Startup failure post-mortems • Hacker News Board

Re: Startup failure post-mortems

#11

Post by qvikr » Tue, Jan 21, 2014, 6:46 AM UTC

d0m wrote: post #8

It always seems so obvious in retrospect but it's hard to think clearly when you're in the gist of doing it and you have a mountain on your shoulders. Something - how so stupid, I'll admit - that I realized is that even if smart people tell you something, you often need to fail it first to really get it. Pick the right co-founders? It's one of the most basic rules.. but how many entrepreneurs do you know didn't liste…

I guess the reason for that is because even the smartest of people, at best, have only tried to do things in x ways... So if your thoughts don't align with the "tried and tested" methodologies in x, at least according to this smart person, you will probably fail.

Re: Startup failure post-mortems

#12

Post by AJ72 » Tue, Jan 21, 2014, 6:50 AM UTC

Another interesting read for anyone looking for a VCs view on this topic: http://pollenizer.com/learn/startup-focus. A good, easy to read book based on their experiences.

Re: Startup failure post-mortems

#13

Post by GoldiKam » Tue, Jan 21, 2014, 7:37 AM UTC

Startups are never supposed to be easy, otherwise everyone would have chose the Start up path, regardless of any passions.

Re: Startup failure post-mortems

#14

Post by codex » Tue, Jan 21, 2014, 7:49 AM UTC

I doubt these post-mortems are accurate. If you can't create a successful company, what makes you think you know why a company was unsuccessful? It's just more mental masturbation. Even if the failure mode is identified, it doesn't help you with the next startup, as most of the time humans work by trial and error. A failure doesn't teach most how to succeed, just how not to fail in that exact way.

Re: Startup failure post-mortems

#15

Post by benjaminwootton » Tue, Jan 21, 2014, 9:21 AM UTC

Amazing resource - thanks for collating this.

Re: Startup failure post-mortems

#16

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Jan 21, 2014, 9:22 AM UTC

asanwal wrote: post #4

jpatokal wrote: post #3

Nice. If the list was editable, I'd add mine: http://gyrovague.com/2012/12/18/wikitravel-press-seven-lesso... Interesting how many others have also found "7 lessons" in their failures!

Thx. We will add yours. If folks know of other post mortems we missed, leave them in comments and we will add them.

[deleted]

Re: Startup failure post-mortems

#17

Post by MehdiEG » Tue, Jan 21, 2014, 9:30 AM UTC

asanwal wrote: post #4

jpatokal wrote: post #3

Nice. If the list was editable, I'd add mine: http://gyrovague.com/2012/12/18/wikitravel-press-seven-lesso... Interesting how many others have also found "7 lessons" in their failures!

Thx. We will add yours. If folks know of other post mortems we missed, leave them in comments and we will add them.

You mentioned EventVue's excellent post-mortem already. But for anyone thinking of building a startup in that space, Josh Fraser (EventVue's co-founder)'s follow-up post is also a mandatory read: http://www.onlineaspect.com/2010/10/26/a-few-words-about-eve... - since he posted that follow-up on his own blog, it would be worth linking both in the article.

And if anyone is thinking of building something in the event space, read both of these posts. And then read them again. Josh is 100% spot-on. Absolutely nothing has changed in this industry since he wrote this (the events industry moves at a glacial pace).

Re: Startup failure post-mortems

#18

Post by simonjester » Tue, Jan 21, 2014, 10:44 AM UTC

codex wrote: post #14

I doubt these post-mortems are accurate. If you can't create a successful company, what makes you think you know why a company was unsuccessful? It's just more mental masturbation. Even if the failure mode is identified, it doesn't help you with the next startup, as most of the time humans work by trial and error. A failure doesn't teach most how to succeed, just how not to fail in that exact way.

Still an outside view is usually quite objective and can pinpoint issues that weren't easily apparent at all to someone inside the project.

Re: Startup failure post-mortems

#19

Post by simonjester » Tue, Jan 21, 2014, 10:45 AM UTC

So useful, thanks! Plus another item on the list of ideas I should have had. ;)

Re: Startup failure post-mortems

#20

Post by nrao123 » Tue, Jan 21, 2014, 11:04 AM UTC

asanwal wrote: post #2

For those interested in trends & hard data on startup failure, this may be of interest - http://www.cbinsights.com/blog/trends/startup-death-data

Anand,

What will be great to do if at all possible is to identity common patterns across key sectors. Here are some patterns I have seen:

Lack of marketing/growth -Everpix, Sonar...

Lack of domain expertise - Vitoto...

No coders/programmers in founding teams- standout jobs

Product management / too many product features - intellibank...

No customer validation/didn't get out of the building / product/market fit - groupspaces, hello parking...

Perhaps these patterns could be broken into consumer Internet / SAAS.

Of course some of these patterns are inter-related & drive each other (e.g. No Domain expertise >> lack of customer validation >> Poor product management/wrong features >> No growth)