7 + 3 Lessons From Failed Startups
Great Inc post on lessons from a failed startup include:
1. Consider the entire experience
2. Raise money when you can not when you need too
3. Don't give away equity too soon or too fast
Read the other 4 from the Inc post: https://www.inc.com/yoram-solomon/7-lessons-you-should-learn-from-my-failed-startup.html
I'd add three of my own lessons from my "failed startup":
1. Don't think in terms of success and failure, win and lose. Think about impact, learning, and potential. Startups require a more nuanced sense of win/lose.
2. Don't hire your friends even if they are the right people because you are probably blind to faults, issues, or other "round peg in square hole" problems with friends.
3. Create any startup in collaboration with customers. Don't do the "mad inventor" thing and go off and think you've created a better mousetrap. You won't. Instead, collaborate and build on what you learn from real customers facing immediate problems.
Often feels to me with the pace of change we all need to be in a startup state of mind, fleetness of foot and creativity with the right disciplined procsses, I see clients all the time wanting to take their SMB forward and keen to adopt a startup fervour because it matters so much how the business develops to them personally. There are many SMB's and I include myself who can learn from and adapt the focus of the startup. In fact more often than not, we are all needing to startup some new venture, standing still defintely not an otion SOOO Thanks you for this post via Marty much appreciated. Even in large organisations the needto break out and create a startup culture is common. Something in it for almost everyone in this post, so cheers.