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Writer's pictureChang Liu

Seven Fallacies You Should Know Before Doing Startup Entrepreneurship

Updated: Apr 11, 2021

A beginner entrepreneur refers to someone who is starting or plunging for the first time. It does not matter whether the person is 60 years of 16 years old, or whether he is a professor or a high school students.


The problem of fallacies, is that they all sounds logical.

The top seven fallacies are:


Fallacy 1: I finally got a good idea, a perfect plan. (The idea is everything fallacy)

Fallacy 2: I have knowledge but not direct building skills, but that is OK. (The chance fallacy)

Fallacy 3: I finally decide to form a company to get into business. (The company equals business fallacy)

Fallacy 4: I will build something and sell it to people who will pay me. (The world has vacuum fallacy)

Fallacy 5: I will do something with benefits and satisfy needs. It is what the society needs. (The better world fallacy)

Fallacy 6: The lean startup MVP lottery fallacy: I don't have skill don't have money don't know anything about a market but I got one shinning great idea to solve a problem for people I don't know.

Fallacy 7: I have knowledge. I deserve a startup success.


The cures are:


Cure about ideas (Fallacy 1):

Ideas are all good. The execution of an idea is the real art. Clever people come up with ideas that has "no problem" and "no obstacles", genius come up implementation plans and execute it by defeating the difficulties.

Idea is but part 1 of success. 9 parts is work and details execution. And 90 parts is the marketing.

Every idea is a hypothesis. Bring it to market takes founder's tenacity, and the existence and growth depend on ecosystem and nature selection. Stop thinking in vacuum about perfect plans. If you want to try, you do it, you try it.


Don't hold the ball forever and throw up a reckless shot, it will miss. You should throw up the ball - it is your practice. If you miss, it is expected and OK. Good players keeps making junks, like Edison and Michael Jordan.


Cures about skills (Fallacy 2):

If you want to build something, you need to build it yourself. There is no Fivrr contractor who is going to build the core components of your system.


Cures about company (Fallacy 3):

Many companies have no business. They could not find a buyer. Things they can build don't sell, things that can sell they can not build. Don't worry about building a company - companies are only the institution that carry out a business.


We are all used to quality products, but it does not mean you know how to build one. Modern business specialize and scale through automation to provide high quality and low price to bait end consumers. it is hard to take a gamble with a lottery by yourself and expect the world to appreciate anything.


Cures about build it first (Fallacy 4)

If you build something, no one will come. Even if they come, they may not come predictably. Even if they come predictably, you may not have profits. Money losing business is everywhere. Don't make or invent one.

The world looks mostly empty. But it is actually full.

Cure about "I will benefit the society" (Fallacy 5)

Benefiting the society sounds cool and irrefutably strong reason. However, a society is a mesh of networks and relations and supply chains. Introducing something brand new to a society will not win approval and acceptance and internalization. You want a solution that the society wants to accept.


If you are a straight A students, you are now entering a maze carefully woven by B and C and D students in your class.


For example, if you get rid of all gangs, then the police will have no job. So the police may not like all gangs to be gone. As such, society is complicated. Everyone has tangled interests. Without understanding them in the market setting, you won't untangle the door to the market.

Good things don't sell. You need a buyer to sell things.
All things that sell can solve a problem. However, inventing a "problem solver" does not guarantee a sell.

Cure for vacuum thinking (Fallacy 6)


After you make something, you have to take it to the market, get customer to the table, and sell it to them. Each step is extremely difficult and takes a lot of money. The society does not need new products - only big disruptions can get enough excitement to get into the market.


The world does not need any new things. The "you build it and they will come" era is over.


Cure for knowledge fallacy (Fallacy 7)


Knowledge accumulated in schools, graduate schools and academic institutions are common knowledge. They don't command high price. The real valuable knowledge are the things no one want you to know even exist. You have to experience the priceless, deep knowledge by focusing on the market and every detail.


They are broad and exciting, but no replacement for DEEP knowledge, experiential knowledge, market insider knowledge.


 

Some additional sub fallacies related to the seven


Fallacy 8: I can do it myself fallacy

Fallacy 9: People may buy what i build and give me desired price fallacy.

Fallacy 10: I will sell hard fallacy.

Fallacy 11: I will let people on social network know fallacy

Fallacy 12: I will get rich fallacy (startup and company is just work. Few people really get rich. You just lose all vacation days).


Fallacy 11: I will let people on social network know fallacy


They believe they can reach quality, they believe they can reach audience and catch their attention, they believe they can engage customer one on one, and they believe they can command price. The reality is, the cost of marketing and reaching out is increasing higher as social networking and digital marketing is booming. The marketing is the speed bump, and it is artificial. The market is only place people pay and look for bargain.

 

The bigger fallacy bubble

All the fallacies come from our education system failure, which does not teach experience and skills, does not teach failure stories, and emphasize broad knowledge. It makes a lot of people who things there is:

  • vacuum

  • chance

  • knowledge power

  • idea power

  • dream power

  • the world is fair and needs to be better or perfect

  • success at school, failure, success.

Never think that you are clever. "Be Stupid" means never think you are clever.


Never think about improvements of small ideas. They are not business to implement or solve. Think big, think bold. Find LARGE BUSINESSES to disrupt.

 

What is the right way to go?

An ideal world view does not involve the society. Unfortunately, business is society, society is science, and business is science. This is the science you must experience, because no one will teach.

Choose what business you want to do. Choose who is your business buyer. Don't go into a company lottery or startup theater.

In startup, you should prepare and train. It is like a sports - your clever idea of a play does not make a victory of a game. Startup is a skill that takes many practices. Get good at it, and wait for time.


Failures are inevitable and mandatory for success. Success is knowing all ways to fail. At schools you learn broad knowledge, at startup you build deep knowledge by experience.


There is no such thing as failure. A failure is just a true learning.


In a vision, you start walking to a mountain. In a dream, the mountain walks to you. In a fallacy, the mountain is already here.

 

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