failure Archives - Startup Economist

This Is Why It’s Critical to Our Economy That We Distinguish Startups from New Businesses

Friday, 11 April 2025 by Paul O'Brien

This might be among my most harsh criticisms of our economy, and I don’t write it lightly but rather because as time progresses, we can see more and more clearly how misrepresentation of focus, skills, and experience, actually harms entrepreneurs. Not All Failure is Created Equal And more importantly, not all failure is worthy of

Published in Economic Development, Startup Ecosystems, Startups

29 Comments

If You’re Asking If You Can Start a Startup, We Know How Likely You Are to Fail — And It’s a Lot Worse Than the Average

Wednesday, 09 April 2025 by Paul O'Brien

This is one of those “I did the math” posts, and it might inspire you, but it could also discourage you so before I let you go on into the depths of discouragement, let me point out that what we’re exploring here is how to avoid failure – that, if the math prove that you’re

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Published in Insights / Research, Startups

27 Comments

Seeking Better Startup Founder Agreements

Monday, 28 October 2024 by Paul O'Brien

Ever see a pie chart like this, or can you at least envision one, wherein a partner of yours (or God-forbid, you), expect a majority control of a startup? I get asked all the time, about how to handle retaining control when it was my idea or how to deal with a cofounder who wants

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Published in Insights / Research, Startups

14 Comments

A Competition Slide that Closes Capital

Wednesday, 25 November 2020 by Paul O'Brien

I was asked recently if Facebook and Google are competitors, and the question being asked, struck me with as much alarm as hearing a startup founder say they don’t have competitors. What most frequently gives an investor pause is a slide in a pitch deck that communicates that you’re not paying attention to your market and

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Published in Raising Capital

4 Comments

How, not just Why, Startups Fail

Friday, 06 April 2018 by Paul O'Brien

Article after article, study after study, offers Buzzfeed style insight to why startups fail. It’s such a popular and frequently recurring tweet that I’ve started chewing on WHY the question of why keeps coming up. As founders, perhaps we’re asking the wrong question and shouldn’t be seeking to know why but rather how (or, how

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Published in Featured, Insights / Research, Startups

93 Comments

Why Startups Fail – Bosses vs. Founders

Monday, 19 January 2015 by Paul O'Brien

Almost every list of reasons startups fail, point out near the top that they run out of capital. Lists created by founders abound and it’s not unreasonable to conclude that they’ll cite that they ran out money. It’s not wrong, startups most often succeed through perseverance, tenacity, and patience, but I’m intrigued by what you probably

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Published in Insights / Research, Startups

5 Comments