50 Failed Startup Lessons


Book Description

Failure sucks. You may have heard of the famous startup math: nine of out 10 startups fail. The bitter truth about failure hurts but the most important thing is that most entrepreneurs move on to do something else. It's not over until you give up. There are a ton of startups trying to make it, and a lot of them just don't make the cut. Whether it's poor budgeting, lack of excitement, or bad management, the onus is on the founders to explain what really happened. The good news for aspiring entrepreneurs is that, some founders open up about their failures and share their experiences with the public without hesitation.I have rounded up over 50 startups that failed and the reasons why they failed to make it. The reasons for their failure were shared by the founders and those close to management in various startup post-mortems online.Learn from their experiences and avoid the issues they had to deal with.




Why Startups Fail


Book Description

If you want your startup to succeed, you need to understand why startups fail. “Whether you’re a first-time founder or looking to bring innovation into a corporate environment, Why Startups Fail is essential reading.”—Eric Ries, founder and CEO, LTSE, and New York Times bestselling author of The Lean Startup and The Startup Way Why do startups fail? That question caught Harvard Business School professor Tom Eisenmann by surprise when he realized he couldn’t answer it. So he launched a multiyear research project to find out. In Why Startups Fail, Eisenmann reveals his findings: six distinct patterns that account for the vast majority of startup failures. • Bad Bedfellows. Startup success is thought to rest largely on the founder’s talents and instincts. But the wrong team, investors, or partners can sink a venture just as quickly. • False Starts. In following the oft-cited advice to “fail fast” and to “launch before you’re ready,” founders risk wasting time and capital on the wrong solutions. • False Promises. Success with early adopters can be misleading and give founders unwarranted confidence to expand. • Speed Traps. Despite the pressure to “get big fast,” hypergrowth can spell disaster for even the most promising ventures. • Help Wanted. Rapidly scaling startups need lots of capital and talent, but they can make mistakes that leave them suddenly in short supply of both. • Cascading Miracles. Silicon Valley exhorts entrepreneurs to dream big. But the bigger the vision, the more things that can go wrong. Drawing on fascinating stories of ventures that failed to fulfill their early promise—from a home-furnishings retailer to a concierge dog-walking service, from a dating app to the inventor of a sophisticated social robot, from a fashion brand to a startup deploying a vast network of charging stations for electric vehicles—Eisenmann offers frameworks for detecting when a venture is vulnerable to these patterns, along with a wealth of strategies and tactics for avoiding them. A must-read for founders at any stage of their entrepreneurial journey, Why Startups Fail is not merely a guide to preventing failure but also a roadmap charting the path to startup success.




Freedom to Fail


Book Description

My dear, incredible, beautiful team of superheroes, Over the past two years, we have given this idea everything we've got. We've given it our love, our time, our sweat, and even some of our tears...We will be shutting down...next Friday. I love you guys, and I am sorry to have let you down. Yours truly, Shabnam Shabnam Aggarwal always dreamt of success. Raised in an immigrant Indian family in the start-up hub of Silicon Valley, she believed that every entrepreneur could be successful. So she left her cushy job at Merrill Lynch to take a risk, find her passion, and make a change in the world. She moved to India to start a company.In Freedom to Fail, Shabnam tells the story of her brush with 'success': raising her first round of venture capital; hiring a hardworking team of millennials; growing her start-up to multiple cities...and then finding it all come to a bitter end. Shabnam gives us a peek into the world of start-ups in India. Her personal journey gives us an insight into dealing with failure, warning us of the challenges of starting a business, and helping us learn from her experience. Weaving each chapter into a powerful lesson in overcoming expectations, fear and self-doubt, she shows us why failure is important, even imperative, in order to ultimately succeed. And the best lesson she learnt: You haven't failed until you stop trying.




