Slow Down, Startup.

Lack of capital? Lack of imagination? High burn rate? Inability to pivot? Slow to market? There are no shortage of reasons for startup failures. From there being no real market appetite to just plain bad timing, early stage enterprises often incur that most damning of trials by fire, outlasting the crowd. 

So why do so many startups fail? Within 3 years, 92% of startups are no longer in existence. That is certainly staggering. Without delving too far into the data which reveals that 74% of failures in the above period are due to premature scaling, overwhelmingly founders agree that an apparent lack of consumer interest is the underlying reason their rocketships failed to take off. Dauntingly, if this is such an ever present problem, why aren't we paying more attention to it. Every startup success reaches that tipping point if it doesn't become evident at an early stage. Early adoption turns into frenzied demand. Kallanick building baller black cars to pick him and his friends up to scaling and formalising what is the leading ride sharing app on the planet. The data speaks loudly for itself.

Me too startups are propping up everywhere and headstrong owners give little credence or time to truly evaluating the viability and originality of their ideas. To echo Peter Thiel, every great advancement, probably happens in only one instance. Continued incarnations are limited. There won't be another Facebook. Sure social media existed before and after Facebook, but it's offering was unique. Similarly, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat have markedly unique offerings and easily justify their existence. Can you say the same about your startup? Does the world need it? Is it markedly different from anything else out there? Fundamentally, will people care enough to sleep out in the rain for it?

My regular interactions have led me to a few critical insights when it comes to startups. More often than not, the owners and founders are terrifyingly afraid of the next step. This is precisely because they entertain only one possible scenario. Funding. Growth. Instant infamy. The other more plausible and far more probable response, is the rewrite. By this I mean, the returns to the drawing board, the tweaking and numerous relaunches of a product seemingly in eternal beta limbo. More terrifying for future Musks, is not the next step but the previous one. Did we do the right thing? Is this idea worth pursuing? Have we invested so much time in a blind alley? Build fast, break faster. Unfortunately thats a scarce occurrence in startup culture as the longer and more dedicated a team is to a project, the less likely they are to be willing to admit that it's raison d'être is fundamentally flawed. 

“Customers won’t care about any particular technology unless it solves a particular problem in a superior way."  Again, Peter Thiel. How many startups today, remind themselves of their reason for existence?  The unique problem they're solving or better yet, their offering in this ever, ever crowded space. Stay true to the course. System's Instagram has for the better part of these last few years, continued to just be a great photo sharing app. Limited improvements, reduced feature creep and a continued focus on that one distinct offering, that resulted in the formation of your enterprise. Single minded, single service offering. 

There is an old Abraham Lincoln quote, which goes "Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe." Preparation, meticulously, is directly proportional to success. At the very least it buys you time. With startups, picking the right tree is as paramount as sharpening the axe.