Smart advice for entrepreneurs

All would-be entrepreneurs are told that ‘most start-ups fail’. A popular factoid from the US says nine out of ten new businesses don’t survive. UK statistics are more encouraging, but not spectacularly so. Here, surveys say roughly four out of ten new businesses live to celebrate their fifth birthday.

Some sectors have higher survival rates than others, but whether your entrepreneurial vision is to make hats, cakes, apps, medical devices or space rockets, survival through infancy is your first challenge. You’ll have to risk your own savings and persuade family or angels to provide capital that will allow you to perfect your product and bring it to market — while praying no one else comes up with a better or cheaper product in the same field. You’ll wrestle with red tape and the complexities of government grant schemes. Most importantly, you’ll scramble for sufficient cash flow to keep the business growing even if profit is still beyond the horizon.