The Fail-Safe Startup


Book Description




Finding Success in Failure


Book Description

"This book is a fantastic Entrepreneurship 101 course. If you are serious about building a company, this is where to start." Tucker Max, New York Times #1 Bestselling Author and Entrepreneur In every field, from chess to gymnastics, "we can make bigger gains by reducing mistakes than by making winning moves." This is especially true in business. We study the greats, trying to extract valuable lessons, when avoiding a few key blunders would be more valuable. Fortunately, advice on what not to do is universally applicable. The ways to fall down the mountain are shared by all climbers, no matter which path they've chosen. This book is here to teach you how NOT to fall down the mountain. How can you be an entrepreneur that beats the odds? How do you build a successful business that not only changes the world for the better, but creates generational wealth for you and your family? You simply need to avoid mistakes -- and this book will show you how. Reviews "When I grow up I want to be like Lucas, who not only knows the pitfalls of startups, but don't keep falling into them" David S. Rose, Legendary NY Angel Investor and TED Speaker "Lucas' perseverance makes him an unstoppable entrepreneur." Neil Patel, Serial Entrepreneur and Popular Blogger "Lucas is the real deal when it comes to entrepreneurs. His commitment to long-term vision makes him stand out amongst a sea of people just trying to make a quick buck." Rob Hayes, Venture Capitalist "Lucas is a passionate entrepreneur and totally dedicated to his craft -- I backed him once and I'd do it again in a heartbeat" Chris DeVore, Seed-Stage VC "Startup life is a bizarre, thrilling, exhausting, painful and occasionally amazing ride. But it's easy to feel alone on the trip. Let Lucas be your companion and remind you of what to do and, more importantly, what not to do." Dave Hersh, Founder of Jive Software "His hard-won entrepreneurial wisdom and a penchant for sharing his inspiring stories is why I chose to profile Lucas in The Lean Entrepreneur." Patrick Vlaskovits, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Lean Entrepreneur "Lucas has distilled years of painful startup lessons into one clear and actionable book. Don't waste your time and money learning these lessons the hard way " Kurt Sussman, Serial Entrepreneur "Lucas writes with passion and provides rock solid advice based on personal experience. Building a startup is hard, but this book can make it a lot easier by showing you the essentials you need to focus on, and the pitfalls you should avoid." Justin Sumner, Founder "Lucas imparts the sound tactics of a seasoned veteran. Invest wisely in your company's most valuable asset: you." Oliver Lade, Entrepreneur "Packed with insight, witty humor and approaches to difficult situations. Lucas shares truths that have an audience beyond the entrepreneurs for which the book is intended. His experience shines through the book as he draws the reader in to explore a mindset of what it means to be a founder." Brandon Dube, Founder




When Founders Fail


Book Description

In the past ten years, countless promising new startups have raised hordes of venture capital, leading business publications around the world to declare these companies' founders to be the entrepreneurial world's next Mark Zuckerberg or Steve Jobs. But then, time and time again ... reality hits. All of a sudden, or so it seems, the very same ventures that once seemed so poised to make their marks begin missing their stated milestones. Their clients and users fly the coop. Brand new competitors begin eating up their market share. And more often than not, they quietly declare bankruptcy or submit to a sale that results in their eventual closure. If you're an entrepreneur, an investor, or even just a casual observer of startups, you no doubt know that startup failures are not the exceptions; they are the rules. You might even have a few opinions as to what alternate plans of action would have saved certain startups from their eventual demise. What you most likely do not know, however, is what, exactly, the founders of failed startups were thinking when their previously successful ventures turned into sinking ships. That's why, in When Founders Fail, Pedro Gairifo Santos sits down with 15 former founders of some of the world's most visible startup failures to learn from their perspective why their exhausted attempts at startup success just didn't work. What led Gowalla to be surpassed by Foursquare? Why did Iridium spend millions of development dollars to build a mobile phone that was four times larger and many times more expensive than the mobile phones that are available through every major cellular carrier? Why did Friendster fall into oblivion while Facebook became the social networking sites of choice? And why was Mint able to succeed in the personal financial management space while Wesabe was forced to close? Santos asks all of these questions and more in When Founders Fail. In doing so, he reveals insider insights on the lessons that some of the world's most auspicious entrepreneurial wunderkinds learned as they watched their previously successful companies disintegrate before their very eyes. Fascinating, compelling, and filled with never-before-told stories from the trenches of the entrepreneurial world, When Founders Fail is required reading for anyone who sees the value in avoiding and learning from the same traps that have ensnared countless entrepreneurs before them.




