When it comes to starting a successful business, there’s no surefire playbook that contains the winning game plan.

On the other hand, there are about as many mistakes to be made as there are entrepreneurs to make them.

Recently, after a work-out at the gym with my trainer—an attractive young woman who’s also a dancer/actor—she told me about a web series that she’s producing and starring in together with a few friends. While the series has gained a large following online, she and her friends have not yet incorporated their venture, drafted an operating agreement, trademarked the show’s name or done any of the other things that businesses typically do to protect their intellectual property and divvy up the owners’ share of the company. While none of this may be a problem now, I told her, just wait until the show hits it big and everybody hires a lawyer.

Here, in my experience, are the top 10 mistakes that entrepreneurs make when starting a company:

1. Going it alone.
2. Asking too many people for advice.
3. Spending too much time on product development, not enough on sales.
4. Targeting too small a market.
5. Entering to a market with no distribution partner.
6. Overplaying for customers.
7. Raising too little capital.
8. Raising too much capital.
9. Not having a business plan.
10. Over-thinking a business plan.

Despite the many books and articles that have been written about entrepreneurship, it’s just not possible to start a company without making a few mistakes along the way. Just try to avoid making any mistake so large that your company can’t get back on its feet to fight another day.

Read the whole article: The Wall Street Journal

CINC, Centro de negocios y Asesoría de empresas