The Three Myths About a Star Principle Business

There are a few misconceptions when it comes to what are the possible ingredients that can create a star business. The following are three myths that are associated with a star business:

1. Ability of the founding team determines the success of a business: Actually, beyond a basic level of competence, the ability or talent of the founding team has little impact on the success of the star-principle business.

2. Hardwork determines the success of a business: Actually, there may be negative correlation between hard-work and business success. When your team-members are working too hard, it means one of two things - either you're creating a lot of work by launching too many non-essential initiatives or you're stuck in a business that requires you to work super-human hours to stay in the same place. As Richard Koch says "When I've invested in a venture and see people there working all the hours God sends, I know it's in trouble. If it needs that much dedication and overwork, it's because it could not survive without it."
I'm personally not fully convinced about this point. I've spoken to a few successful entrepreneurs and they've mentioned that hard-work has played a part in their success since it increased their probability of having a serendipitious break-through (a chance meeting or deal, a new killer feature, etc.)

3. The right-mix of people determine the success of a business - Most successful businesses did not start out with all the right people. In fact some of them had lazy, controversial or destructive personalities and yet managed to succeed. I've personally seen situations where the best possible team could not save the business from collapsing. In fact, an A-star team leads founders and investors into a false sense of security in the belief that a world-class team will somehow succeed.

According to the Star Principle, the crucial cause of success is the positioning of the product or service. Get the positioning right and most other ingredients will fall into place. This includes attracting a top team.