5 mistakes new college grads make as they enter entrepreneurship

5 mistakes new college grads make as they enter entrepreneurship5 mistakes new college grads make as they enter entrepreneurshipIts that time of year again. Thousands of qualified college graduates are getting set to enter the workforce. They were promised that their hard work and diligence will earn them an attractive job and a high chance of success. With ambition, motivation, and dreams, scores of young men and women will forge their way into the geschftlicher umgang world.Some of them have lofty goals of entrepreneurship. Many are under the impression that whatever works for high profile examples of successful leaders in geschftliches miteinander will also work for them. Public information and theory are often misleading, and so is attempting to imitate another companys or leaders blueprint.According to some experts, new college graduates often make five brutal mistakes as they try to navigate their potential new enterprise.1. Recent college graduates think they know a lot mora t han they do upon graduationImplementation is different from theory and ideas, so you need to be able to bring operational performance and many other skills to the table. Knowledge is one thing, but true execution will provide the experience you really need.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and more2. Many do not understand how funding works and the capital needed in the initial phases of a businessInexperienced people are misled when it comes to startup funding and what is needed to begin and grow a business. Often young founders dont think about basic concepts like unit economics, which is selling something for more than what it costs to make. Even some very well funded startups tend to ignore this.3. Raising funds does not equal successMany young entrepreneurs are focused on the superficial belief that the more money they raise, the more successful their business is going to be. While its true that, everything else being equal, having more money to spend on your business is good, there is a lot more to it than that simple formula. Plenty of businesses fail because they raised too much money and it encouraged them to do things that didnt make sense.Many other businesses fail because they raised money that they believed would fund all of their dreams of growth, but it wasnt nearly enough. Other businesses fail because they raise the wrong kind of money, such as debt they cant repay on time or equity that causes them to lose control of their business.4. Inexperienced founders often overestimate their own importance and dont appreciate the importance of the team they build around themIt is not easy to find skilled people who also happen to be a good fit for the culture and mission of your enterprise. This takes a lot more time, effort, and trial and error than many founders realize if they havent done it before.You need a great team to build a great team. But that th e classic chicken and egg problem you have to solve. You have to be careful, and realize you will make mistakes, about who you hire early in the life of your company. Only offer substantial equity and responsibility to those who have proven themselves.Recognize your hiring mistakes and correct them quickly. Teams often dont rise to the level of their best people. They often sink to the level of their worst people. Keep that in mind as you build your company.5. Know and own your limitationsYoung innovators especially, though it applies even to more experienced entrepreneurs, tend to lack self-awareness of their own weaknesses. These blind spots can be disastrous. Most highly successful people understand their weaknesses and surround themselves with others who can do what they cannot, who share a similar vision, and with whom they can collaborate. Inexperience can lead to overconfidence. This is an especially dangerous pitfall for early-stage startups and new entrepreneurs.Elizabeth H olmes and Theranos is a good example of the culmination of all five of these mistakes and what inexperience can do to a business idea. She raised $900 million. Her company was worth billions. She was on the cover of magazines and featured on TV shows and one of the best founders in a generation. But it ended in failure and she may go to prison for her behavior.There are real-world, and sometimes life-altering, consequences for making these mistakes. Think through your decisions carefully and be aware of the risks you take as you pursue your exciting and hopefully rewarding entrepreneurial journey.Christopher Grey is the cofounder and COO of CapLinked, an enterprise software company offering an information-control and risk-mitigation platform for the sharing of confidential or sensitive documents and communications outside of the enterprise. Previously, he was a senior executive and managing partner in private equity and corporate finance for 15 years. Grey founded two companies Cre stridge Investments and Third Wave Partners and was managing director of a subsidiary of Emigrant Bank, the largest privately owned bank in the country.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people