Cactus Chords

Industry surveys have revealed that 9/10 start-ups fail within the first 3-5 years of operations. Why does this happen? Is there a common thread of failure mantras that people subconsciously follow?

Here are some of the reasons why, I feel, a start-up can tumble down the ladder to the pits. I often wonder what made my first venture a failure. Was I at fault or was it my partners? We had everything a start-up required, an office, a set off brilliant minds, each of us had our field of expertise, finance, marketing, international operations, sales. An esteemed clientele, promising ideas and products. Then what went wrong? We just couldn’t work together, just couldn’t.

We personally have no qualms, but professionally, it was 100% effort and very little output. It never matters how long you have known each other, even the presence of one entity that has a wrong intention can lead to an intermittent firing of the team. And when it is a team, one person is never accountable for the failure. It is the whole team. And despite several tries, if the matter can not be resolved, it has to culminate in failure. Individually, all will excel in life off these experiences. One of the greatest traits of a true entrepreneur is to rise from the ashes of failure like a phoenix. Some of the reasons that can lead to failure:

- Lack of focus
- Weak business model or no business model
- Individual goals that vary greatly from the rest of the team
- No or wrong mentors/advisers
- Wrong team
- Lack of trust
- Variation in character
- Immaturity
- No prior industry experience
- Lack of punctuality
- Over confidence
- Black sheep
- Loss of faith in business
- Mentality to quit

The points mentioned above could be in various combinations. If the combination involves all the above, you have close to a week before you wind up and my condolences in advance. If you haven’t kicked off yet, then take sometime off to work on these problems and then kick off. Also a few questions you should find answers to before you jump into a start-up;
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1) Where do you see yourself in 2 years whether this is a success or a failure?
2) What are you planning to take away from this venture?
3) What is your monetary share in the firm?
4) Is this specific business your cup of tea?
5) Are your partners trustworthy?
6) What is your role in the firm?

If you have justified answers to the above questions, you are well on the right path to success.

I have moved on and turned a new leaf and so far, a pretty successful one too. This time, keeping in mind the mistakes I made and avoiding the probable potholes when I sense one.

Cheers!!!

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