Starting up a business is tough. However, knowing what common pitfalls to avoid makes the process slightly easier. Some entrepreneurs who’ve “been there and done that” throw some light on a few rookie mistakes to avoid when starting up.

1. Choosing the first customer from outside your service reach

Caught up in the excitement of winning the first customer, we often overlook the critical next step – servicing the customer. Nirmal Singh, co-founder and CEO of Wheebox, a talent assessment company, found his first customer 230 kilometers away. “It was a pain to service them. Always get your first customer within your service reach.” he advises.

2. Sidelining the paperwork

In the hurry to start something of your own, we often gloss over the ‘unnecessary administrative work’ thinking we’ll get to it when the business gets going. Mandava Hotels’ founder CEO Murali Bukkapatnam advises against this. While pursuing a previous business idea, Murali learnt the hard way that one can’t dream of attracting investors and scaling up without getting the paperwork in place first.

3. Trying to turn a profit as soon as possible

Murali offers another nugget of wisdom, “Money should be your secondary objective. If making money is your primary objective, you will not get anywhere.” By focusing on the price and not the product offering, you may win in the short-term, but not for long.

4. Only having a plan A

You think you’ve found the next big business idea. You’re going to make it big in no time. But what happens when Plan A fails? Well, Plan B, of course. Except, is there one? “Believing in the statement ‘samjho ki ho gaya’ and not providing for contingencies” is a rookie mistake Rajesh Krishnan, founder of the land banking company, Brick Eagle, made early on. He now knows better!

5. Putting data security on the back burner

A number of things can go wrong in a business. Systems can come crashing down, an employee can take your data and leave, the possibilities are plenty. But if you start out with a robust data security system, you’re mitigating these problems. Having faced an unfortunate incident herself, Kanchan Naikawadi of Indus Health, a preventive healthcare service company, said, “I don’t want to make that mistake again especially as we plan to go international in the next five years”.

6. Ignoring your employees

It takes a while for new businesses to realise that employees are, in many ways, like customers. They need to be kept satisfied too. Speaking of personal interactions with his employees, Bipin Preet Singh, founder of Mobikwik, a mobile and web wallet company, says, “Too engrossed in growing the company, we did not realise how important these small things could be to our employees.”

7. Being wedded to your idea

Murugavel Janakiraman founder-CEO of the hugely successful BharatMatrimony.com has made his share of mistakes. However, one important lesson he’s learnt is to pay attention to telling signs. The company launched mobile matrimony confident it would take off. However, the idea failed in a big way. Instead of putting more money into the idea and pursuing it further, they decided to let it go. If you’re wedded to one particular idea, you run the risk of affecting your entire business.

8. Hiring your clone

“Getting people exactly like you is the worst mistake an entrepreneur can make. It’s important for entre­preneurs to know what they don’t know and I hire the best from that domain” says Hitendra Chaturvedi of Reverse Logistics Company, a logistics business. It’s useful to remember that you aren’t looking for a best friend, but an asset for your business.