Why Startups Fail

by David Feinleib

For the want-to-be entrepreneur thinking about taking the leap, the boot-strapped entrepreneur trying to energize a business three or four years in, and the venture-backed entrepreneur trying to scale, Why Startups Fail shows you the key mistakes new ventures make—and how to avoid them. Nearly everyone has an idea for a product they could build or a company they could start. But eight out of 10 new businesses fail within the first three years. Even only one in ten venture-backed startups succeeds, and venture capitalists turn down some 99% of the business plans they see. The odds appear to be stacked against you! But entrepreneurs often make the same avoidable mistakes over and over. 

Why Startups Fail can help you beat the odds and avoid the pitfalls and traps that lead to early startup death. It’s easy to point to successes like Apple, Google, and Facebook. But the biggest lessons can come from failure. What decisions were made, and why? What would the founders have done differently? How did one company become a billion-dollar success while another—with a better product and in the same market—fail? Drawing on personal experience as well as the wisdom of the Silicon Valley startup community, serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and blogger Dave Feinleib analyzes companies that have come and gone.

In short, powerful chapters, he reveals the keys to successful Excellent product/market fit, passion, superb execution, the ability to pivot, stellar team, good funding, and wise spending. In Why Startups Fail , you’ll learn from the mistakes Feinleib has seen made over and over and find out how to position your startup for success. Why Startups Fail :

Genres: Business, Entrepreneurship

185 pages, Paperback

First published December 21, 2011

Reviews

[Manoj Joshi · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title is compelling and so is the context. Had the author endeavoured into the VUCA conerxt and foresightendess, possibly its sequel it would have been a greater work. If we see startups they are a a product of the entrepreneur, the individual, the process which is entrepreneurship and finally fomring or leading to form an enterprise. Causalities of failures start at the individual level, the is behavioural context, then into the process and finally at the firm level. This can be explored. Neverthess i enjoyed reading this in my garden ealry morning today with some ideas creeping into

[Victor · Rating 5 out of 5]

ENTREPRENURIAL FRESH AIR

The author, from a experiencia perspective gives the best advices to confront big and small challenges in the start ups world