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Why startups fail, according to their founders

fortune.com

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Re: Why startups fail, according to their founders

#4

Post by Flux159 »

A link to the image that matters in the article: https://fortunedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/unknown2-e...

A few things to note are that it seems like a few of those items could be combined into the same general problem in a failed startup: Not the right team, poor marketing, poor product, and disharmony on team/investors could potentially be related.

Another point is that these are obtained from self post-mortems by founders, whereas if the data were obtained from employees or investors, you might get a different story.

Re: Why startups fail, according to their founders

#5

Post by softdev12 »

I think this article has it backwards. I think that the default state for a startup is to fail. That even if you do almost everything right, you still have a high probability of failing. And that there should be a list of all the things that need to be done right in order to succeed, rather than listing all the reasons for failure. For example:

1) make a product that people want (vs. no market need) 2) attract investors (vs. ran out of cash) 3) media virality (vs. poor marketing) 4) perfect timing (vs. product mis-timed) 5) have clear distribution to market 6) lots of luck

#6 is not mentioned at all in the article and is probably one of the biggest factors.

Re: Why startups fail, according to their founders

#6

Post by bjelkeman-again »

softdev12 wrote: post #5

I think this article has it backwards. I think that the default state for a startup is to fail. That even if you do almost everything right, you still have a high probability of failing. And that there should be a list of all the things that need to be done right in order to succeed, rather than listing all the reasons for failure. For example: 1) make a product that people want (vs. no market need) 2) attract invest…

I agree, but I think 7) a great team, is missing from that list. It really helps avoid problems with 1, 2, 4 and 5. For some markets, 3 media vitality, isn't required and if you get the other things right you need less luck.

Re: Why startups fail, according to their founders

#7

Post by bjelkeman-again »

curiously wrote: post #3
Animats wrote: post #2

After a short summary of the obvious, the article ends. There's not much there.

this seems to be an awful trend I am noticing more and more. Clickbait title and no substance in the article.

Good journalism is expensive compared to what we are seeing in this trend. We have to figure out a way to either lift the "casual journalist" into the limelight, or find a way to pay for good journalism. Or maybe a bit of both. It seems that the really good media companies aren't going away, but most of the others are struggling. I don't look forward to having only a few good media outlets dominate, so we need fix that.

Re: Why startups fail, according to their founders

#8

Post by softdev12 »

bjelkeman-again wrote: post #6
softdev12 wrote: post #5

I think this article has it backwards. I think that the default state for a startup is to fail. That even if you do almost everything right, you still have a high probability of failing. And that there should be a list of all the things that need to be done right in order to succeed, rather than listing all the reasons for failure. For example: 1) make a product that people want (vs. no market need) 2) attract invest…

I agree, but I think 7) a great team, is missing from that list. It really helps avoid problems with 1, 2, 4 and 5. For some markets, 3 media vitality, isn't required and if you get the other things right you need less luck.

right. 7) a great team is probably even more important than luck.
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