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There isn't a guide that is definitive on the outcome. There are guidelines, but even if you follow them it doesn't make success of a startup. If you want the

There isn't a guide that is definitive on the outcome. There are guidelines, but even if you follow them it doesn't make success of a startup. If you want the short story on startup success it can be summed up in one word overall, Execution. Most startups fail because of poor execution and by making more mistakes than not. If you can outlast your mistakes (which everyone will have) and execute on each stage you succeed.

altern8 8y ago
> There isn't a guide that is definitive on the outcome. There are guidelines, but even if you follow them it doesn't make success of a startup. What are the best ones, in your opinion? Could you link a good one? > If you want the short story on startup success it can be summed up in one word overall, Execution. I don't know. Execution is something you cannot "learn". Either you're good, or not. However, if your idea sucks and you fail to build a MVP, and you fail to ask for feedback, you risk wasting months of your life that you could have avoided. Or, your idea might be awesomely executed, but if you fail to market it properly, no one will know about it and you will fail. If I followed even the steps I mentioned, I would be able to catch bad ideas before I spent months of my time and potentially hundred of thousands of dollars. Just thinking outloud here.
- davismwfl 8y ago
  Overall I agree but you also kinda proved my point. In the example you laid out, they didn't execute well enough on the business to make it a success. Execution isn't in the absence of marketing, product or idea, it is the key reason why startups fail though. A weakly put together but strongly executed marketing plan beats a superb plan that is executed poorly. Execution is what matters here, the plan can be revised over and over, but if you fail to execute it doesn't matter if the most brilliant person in that field put together the plan, you will fail. Definitely plenty of room for varied opinions here, just my 2 cents as well.
  - altern8 8y ago
    Ah, I thought execution of the product itself. However, you have to know you should do certain things to be able to execute them well. A lot of projects I've seen fail were well-made, but had crappy or no marketing. The reason is that founders were tech guys, and you know how tech guys like to program and not email people :-)
    - davismwfl 8y ago
      Gotcha, yea, that is a communication failure on my point, my bad. And I agree, most tech people are to focused on what they are building and fail to do all the other steps, which is the failure to execute in my view.
- davismwfl 8y ago
  Sorry, I didn't answer the first question you asked. I don't have a guide to link to, but my general guidelines for myself: Curiosity always, Validation, Market, Team, Mockup, Validation, Market, Sales Commitments, Build Team, MVP, Actual Sales, Iteration. In the early stage this is what a fledgling startup looks like to me. Curiosity around ideas, always asking questions and this should never stop ever. Validation of ideas once you feel you have found one or more. Validation is done by talking to real human beings who would be the potential target clients, Market is the market opportunity research and the targeting. Team may come right after market or may wait, but either way who are the people you will need to make it happen. Mockup is a simple PDF or wireframe mockup, not even code likely at this point. Validation again on the Mockup and market. Redefine the market and or product. Start getting sales commitments at this point, build out the team and the MVP and move into sales. Then you start iterating on Product and sales. Of course, this is a gross overview, a ton of little steps go into all this, but for me this is how you start any basic business, regardless if you want to raise money or just be successful. It starts with Idea/Clients, then you start figuring out product. When I used to help startups a lot as my consulting clients this was almost always universally failed. They'd come with a product idea but almost 0 market validation or testing, so who knows what would work. Now, there are some greenfield projects where there just isn't a market because you are defining it, but that is the rarity and generally is started and funded differently IME.
muzani 8y ago
There's a lot more to it than execution. The formula I like most is along the lines of: Team * idea * product * execution * luck They're all multipliers, and yes, the idea is very important too. There's a lot of great teams and executors going around with poor ideas, and they don't go as far as they should.
- davismwfl 8y ago
  I kinda answered it in another comment too. I don't disagree that having a solid team is critical or a good product, but my point is that you can have a mediocre technical team that just keeps executing that will outperform rock stars who can get stuff done but can't execute completely. So it always boils down to execution. A great product idea is nothing without being executed on, every day, every hour so that it is moving forward. I agree there are lots of factors that can be hard in a startup, but the single biggest issue is execution. Even in raising money, you can have an amazing team and solid product idea, but if you execute poorly on the fundraise you will not get money or not get enough to make the idea come to reality. I also 100% agree with you, all startups involve some lucky breaks, however, I have lots of friends who have had one or more lucky breaks and they failed to execute on them. So even luck isn't great unless you execute on it. I'd argue a great team that is executing will see that the idea/product/concept is failing and start looking for a pivot to get it back on track because they are executing. Executing means you are setting goals, hitting goals, measuring progress, evaluating status and adjusting, if you aren't doing all of those then you aren't executing very well. And that happens at a macro and micro level at all stages, that is execution IMO. I'll also agree that I don't know everything and plenty of people have valid concepts that have succeeded that may disagree with me. Totally fair, but IMO execution is the #1 reason startups fail and is the key to making them succeed in some form.
  - muzani 8y ago
    I think the multiplier effect explains it best. Like you can't have a company with 0 luck, but if you want to be a billion dollar company, you need right timing. If you do everything moderately well and execute great, then you should have a multimillion dollar hit on your hands. But I guess my opposition was to execution being the only factor. Like, I don't think Sergey Brin would have built Google had he stayed in the Soviet Union, no matter how smart and hardworking he is.

