WildBlueSkies - Trends and strategies in Digital Media

A brilliant essay by Paul Graham on the mistakes that a number of startups tend to overlook and which could lead to their failure. Though this was written in 2006, its just as relevant today. Paul Graham is one of the partners in Y Combinator.

In a sense there’s just one mistake that kills startups: not making something users want. If you make something users want, you’ll probably be fine, whatever else you do or don’t do. And if you don’t make something users want, then you’re dead, whatever else you do or don’t do. So really this is a list of 18 things that cause startups not to make something users want. Nearly all failure funnels through that.

One thing that struck me on reading his article, was the absence to the reference of a business model, to which he says:
“You may have noticed I didn’t mention anything about having the right business model. That’s not because making money is unimportant. I’m not suggesting that founders start companies with no chance of making money in the hope of unloading them before they tank. The reason we tell founders not to worry about the business model initially is that making something people want is so much harder.”
Read the complete essay.

Filed under: Business, Entrepreneurship