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Founders: You Have No Clue What You’re Up Against
A deep dive into why sometimes great products that solve real problems for eager customers don’t stand a chance.
Recently, an old business school friend reached out for some impromptu feedback and advice on her new startup idea. She didn’t just ask me because she knows I’ve built and consulted for many startups; she asked because she knew I was uniquely a member of the target market (pet owners), so she wanted both prospective consumer feedback, as well as my professional founder and investor opinion. Unfortunately, those two perspectives can sometimes be in conflict, which is exactly why some products don’t get made, or rather, some founders build seemingly innovative offerings that fail on arrival.
The irony here is that this friend (let’s call her Carrie) had the finance background and business school chops, so you’d assume she’d know all the business model pitfalls and financial missteps to avoid. Nonetheless, understanding startup economics in theory (on paper, in a spreadsheet, or in a business school classroom) is very different from witnessing and experiencing them on your own dime (as I’ve done many times over). My hope with this article is that I can craft the honest, robust assessment I fear I won’t be bold enough to share with Carrie directly.
