

17 Mistakes Start-Ups Make by John Osher (inventor of Crest Spinbrush) - eventhough
http://www.cpd.ogi.edu/mst/capstone/17Mistakes.htm

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andreyf
This is very rare - a title that has been way overused ("{x} mistakes {y}
make") - but still very helpful and original. If you're hesitant that this is
yet another worthless list of fluff, it isn't.

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Alex3917
The problem with these lists is that they're aimed at folks who are generally
competent, albeit inexperienced. But I observe a good percentage of would-be
entrepreneurs who aren't even competent enough to launch a product and grow a
business to the level where they'd even have a chance to make one of these
mistakes. Or, phrased more delicately, while there are sticking points at each
level of business, it seems that many (most?) people hit the ones they can't
surmount earlier on in the process than what these lists are designed to help
with.

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j2d2
I don't disagree, but wisdom of things you haven't hit yet can influence early
decision making.

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lux
Mistake 15 makes me think of a quote that always struck me from Machiavelli's
Prince:

"Since men for the most part follow in the footsteps and imitate the actions
of others, the wise man should always follow the roads that have been
travelled by the great, so that if he cannot reach their perfection, he may at
least acquire something of its savour. This is like the skillful archer, who
seeing that the object he would hit is distant, and knowing the range of his
bow, takes aim much above the destined mark; not intending that his arrow
should strike so high, but, in flying high, it may land at the point
intended."

I tend to think aiming higher has a better chance of hitting a decent mark. So
where he says to know your aim but also know your limit, perhaps you should
still aim at $10 million if you're trying to hit $5 mil. Not saying everyone's
goal should be to overtake Google or MS, but just aiming at your exact target
means you're likelier to fall short.

The flip-side I guess is that you need to recognize what success is for you
personally, and reaching your lofty goals 100% maybe shouldn't be a
requirement of that, since if you're aiming at $10 mil, $5 mil is still quite
successful by most peoples' standards :)

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richcollins
I've yet to meet at single software statup founder that "spend (s) enough time
researching the business idea to see if it's viable".

I wonder if that is due to the very low barrier to entry with software.

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nostrademons
I've seen a lot of startups that did plenty of market research (including both
my last failed startup and my last employer), but I've yet to see one get
anything useful out of it.

There're a couple of pitfalls to be wary of when doing market research, like:

1.) Confirmation bias. At my last employer, we had an intern spend all summer
calling prospective customers. He called 30-40 organizations and got through
to a grand total of 2 executives, who were sorta lukewarm about the idea. Then
my boss said, "Well, I think there's enough interest to move forwards with
this project." Then we busted our ass for a year, put it in front of a bunch
of other customers, incorporated their feedback, and it still didn't sell.

2.) Not having something for people to react to. People don't know what they
want, but if you show them something, they can often tell you whether they
like it or not, and possibly suggest things they _do_ want.

3.) Calling the wrong people. It doesn't help to get the input of people who
won't use your product anyway. This can be kinda tricky though, since you
often don't know who'll end up using your product ahead of time.

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gaborcselle
Sounds mostly like bad execution of a generally good idea.

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babul
"focused too much on sales volume and company size rather than profit"

In internet startup especially, I often think too many of us are too focused
on growth and monetising "later" rather than slower growth which actually
incorporates a revenue/profit model.

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augustus
One of the best articles on this subject. Thoroughly prioritized and focused.

Something I will add is that the power of these observations are not obvious
when you have never started your own business. But having been on this path I
have to completely agree with what is being said.

Thanks for posting this great article.

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sebg
I thought this was a great article because it was very thorough and to the
point. For me, the business lessons from the internet startup world seem to be
transmutable to brick and mortart business and back again. Sam Walton's
autobiography (Sam Walton: Made in America : My Story) has a list of advice at
the end of the book that describes what he thought made Wal-Mart successful. I
think this list is something that would be very applicable to the internet
startup world.

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augustus
The best part of the article is this statement

They say 9 [out] of 10 entrepreneurs fail because they're undercapitalized or
have the wrong people. I say 9 [out] of 10 people fail because their original
concept is not viable.

Totally agree. I can vouch for this from my personal experience and also as I
watch older business people who should have no business managing or running
companies.

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aasarava
"They put together financial projections as part of a presentation to pump up
their investors."

An important point for those of us who may seek angel or VC funding for our
startups at some point. It's all too common to hear entrepreneurs say things
like "Investors are going to be looking for better growth than that...."

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keefe
I think this is an excellent article, the point about seeking confirmation
instead of the truth strikes a chord for me. It seems like you can boil a lot
of this down to making sure you don't lose touch with reality and focus on
making a profit.

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brandonkm
Mistakes 12 and 16 are two of the most key things. Especially with web based
startups. I'd really like to see more innovative ways of advertising, perhaps
developers should focus on this just as much as the service they are building?

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edw519
Great post! I laughed as I read each mistake, thinking of the times I had seen
it myself. I could almost pin names of people I know to each mistake.

As I hacker, I love #11 the most: _Accepting that it's "not possible" too
easily rather than finding a way._ Whenever I hear that, I become that much
more determined. My mentor once taught me, "We can always find a way to do the
right thing." The words "find a way" still get that Pavlovian response from
me. </wipes slobber from keyboard>

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henning
Mistakes 3, 6, 8 and 14 sound very, very similar to what 37Signals and other
web entrepreneur people are saying.

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nostrademons
It's doubly true in software, because adding people not only increases the
financial cost, but it increases the communication cost as well. In software,
it's very likely that adding people makes you go more slowly, unless you take
very careful pains to manage them well (which makes _you_ go more slowly,
though hopefully it helps them go fast).

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eventhough
FYI, he also invented Stretch Armstrong for those of you that remember the
toy.

