5 Things To Remember When Launching a Startup

This post has been written by Dario D'Onofrio, author of two blogs about Web 2.0 startups: Businesshackers and Amazing Startups. Check these blogs for more startups reviews and tips.

The word startup is becoming more and more popular nowadays, and recognizing good projects is getting harder and harder. There are a few things to consider no matter which sector you are taking into consideration:

1. Always find out what the total cost will be. It sounds like an obvious advice but actually 20-30% of startups are left because of financial problems. What you have to consider is both initial investments and future costs. Discounted Cash Flows analysis is a good method used to evaluate projects, try it if you have never used it.

2. Never try to imitate something just because someone else has made money on it.It doesn't seem like a good idea to launch a website called gogle just because Google has been successful. Keep in mind that 80% of profits come from 20% of projects. In a nutshell: avoid inventing the wheel again.

3. Get media coverage as soon as possible.What really matters is traffic, and what really helps to drive traffic to your startup (in case it is a website) is media. Newspapers are definitely a good choice, but some blogs are more influential than the NYT.

4. Tell your friends about it. I know, it sounds stupid, but imagine how many of your friends will tell their neighbours, family members and colleagues that there is an amazing project on. The project is obviously your startup, right?

5. Try to be determined. Sometimes it is really difficult not to give up, but that's the only way to carry on. I know it very well - Businesshackers has had good and bad days in the past.

My personal advice: think about what you want to achieve and do your best.