Is Launching Multiple Startups a Good Idea?

If you are a new entrepreneur who cannot afford to invest in building multiple platforms and hire a team for each venture, stick to a single startup at first.

People who own multiple businesses have spent over a decade building a career, saving capital, creating a network, and studying the foundations of sales, marketing, business development, hiring, legal, and finances.

While owning multiple businesses may seem attractive, it’s a goal that is best pursued after gaining substantial experience, building a solid network, and securing adequate financial reserves.

For new entrepreneurs, the most effective strategy is often to channel all your resources, focus, and energy into making a single venture as successful as possible before considering expansion into additional businesses.

Fresh entrepreneurs—even those with MBAs—often lack business expertise and haven’t gone through the long process of:

  • Bootstrapping a business
  • Finding the first customers
  • Defining the product-market fit
  • Partnering up with a great co-founder
  • Scaling a business model for the right audience
  • Recruiting staff
  • Designing a scalable marketing and sales funnel
  • Handling ongoing growth
  • Dealing with customer support and development

All of those areas are unique to each business endeavor. Reading a dozen of business books or studying business administration may give you a broad insight into the main challenges business owners have to deal with.

But, obstacles are dealt with on a daily basis.

Some of your top leads will bail. Your best client may ask for too much custom development or require communication overhead. Your technical infrastructure may be flaky. Your staff members may be sick or request vacations too often and slow your pace down. And so on.

Until you’ve gained a ton of practical experience, make sure that your focus is dedicated to a single business. It’s likely that you will have to put in 60–80 hours a week over the first months or even a couple of years, if not more. You will make a lot of mistakes on the way that will cost you time and money.

Once you scale your business and establish a recurring growth model, you can start a side business or two in the meantime.