This is the biggest mistake that I see startups make. Startups ARE small businesses, they are just supposed to be growing faster than "normal" small businesses.

This is the biggest mistake that I see startups make. Startups ARE small businesses, they are just supposed to be growing faster than "normal" small businesses. But many people make the mistake of not being a "small" business as a startup, and then they realize that they have no idea what to do when they have a medium size business on their hands (or never create any business at all in spite of products). Avoid venture backers until you can't - entrepreneurs existed before venture capital, and exist outside of it as well. Venture should fund growth, but not inception.