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Lessons from a Failed Tech Startup

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Re: Lessons from a Failed Tech Startup

#11

Post by swimorsinka »

gamechangr wrote: post #3

Sales is pretty important. I read an article where Peter Thiel said that most startups fail because of difficulty in Sales and distribution. I read over and over again the value of Sales and the need for a founder to focus on "the business side", but then I still marginalize the role of sales. I'm I broken or do we all do that???

I think it's also a misconception about how products get users.

Going into this thing, I really thought it was all word of mouth. After all, that's how Google exploded.

And I didn't realize that 99/100 people might not like what you built, but that 1/100 is enough to support a successful product.

But you need sales and marketing to find that 1/100.

Re: Lessons from a Failed Tech Startup

#12

Post by vonmoltke »

WJW wrote: post #8
gamechangr wrote: post #3

Sales is pretty important. I read an article where Peter Thiel said that most startups fail because of difficulty in Sales and distribution. I read over and over again the value of Sales and the need for a founder to focus on "the business side", but then I still marginalize the role of sales. I'm I broken or do we all do that???

A lot of startups are founded by programmers, who know a lot about programming but not much about sales. This makes them able to see all the upcoming problems in the technical bits of the company, but not the upcoming problems in sales. Most effort is then spent on the technical side because "that's where the problems are." Kind of related to the Dunning-Kruger effect.

Actually, it is exactly Dunning-Kruger when DK is applied to areas of expertise and not simply general knowledge. One of the frequent contributors to the Science-Based Medicine blog uses it this way to explain why you need to be wary of highly-respected academics in one field weighing in on completely unrelated fields.

Re: Lessons from a Failed Tech Startup

#13

Post by stevesearer »

WJW wrote: post #8
gamechangr wrote: post #3

Sales is pretty important. I read an article where Peter Thiel said that most startups fail because of difficulty in Sales and distribution. I read over and over again the value of Sales and the need for a founder to focus on "the business side", but then I still marginalize the role of sales. I'm I broken or do we all do that???

A lot of startups are founded by programmers, who know a lot about programming but not much about sales. This makes them able to see all the upcoming problems in the technical bits of the company, but not the upcoming problems in sales. Most effort is then spent on the technical side because "that's where the problems are." Kind of related to the Dunning-Kruger effect.

I think this is part of the reason ad networks are are so popular - you only need to drop in code and sales is unnecessary.

Re: Lessons from a Failed Tech Startup

#14

Post by msabalau »

gamechangr wrote: post #3

Sales is pretty important. I read an article where Peter Thiel said that most startups fail because of difficulty in Sales and distribution. I read over and over again the value of Sales and the need for a founder to focus on "the business side", but then I still marginalize the role of sales. I'm I broken or do we all do that???

And, for B2B, once you sort out Sales, you next learn how valuable Accounts Payable is...

Re: Lessons from a Failed Tech Startup

#15

Post by brianwawok »

swimorsinka wrote: post #11
gamechangr wrote: post #3

Sales is pretty important. I read an article where Peter Thiel said that most startups fail because of difficulty in Sales and distribution. I read over and over again the value of Sales and the need for a founder to focus on "the business side", but then I still marginalize the role of sales. I'm I broken or do we all do that???

I think it's also a misconception about how products get users. Going into this thing, I really thought it was all word of mouth. After all, that's how Google exploded. And I didn't realize that 99/100 people might not like what you built, but that 1/100 is enough to support a successful product. But you need sales and marketing to find that 1/100.

Some of it is a B2B vs B2C difference. A lot of the big apps we think of like Facebook and Google started as B2C.. where viral marking and word of mouth is what you need.

If your startup is some enterprise product that cost $1000 a month.. or a small business app that cost $100 a month.. you are unlikely to get word of mouth users, and need to actually go down the sales route in one way or another.

Re: Lessons from a Failed Tech Startup

#16

Post by rpgmaker »

swimorsinka wrote: post #9
rpgmaker wrote: post #7

> Who knows where that drive comes from, but I know that many people have it, just like I do. Ego. Nothing wrong with it as long as it's kept in check but let's not pretend we don't know where the drive comes from.

Author here: and I agree. I just didn't want it to turn into a big spiritual discussion :).

I understand. Thanks for sharing your experience btw, I found it valuable.

Re: Lessons from a Failed Tech Startup

#17

Post by LyndsySimon »

> At least I didn’t go into debt. I can’t imagine the stress of founders who start by living off credit cards. I further can’t imagine the stress of people trying to support a family while starting a company.

I can't relate to this at all - there must be a tiny portion of entrepreneurs that can. I've been blessed to be in a position where I've never (as an adult) been hopelessly poor, but I've absolutely been in a place where I've worried that I'd have enough money to last until pay day. I've been in a position where I've sold anything I could think of to have enough money to buy food, diapers, or enough fuel to get to work and back for the rest of the week.

Re: Lessons from a Failed Tech Startup

#18

Post by jaredtking »

msabalau wrote: post #14
gamechangr wrote: post #3

Sales is pretty important. I read an article where Peter Thiel said that most startups fail because of difficulty in Sales and distribution. I read over and over again the value of Sales and the need for a founder to focus on "the business side", but then I still marginalize the role of sales. I'm I broken or do we all do that???

And, for B2B, once you sort out Sales, you next learn how valuable Accounts Payable is...

Do you mean Accounts Receivable or have I misunderstood you?

Re: Lessons from a Failed Tech Startup

#19

Post by cenal »

msabalau wrote: post #14
gamechangr wrote: post #3

Sales is pretty important. I read an article where Peter Thiel said that most startups fail because of difficulty in Sales and distribution. I read over and over again the value of Sales and the need for a founder to focus on "the business side", but then I still marginalize the role of sales. I'm I broken or do we all do that???

And, for B2B, once you sort out Sales, you next learn how valuable Accounts Payable is...

Once you figure out how important Accounts Payable/Receivable is you next learn how important Invoice/PO Factoring is...

Re: Lessons from a Failed Tech Startup

#20

Post by jorgecurio »

I think my lesson was

"Don't go off to the races, solving difficult problems for people who won't pay for it"

and

"To us its a bunch of tables and CRUD generated on top of it. To them, its whether or not theres a free plan."

and

"Recognize when there is a poor market fit and CHANGE the situation. Falling in love with your own creation tends to blind you."

gg startups, hello drudgery

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