We need more of this kind of honest writing. In the tech world, we tend to use euphemisms to talk about this kind of destructive behavior. Go to a Meetup full o

We need more of this kind of honest writing. In the tech world, we tend to use euphemisms to talk about this kind of destructive behavior. Go to a Meetup full of VCs and they say stuff like "Oh, that startup died because of team dysfunction." Well, okay, but what does team dysfunction actually look like? How ugly does it get? Why does it happen? Self-sabotage is remarkably common. We all know the failure rate of startups is very high. The estimates I've read vary, but they are all in the range of 80% to 90%. And clearly, much of the failure comes from suicide, not homicide. That is, the startup isn't out maneuvered by a giant like Google, but rather, it fails because of its own internal flaws. The essay "Why do entrepreneurs engage in self-sabotage" is on this theme: http://www.smashcompany.com/business/why-do-entrepreneurs-engage-in-self-sabotage http://www.smashcompany.com/business/why-do-entrepreneurs-en...