Startups form a growing industry, full of exciting changes and new opportunities. But with the potential for success comes challenges burgeoning companies need to overcome to make a name for themselves in the field.

It's important that one knows of the possible challenges and be prepared beforehand when running a startups. Beepi, an online car marketplace met a sad fate when the company started earning "too much money".

One investor in the startup said the founders were too aggressive in pushing for higher valuations. Indeed, co-founder Alejandro Resnik, the CEO, told the Wall Street Journal in 2015 it was looking to raise a "monster round" of 300 million dollars at a 2 billion dollar valuation to fuel its national expansion.

That is how it came to an end, like many startups do, after having raised about 1.3 million dollars (Rs.8 crore). It is an observed trend that startups usually die 20 months after raising financing. It is important to go slow and cautious when expanding a startup, advise experts.

Another reason behind unsuccessful startups is the lack of ingenuity in the ideas. Two edtech startups, iProf and Purple Squirrel, shut down in the second half of 2016 due to lack of the inventiveness in their ideas.

It's important that a startup identifies a problem in the market and comes up with a unique and efficient solution. The service should beat the existing solutions and provide better convenience to the customers.

Vic Lance, Founder and President of Lance Surety Bond Associates points out in one of his articles in Forbes that it is important an entrepreneur is driven by the passion to bring a change by impacting the society one way or another. The products should bring value to the society.

Money is just collateral when it comes to startups. You earn money due to your startup, you don't start a startup to primarily earn money.

Most startups struggle to create a name for themselves against the existing big names in the market. Shubh Bansal from Truebil advocates "delighting the customers".

As most startups don't have enough money to advertise, word of mouth is their most powerful tool to create a brand name and increase the trust factor, he said.

"It's possible for startups to give personalised service to every individual customer, which huge organisations are unable to," he added. It's important to understand one's target consumers when designing or launching a product.

One should be really thorough with the demands, the already existing solutions and the consumer's background. An used-car marketplace, Zoomo, had to shut down because it couldn't work in a market where consumers often put a premium on discount instead of quality and without a doubt there's a problem of trust in used cars. Genext, an edtech startup started as a content delivery programme, which was an online learning programme.

The system didn't work due to the lack of penetration of Internet in the Indian population and also because it was inevitable to remove the role of tutors from the Indian education system. The startup incorporated home tutor, making it an amalgam of an online learning system and home tutor provider, which worked much better in the Indian market. It founder Ali Asgar Kagzi recommended that one has to be nimble in the startup business and expect the unexpected.

Improvising along the way is the better way than sticking to a plan when it comes to making startups work, he added. Even after incorporating all the above factors, it's important that the product designed is sustainable and profitable. Mumbai-based online laundry startup failed as the costs of processing clothes, pick-up and drop logistics, and packaging were difficult to recover through prices.

The same fate was met by many other start ups. What stands out when one looks at the well-funded ones that gained a lot of media attention is that the things that matter in the end is an inventive idea, sustainable business model, great execution and something in reserve to avoid being derailed by bad luck or a shift in business environment.