Founders Block » Blog Archive » Why Startups Fail: An Analysis of Post-Mortems. The guys at ChubbyBrain have graciously allowed Founder’s Block to repost this analysis, originally published Jan 11th, of the top 20 reasons why startups fail. We’ve previously highlighted the top startup failure post-mortems (32 in total) written by a group of startup entrepreneurs gracious enough to share their lessons learned from failure.
Many of you read those post-mortems and asked, what are the most common reasons why these startups failed? After a thorough analysis of those 32 start-up post-mortems, we compiled this list of the top 20 causes of startup failure. 20 – The Great Recession Many companies that failed started during the recent financial crisis (and continues to suffer through), and some startups highlighted the larger market negativity as a reason for their ultimate demise. . #19 – Lack of Full-Time Commitment Startups are hard. We thought we’d able to run internet service after hours. . #18 – Location, Location, Location Location was an issue in two different ways.
So You Want to Start a Startup? 5 Places to Start. The world is rife with business opportunity, and nowhere more so than online. I often think of the web as something of a wild west frontier, awaiting anyone intrepid enough to stake out a claim. But to start an online venture you first need to have an idea of what you want to do. For many would-be entrepreneurs ideas are many and easy to come by, but not everyone feels this way.
Some time ago I met a very talented developer who was independent and industrious, more than capable of developing a brilliant web app. Despite wanting to start some sort of online business of his own, he was hamstrung, for he wasn’t sure what exactly to build. With a bit more thought and contemplation I’ve decided to catalogue some different methodologies for finding a business to get into. Part 1 – Solve a Problem Solving a problem is arguably the underpinning of every successful business. So let’s start by breaking down some famous online businesses into Problem / Solution couplings: Your Own Problems What Next? 17 Mistakes Start-Ups Make. 17 Mistakes Start-ups Make John Osher has developed hundreds of consumer products, including an electric toothbrush that became America's best-selling toothbrush in just 15 months.
He also started several successful companies, including Cap Toys. He built sales to $125 million per year and then sold the company to Hasbro Inc. in 1997. But his most lasting contribution to the business world just may be a list of screw-ups he jotted on the back of a piece of paper. "After I sold my business to Hasbro, I decided I'd make a list of everything I'd done wrong and [had] seen other entrepreneurs do wrong," explains the 57-year-old Jupiter, , serial entrepreneur.
He came up with an informal list of "16 Mistakes Start-Ups Make"-since expanded to 17-that has been used in a case study, has been cited in many publications, and has become a part of what he teaches budding entrepreneurs in his frequent university lectures. "I didn't expect it to actually work like that, but it did," Osher says. How to Start a Startup. March 2005 (This essay is derived from a talk at the Harvard Computer Society.)
You need three things to create a successful startup: to start with good people, to make something customers actually want, and to spend as little money as possible. Most startups that fail do it because they fail at one of these. A startup that does all three will probably succeed. And that's kind of exciting, when you think about it, because all three are doable. If there is one message I'd like to get across about startups, that's it. The Idea In particular, you don't need a brilliant idea to start a startup around. Google's plan, for example, was simply to create a search site that didn't suck. There are plenty of other areas that are just as backward as search was before Google. For example, dating sites currently suck far worse than search did before Google. An idea for a startup, however, is only a beginning. What matters is not ideas, but the people who have them.
People What do I mean by good people? One way to start a startup.