99 Reasons why Startups fail: Lead Your Startup to Success

By Omar Mohout and Carine Lucas

"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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Die Keure Publishing
• Release date: Jul 7, 2017
• ISBN: 9782874034695

Book preview

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IDEA

STAGE

1

THE IDEA DOESN’T UNIQUELY SOLVE A BIG PROBLEM

Contrary to the old line, Everything that can be invented has been invented, the more complex the world becomes, the more problems there are to solve.

That said, it’s got to be a big enough problem (otherwise no business) and a frequent problem (otherwise no market) and a way better solution than what’s already out there. Better means 10 times better not 10 %, i.e. a magnitude improvement.

2

HAVING A DERIVATIVE IDEA

Many startups make imitations of some existing company. That’s one source of ideas, but not the best. If you look at the origins of successful startups, few were started in imitation of some other startup. Usually they got their ideas from some specific, unsolved problem the founders identified, often with the purpose of overcoming an obstacle they encountered themselves. (1)

3

FOCUSING ON SOLVING TECHNICAL PROBLEMS

Some startups are run by techies who are obsessed with solving interesting technical problems, instead of making users happy. In a startup, you’re not just trying to solve problems for the sake of it. If you want to do that, turn to fundamental research. In a startup, you’re trying to solve problems that users actually care about. (1)

4

NOT STARTING SMALL ENOUGH

If you can’t make your own prototype, it’s probably too big. So lower your ambitions and make it feasible. A solid existing but less complete prototype is better than a perfect hypothetical one that will never see the light of day.

Ideas Are Useless, Unless Acted Upon

An idea is not that big of a deal. Millions of people get them every day. You can come up with business ideas anytime.

We’re not trying to offend you, but help you adjust your expectations to the harsh reality of the business world. A business idea is just that, an idea until you do something with it.

A big idea is like betting all your money on a single number in the casino. It’s a big bet but you can win big too. It’s a better strategy than a series of small bets, since the odds are structural in favour of the casino.

But entrepreneurship isn’t a casino. It’s both a science and an art. Focusing on a big idea may not be to your advantage. Instead you could come up with small ideas and combine them as long as the result makes an impact.

No matter how great your idea is, if you can’t execute it, you won’t get their money. Luckily, the cost of getting business ideas out, is getting lower and lower.

5

NOT DOING YOUR