Startups, especially in the tech industry, begin and die every day. In fact, approximately 20% of small businesses never make past their first year, while another 50% never make it past the five years mark. The good news is that you don’t have to be part of these statistics. You can be part of the 80% of businesses which make it to the second year. How do you succeed as a tech entrepreneur? The tips below will help you learn what you need to do to succeed in the dynamic world of the digital entrepreneur.
Work on Your Public Speaking Skills
As the digital entrepreneur on the quest to find success, you will at some point need to pitch your ideas to a potential tech entrepreneur partner or an investor. You will also need to introduce your product to potential clients. The only way to get them to buy into your ideas or have confidence in your product is by explaining what you bring to the table.
You need to convince them that your ideas, products, and services will be worthwhile. You cannot do so if you are a poor public speaker. You cannot achieve that if the thought of presenting your ideas to a group of strangers makes you cringe.
Start working on your speaking skills today. People who fear to speak in public often make 10% less than those who exude confidence during public speeches.
Focus on Your Strengths
The thin line between the digital entrepreneur and one who fails lies in how the two individuals handle their strengths and weaknesses. A successful techpreneur often capitalizes on their strong areas and outsources the weakness to experts.
As a result, their product or service ends up being reliable as the weaknesses it could have had were it handled by experts. Those who fail, on the other hand, try to juggle it all.
While it’s okay to believe you can get things done and overcome your weaknesses, trying to do everything singlehandedly is one of the most common entrepreneur mistakes, and also one you should avoid if you’re to become a success.
Surround Yourself with the Right People
As cliché as this may sound, it’s a proven fact that those who you surround yourself with can make or break you. If you are constantly surrounded by a bunch of pessimists, regardless of how optimistic you are, it will be difficult for you to achieve your goals as they’ll always discourage you.
You’ll probably not want to keep going after the first few tries as they’ll not give you the encouragement you need during the early, difficult stages of tech entrepreneurship.
On that note, surround yourself with people who motivate you, and those who support you and keep you on your toes constantly. This is the only way you’re going to propel yourself from ideation to fruition as a digital entrepreneur.
Read a lot
The tech industry is highly dynamic and with each dawn comes a horde of new ideas which disrupt not only tech, but also the entire business realm in general. While your skills and talents are great, the only way to learn what is coming up and create disruptive tech ideas is to read wide.
Read on current and upcoming trends, tech challenges, success stories of tech moguls, and the revolution of technology. This will give you exposure and help you become more innovative. Read books both hard and soft copies, tech entrepreneurship blogs, and always be on the lookout for insightful tech entrepreneur resources.
Remember there’s Nothing Like Overnight Success
Creating a legacy for yourself, especially in the ever-changing tech industry as an entrepreneur is a feat not meant for the faint-hearted. It calls for creativity and comes with a lot of discomforts, uneasiness, and ups and downs.
Successful techpreneurs like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg had to start from scratch. While they are at the pinnacle of success today, they’ve had countless setbacks. In that light, as an individual looking for tips on how to succeed as a tech entrepreneur, you need to keep in mind it won’t be easy. Therefore, be flexible to changes, be ready to make mistakes and learn from them, and remain consistent.