10 Signs that your startup is likely to fail

10 SIGNS THAT YOUR STARTUP IS LIKELY TO FAIL

Friday, October 4, 13

10 SIGNS THAT YOUR STARTUP IS LIKELY TO FAIL

AKA You are going down the sh*t creak, with no paddle


1. YOU HAVE TROUBLE HIRINGThere is a big difference between “we cannot find a developer” and “No developer wants to work with us”


2. SCALING BUT NO VALIDATINGScaling only applies when you get to the product market fit. Once you have it - you will know it.


2. SCALING BUT NO VALIDATINGScaling only applies when you get to the product market fit. Once you have it - you will know it.

Premature scaling is the MAIN KILLER of startups


3. YOU HAVE TROUBLE SHIPPINGIf you are not shipping you are not learning. If you are not learning you are not validating and if you are not validating you will fail eventually.


4. NOT WORKING FULL TIMEPart time effort - part time success. If you do not believe in your idea enough to commit 100% how will you sell to potential hires and investors?


4. NOT WORKING FULL TIME


4. NOT WORKING FULL TIME


5. MORE THAN 3 COFOUNDERSPlan to “loose” 20% of equity at each round of financing. Successful companies will have 3-5 rounds of funding on average by the time they exit or (way less often) IPO. How much do you think you will be left with at the end? People loose motivation.


5. MORE THAN 3 COFOUNDERS


6. EVERYONE LOOKS THE SAMEThis happens when few buddies get together to work on a “cool startup by bros”. Everyone has the same skills and big gaps end up unfilled.


6. EVERYONE LOOKS THE SAMEThis happens when few buddies get together to work on a “cool startup by bros”. Everyone has the same skills and big gaps end up unfilled.

How can you tell?


6. EVERYONE LOOKS THE SAMEBusiness heavy founding teams are more likely to succeed with a startup that requires enterprise sales, but technical heavy founding teams are more likely to succeed with a self-service consumer Internet startup.


7. NO TECH COFOUNDERSWithout a tech cofounder you are building your house on sand. Business guys/gals have traditionally had a lot of trouble hiring developers, estimating cost structure of build etc.


7. NO TECH COFOUNDERS


8. NO PIVOTS OR TOO MANY


8. NO PIVOTS OR TOO MANY


9. IGNORE FEEDBACKSo easy to fall in the trap of ignoring customer and mentor feedback or fall in the confirmation-bias trap.


10. FALLING IN LOVE WITH THESTARTUP STAGE


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10 Signs that your startup is likely to fail