Introduction – the first-order problem The first-order problem for startups often is, they are not making something people want enough to pay for. As you can see from the CB Insights data, founders identify this as the most common reason for failure. Figure 1 Reasons for startups failure Notice the connection between 1 and 2: We can paraphrase that as…
Introduction This post is about startup thinking. In my dissertation about startup dilemmas [1], I argued that startups can exhibit what I call as ‘reference point bias’. My evidence was emerging from the failure narratives of startup founders, where they reported having experienced this condition. The reference point bias is a false analogy where the founder compares their startup with…
Introduction During the research period for my dissertation based on startup failures, I realized there are multiple layers of failure factors associated with any given company (or, in reverse, success factors). These are: generic business problems (e.g., cash-flow) individual-level problems (e.g., personal chemistry) company type problems (e.g., lack of funding for startups) business model problems (e.g., chicken-and-egg for platforms) Only…
I’ve dedicated plenty of time for studying and coaching startups. But why do I care? Not only care, but be passionate about them, enough to say I love startups. I got to think about that, and here are the results of that quick reflection. 1. Startups are about technology Novelty, innovation, progress… call it what you want, but there is…
Introduction It is a common issue for startups applying customer development to discover many customer problems and either relating to that or to their vision include many, many features in their product development roadmap. However, as we know, it is not about the number of features but their quality, i.e. usefulness in solving the customer pain points. Why is this…
In Quora, somebody asked why Warren Buffet prefers not to invest in startups [1]. One of the answers that resonated with me was this one: “In an interview several years back, Warren Buffet said that he does not like to invest in companies whose success is based on the smartness of its people. His reasoning was that all companies hire…
I was inspired to write this post by the following pictures that I’d included in my lecture material a few years. Writing it in a bit of a hurry since the class starts soon! (but it’ll good enough to make the point) (You can find the original source for the pictures by googling.) Okay, a couple of things. First, it’s highly…
I hate to see, from a customer’s perspective, investors coming into a growing Web startup. Because it only means rising prices. The logic is this: 1) the investors need a positive return, and 2) the startup is growing because it has created something valuable, in most cases significantly more valuable than what it is charging from the customer. Therefore, the…
1. Definition The Iznogoud Syndrome can be defined as follows: A startup strives to disrupt existing market structures instead of adapting to them. In most industries, existing relationships are strong, cemented and will not change due to one startup. Therefore, a better strategy is to find ways of providing utility in the existing ecosystem. 2. Origins The name of this startup…