Myopic Startup


Book Description

If you launch a business; you will fail. But hold on! You can move past the failure, recalibrate, and recover. ‘Myopic Startup’ obtains the no-nonsense diagnosis of the problem, addressing the fundamental short-sighted errors and pitfalls which ruin businesses. What can build up your business model into an express track to success? Okay, folks, do you want to turn your startup business 100 percent successful? Do you want to transform your business venture into a bulked-up cash machine? Next, connect to the myopic startup. I can help you to get out from absurd mistakes into assured success and whip your business model into shape. By now, you’ve read business books and heard one-day business courses to get-rich-quick; they introduce you to many kooky ideas but not genuine success. Hey, if you’re tired of the lies and sick of the hollow promises, take a look at the guidelines devised by the myopic startup - it’s the simplest, most logical business book and assures you of results. With the Myopic Startup, you’ll be able to: § Learn the concept of myopic startup business solution to remedy your business myopia. § Form the ideation to an exit strategy for a thriving business exit. § Develop one idea at a time through a contingency plan and assured success. The book includes innovative concepts to find “Traits of a Founder”, “Key to success”, “Business funding system”, “Kill the competition" and “Business sustainability” and all-new forms with an “Investor pitch template” and resources to engage in the myopic startup.




99 Reasons why Startups fail


Book Description

"Learn from the mistakes of others. You can never live long enough to make them all yourself" Startup ideas inspire hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs all over the world. On the flip side, the majority of entrepreneurial ventures fail. Have you ever wondered what the catalyst for such failure is? Startup failures are complex. Most of them are not caused by stupid or simple mistakes. So, be careful when you conclude: Startup X failed because of Y. Therefore I should avoid doing Y in my own startup. It is not that simple. Startups fail because of a combination of factors and causes, some of which are almost impossible to put a finger on. This book is aimed at identifying reasons that can lead even great ideas to complete failure. It also presents how you can make your way around them, earning everlasting growth and prosperity. ABOUT THE AUTHORS Omar Mohout is a Growth Engineer. He is an expert in building repeatable, scalable customer acquisition engines for born-on-the-web companies. Omar is an entrepreneur that turned startup advisor & mentor. Après un doctorat en informatique, Carine Lucas a travaillé plusieurs années comme consultante sur des projets d'innovation. Chez Agoria, elle conseille les entreprises sur leur stratégie digitale et leur business models.




Business Lessons 101


Book Description

In today's tenuous economic environment, jobs can be scarce and many people are dreaming of starting their own business. This can be a very daunting proposition and many people never make it past the dreaming stage. Is it because they are afraid to fail? Is it because they don't know where to start? This book can help with both. Failure is a part of life. Successful people see failure as a learning experience, not as just another roadblock in this journey we call life. To those who are crazy enough to keep failing, get ready for this book to: - Get over a less-than-successful launch day - Pick a co-founder who provides politics-free companionship - Interpret productivity from the garbage can - Have an investor call on St. Patrick's Day ... and more




How to F*ck Up Your Startup


Book Description

WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER Every business owner dreams of success, but the majority of businesses are doomed to fail. This book offers a journey through the pitfalls that cause 90% of companies to crash—and the crucial remedies entrepreneurs can use to avoid (or fix) them. Kim Hvidkjær was 29 years old when he became a millionaire. Two years later, after a cluster of disasters, he found himself basically broke. Now, having rebuilt his fortune as the founder of several successful enterprises and studied thousands of failed startups, Hvidkjær has become an expert in failure: what it means, what it looks like, and the strategies that business owners can use to prevent it. In How to F*ck Up Your Startup, he takes us on an entertaining and enlightening journey through the complex patterns of failure in the life cycle of a business, covering: Attitude mistakes Business model missteps Market research snafus Funding and financial blunders Product development errors Organization oversights Sales slip-ups Growing pains Most important, he tackles what to do when your business has gone wrong. Hvidkjær fleshes out a tangible, usable blueprint for entrepreneurs looking to learn (the easy way) from the mistakes of businesses gone before. Chock-full of easy-to-follow business lessons that will keep you from f*cking up your startup, this down-to-earth guide offers crucial, actionable advice for seasoned business owners and startup founders alike. A masterclass in failure, How to F*ck Up Your Startup is required reading for reaching success.