Learning From Mistakes Key To Success
12th October 2010
Bandar Seri Begawan – Winston Churchill once said, “All men make mistakes but only wise men learn from their mistakes,” and many are of the belief that making mistakes is one of the solutions to success.
This simple yet powerful statement can be applied when venturing into the competitive world of business, according to Mentor Advisor at the National University Singapore Enterprise who also believes that mistakes are part and parcel when creating something new, but the key, she highlighted, “is to learn from them.”
As Brunei has set its sights on producing a young population of budding entrepreneurs, Ann Burgraff’s advice is to “create an environment where failing is ok and to be learned from” considering that this is “part of the discovery process and a step towards success.”
She also pointed that investors are typically very keen when investing in start-ups that are founded by individuals who have had a hand in creating companies as such companies have had the opportunity to learn from experience.
To be a successful entrepreneur, she added, one would need: creativity and an open-mind as “great entrepreneurs are often highly creative and have the ability to seek out opportunities in places others don’t see”; persistence, confidence and an optimistic attitude because “It’s key to believe in yourself and your abilities and keep an optimistic outlook.”
Persistence often also really pays off. Mistakes and failure come with the territory of being a successful entrepreneur, and if you’re not making mistakes, you’re not putting yourself out there enough”; and discipline and being a self-starter seeing that, “No one will be there to make sure you show up and do the work for your business, so you have to be self-starting, making sure that you have dedicated time to get things done.”
The biggest mistakes that entrepreneurs and start-ups tend to make, it was pointed, are that many underestimate the time and cost it will take to develop a product and bring it to market, with many technical entrepreneurs underestimating the value and importance of good sales and marketing skills.
What can be expected would be “many surprises”.
She explained, “While I have only been a founding member of a couple of start-ups, I have been an early member of several and most of these companies ended up with a different product or business than the founder(s) originally envisioned – businesses adjusted according to opportunities in the marketplace and feedback from customers.”
Questions should be asked before investing in a new start-up and the basics that can be considered includes finding out whether there is a market for the new business; whether enough research has been done; whether the new product can compete against current and expected competitors, and; whether the team – which “is really important” – is versatile enough and have experience in the field to create, market and sell the product and support the business.
She revealed that Singapore continues to meet success when encouraging young adults to experience successful start-up environments whilst at the same time garnering skills that are needed for real-life situations through means such as the NUS Overseas College that aims to change the way young people view the future.
Through this programme designed to cultivate dynamic and resourceful entrepreneurs, “Students are immersed in the entrepreneurial-academic environments of leading entrepreneurial hubs around the world and Intern with startup companies for up to a year,” where they also learn to be part of a start-up and interact with members of such companies.
She envisions that the next big thing in technology includes “interesting opportunities” in mobile space for both tablets and phone devices and also in the clean tech space.
Prior to moving to Singapore, Ann spent most of her career as a marketing executive in Silicon Valley at several innovative start-ups such as salesforce.com, DoubleClick that is now part of Google, Webaroo and Informative that is part of Satmetrix.
She is also a founding member of a new start-up named ‘Search Ventures’.
She was voted ‘Top Start-up Mentor in Asia’ within ‘The Founder Institute’ in 2010, holds a Bachelors Degree in Marketing and has under her belt more than 15 years experience in marketing software and internet services.
Invited to speak at this year’s Think Big Innovate Forum that has been themed ‘Innovation…Inspiring and Driving Change,’ Ann will discuss ‘Digital Marketing: the Rules of Engagement.’
More information on the upcoming annual technology and entrepreneurship event can be found on www.asiaincforum.com.
—Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin