I came across an article that talked about the top 4 reasons why start-ups fail. The four are: inadequate testing, incompatibility of team members, lack of persistence, and a catch-all category—everything else (which includes greed and lack of proper tools).
The article reminded me of our discussion on Saravathy—where we talked about how the effectual model is more closely associated with start-ups and that failures are baked into start-ups—and our discussions on the limitations on innovation. Even with the information from this article, it seems like start-ups will continue to struggle (especially since these 4 reasons are hard to “bake in”).
Interesting read. I always have a bit of an issue with articles that say “top 4” and then have an all inclusive #4. Doesn’t seem to be a true top 4. Also, at 14 individuals, it was a really small sample set. These issues aside, the reasons for start-up failure pointed to by those surveyed were illustrative of reasons we have covered in class. The first one, inadequate testing, was surprising to me. I assumed this would be on the list, but not at the top. I am curious how this testing period squares with minimal viable product thinking. In a situation such as the innovators dilemma, testing can be detrimental to getting the product out the door and iterating as you go. Would have liked to see responses from a larger and more diverse sample set, but overall, interesting read.