
Startup Failure Post-Mortems - asanwal
http://www.chubbybrain.com/blog/2010/10/startup-failure-post-mortem/
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ojbyrne
"Ars Digita: From Start-Up to Bust-Up" should be in the list:
<http://waxy.org/random/arsdigita/>

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asanwal
Wow - that one is great (VC vs. entrepreneur tension/drama). Will add to the
post. Thanks for highlighting.

edit: Added to post.

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Swizec
>Ethan and I came up with the “Zombie Team” test for figuring out whether or
not someone is ready to work on an intense project, be it a start-up or
otherwise. The test is this: If zombies suddenly sprung from the earth, could
you trust the perspective team member to cover your back? Would they tell you
if they got bit? Most importantly would you give them the team’s only gun if
you knew they were the better shot? If the answer is no to any of those
questions you need to let them get eaten by the cubicle wasteland of corporate
culture, because they aren’t ready for this kind of work.

This is the best highlight for me. It really says a lot about the kind of work
startups are. We may not realise it, but really we are _macho warriors
fighting zombies and getting The Chick in the end_

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snide
Wow. Dunno if it's awesome or embarrassing to see reference to a document I
wrote over 4 years ago in this article. Oh shit... I'm 31 now!

For those curious (I never got around to part 2), boompa ended well. After
turning down an early exit, we shifted focus to comicvine.com and ended up
growing that site to its current position as the largest comic book site on
the web. Ethan and I eventually partnered with some other old CNET veterans
and formed Whiskey Media, which runs giantbomb.com and tested.com, among other
sites.

If there's anything I've learned in this business since I wrote that article
it's that you're lucky if you can maintain a 50% win/loss ratio with each
product your launch (though I applaud you lucky bastards that got it right the
first time). My advice continues to be to ditch and move on if your product
doesn't catch on within the first six months. If for no other reason than it
keeps you engaged and excited on what's coming up next. Sometimes what you
think will work just doesn't catch on and that's totally OK. Maybe your next
idea will.

Keep on keeping on.

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gacba
Great list of failures. Perfect for mass pre-post--mortem analysis or at the
very least, a collection of warnings to avoid for future startups...Thanks for
putting that together!

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greg_holsclaw
Thanks I have used all of my morning on this one post reading these. Should be
distilled into the 25 five things not to do with your start-up.

