left with no intelligence of what customer acquisition campaigns work, what's driving signups and which customer acquisition channel gives the maximum ROI, what's the consumer behavior, etc.
There's no dearth of availability of resources today, which are far more accessible than they ever were. Wantrepreneurs blame it on the lack of availability of resources. Entrepreneurs find the resources they need to build their business.
4. Lack of experience in marketing.
Wantrepreneurs blame their lack of experience in marketing as a reason why they aren't able to scale growth. "I'm a technical person", "I'm a sales guy," are the excuses.
Marketing is nothing but an experiment.
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It's an experiment in finding the relevant target audience, crafting a message that resonates with that audience and ties in well with the product's proposition, being able to identify the right growth channel and being able to effectively use it to scale growth for the product.
Wantrepreneurs are often overwhelmed by marketing and fail to use their common sense while doing their initial experiments. Entrepreneurs explore every medium and run small experiments on each channel with different messaging.
They learn from the mistakes and build on those that work.
There's an important lesson here for every person that's looking to build a business of their own. Don't be a wantrepreneur that looks for excuses. Rather, be an entrepreneur that seeks out solution to their problems.
