Survival is more important than succeeding
Businesses fail because of stupidity. Avoiding it is the key to survive failures, and succeed. 67% of small businesses fail within the first 10 years.
Small businesses fail due to five reasons. One, lack of working capital. Businesses require working capital for day-to-day expenses, payroll, fixed and varied overhead expenses (rent and utilities), and vendors. Two, low pricing causes businesses to generate less cash. Heavy discounts and sales promotions do not build businesses. Three, lack of professional business management causes missteps in finances, hiring and marketing. Four, lack of a business plan is shooting in the dark. A sound plan should be in place before offering products to the customers. Five, ignoring marketing results in wrong estimate of key metrics such as cost of acquisition and capital expenditure.
As per Investopedia: A sound business plan should include: a clear description of the business; current and future employee and management needs; opportunities and threats within the broader market; capital needs, including projected cash flow and various budgets; marketing initiatives; and competitor analysis.
Charlie Munger suggests that entrepreneurs should always be inverting. It means to solve a problem backwards, not forwards. Avoiding stupidity is easier than seeking brilliance.
Avoid failure: 20 reasons for failure Link