altern8 8y ago

> There isn't a guide that is definitive on the outcome. There are guidelines, but even if you follow them it doesn't make success of a startup. What are the best ones, in your opinion? Could you link a good one? > If you want the short story on startup success it can be summed up in one word overall, Execution. I don't know. Execution is something you cannot "learn". Either you're good, or not. However, if your idea sucks and you fail to build a MVP, and you fail to ask for feedback, you risk wasting months of your life that you could have avoided. Or, your idea might be awesomely executed, but if you fail to market it properly, no one will know about it and you will fail. If I followed even the steps I mentioned, I would be able to catch bad ideas before I spent months of my time and potentially hundred of thousands of dollars. Just thinking outloud here.

davismwfl 8y ago
Overall I agree but you also kinda proved my point. In the example you laid out, they didn't execute well enough on the business to make it a success. Execution isn't in the absence of marketing, product or idea, it is the key reason why startups fail though. A weakly put together but strongly executed marketing plan beats a superb plan that is executed poorly. Execution is what matters here, the plan can be revised over and over, but if you fail to execute it doesn't matter if the most brilliant person in that field put together the plan, you will fail. Definitely plenty of room for varied opinions here, just my 2 cents as well.
- altern8 8y ago
  Ah, I thought execution of the product itself. However, you have to know you should do certain things to be able to execute them well. A lot of projects I've seen fail were well-made, but had crappy or no marketing. The reason is that founders were tech guys, and you know how tech guys like to program and not email people :-)
  - davismwfl 8y ago
    Gotcha, yea, that is a communication failure on my point, my bad. And I agree, most tech people are to focused on what they are building and fail to do all the other steps, which is the failure to execute in my view.
davismwfl 8y ago
Sorry, I didn't answer the first question you asked. I don't have a guide to link to, but my general guidelines for myself: Curiosity always, Validation, Market, Team, Mockup, Validation, Market, Sales Commitments, Build Team, MVP, Actual Sales, Iteration. In the early stage this is what a fledgling startup looks like to me. Curiosity around ideas, always asking questions and this should never stop ever. Validation of ideas once you feel you have found one or more. Validation is done by talking to real human beings who would be the potential target clients, Market is the market opportunity research and the targeting. Team may come right after market or may wait, but either way who are the people you will need to make it happen. Mockup is a simple PDF or wireframe mockup, not even code likely at this point. Validation again on the Mockup and market. Redefine the market and or product. Start getting sales commitments at this point, build out the team and the MVP and move into sales. Then you start iterating on Product and sales. Of course, this is a gross overview, a ton of little steps go into all this, but for me this is how you start any basic business, regardless if you want to raise money or just be successful. It starts with Idea/Clients, then you start figuring out product. When I used to help startups a lot as my consulting clients this was almost always universally failed. They'd come with a product idea but almost 0 market validation or testing, so who knows what would work. Now, there are some greenfield projects where there just isn't a market because you are defining it, but that is the rarity and generally is started and funded differently IME.

muzani 8y ago

There's a lot more to it than execution. The formula I like most is along the lines of: Team * idea * product * execution * luck They're all multipliers, and yes, the idea is very important too. There's a lot of great teams and executors going around with poor ideas, and they don't go as far as they should.

davismwfl 8y ago
I kinda answered it in another comment too. I don't disagree that having a solid team is critical or a good product, but my point is that you can have a mediocre technical team that just keeps executing that will outperform rock stars who can get stuff done but can't execute completely. So it always boils down to execution. A great product idea is nothing without being executed on, every day, every hour so that it is moving forward. I agree there are lots of factors that can be hard in a startup, but the single biggest issue is execution. Even in raising money, you can have an amazing team and solid product idea, but if you execute poorly on the fundraise you will not get money or not get enough to make the idea come to reality. I also 100% agree with you, all startups involve some lucky breaks, however, I have lots of friends who have had one or more lucky breaks and they failed to execute on them. So even luck isn't great unless you execute on it. I'd argue a great team that is executing will see that the idea/product/concept is failing and start looking for a pivot to get it back on track because they are executing. Executing means you are setting goals, hitting goals, measuring progress, evaluating status and adjusting, if you aren't doing all of those then you aren't executing very well. And that happens at a macro and micro level at all stages, that is execution IMO. I'll also agree that I don't know everything and plenty of people have valid concepts that have succeeded that may disagree with me. Totally fair, but IMO execution is the #1 reason startups fail and is the key to making them succeed in some form.
- muzani 8y ago
  I think the multiplier effect explains it best. Like you can't have a company with 0 luck, but if you want to be a billion dollar company, you need right timing. If you do everything moderately well and execute great, then you should have a multimillion dollar hit on your hands. But I guess my opposition was to execution being the only factor. Like, I don't think Sergey Brin would have built Google had he stayed in the Soviet Union, no matter how smart and hardworking he is.