Startup Success and Startup Mistakes

Sam Altman, Ycombinator, Who knows more than this guy? 

1.  A product so good, people tell friends.
2.  Easy to understand; simple to explain
3.  Market exponential growth
4.  Real trends vs. fake trends
5.  Evangelical Founder
6.  Ambitious Vision
7.  Hard Startup vs. Easy Startup
8.  Confident and Definite View of the Future
9.  Huge if it Works
10.  Team
        a.  Optimists
        b.  Idea Generators
        c.  "We'll Figure It Out"
        d.  "I've Got It"
        e.  Action Bias
        f.  The Blessing of Inexperience
11.  Momentum
12.  Competitive Advantage
13.  Sensible Business Model
14.  Distribution Strategy
15.  Frugality, Focus, Obsession, Love
16.  Why Startups Win
        a. One No vs. One Yes
        b. Fast Changing Markets
        c. Platform Shifts

 Kathryn Minshew: 7 Classic Startup Founder Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)

1. Idea vs. Product - Market Fit

2. Any founders with skill will do

3. Perfect vs. Done

4. Productive or Impactful?

5. If you build it, they will not come.  Create Velocity.

6. Team building

7. Don't believe the hype 

 

Guy Kawasaki - Top 10 Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make

                 Mistake                         Solution

  1.  Big Numbers * 1%          Calculate from bottom up

  2.  Scale too fast                   Eat what you kill

  3.  Focus on partnerships      Focus on Sales,  Sales Fixes Everything

  4.  Focus on Pitch                 Focus on prototype

  5.  Too many slides              10 - 20 - 30 rule

  6.  Proceed serially               Proceed parallely

  7.  Retain Control                 Make a Bigger Pie

  8.  Patents for Defense .        Use Success for Definsibility

  9.  Hire like you                    Hire to complement you

10.  Befriend your investors    Exceed expectations