Francis claimed he knew the three reasons why Startups really fail and claimed that Startups almost never fail due to "not building something people want". Tha

Francis claimed he knew the three reasons why Startups really fail and claimed that Startups almost never fail due to "not building something people want". Thats rejecting product/market fit. This contradicts years of advice from people who have been there: Blank, pmarca, Ries, even pg, etc. This requires a heck of a lot more evidence than an incoherent essay for a magazine. Hence, broscience. I also spoke as someone who helped lead a startup past Series B prior to an epic crater. Product/market fit was mistake #1. I could argue Francis' reason #2 played a role in not keeping the corpse animated - we had serious company-building problems, for example. I don't know Francis and don't mean to be cruel, but I had to tell it like it is: I had a flashback to my days reading long screeds on bodybuilding.com. The article was well-intended and had some glimmers of good writing. It just felt like a let down for such a provocative headline, length (time commitment), and that someone with clearly good observational skills seems to miss key gaps in his world view. As Orwell would say, "To see what is in front of one's nose is a constant struggle." We all have that struggle, But not all of us write for online magazines :-)