There’s no shortage of startup advice these days. Every successful entrepreneur has a book. Moreover, every investor has a podcast. Additionally, there are thousands of articles about how to build the perfect startup.
But here’s the problem: most of this advice doesn’t work. In fact, following popular startup advice might be the reason your startup is failing.
The Advice Trap
Think about all the startup advice you’ve heard. Furthermore, think about how much of it contradicts the other advice. For instance, one guru says move fast and break things. However, another says plan carefully and move slowly. Additionally, one says focus on one thing. But someone else says you need to diversify.
So which is right? The answer is that they’re both right for different situations. However, most founders don’t know which situation they’re in. Therefore, they pick advice randomly and hope it works.
This is where most startups go wrong. They follow advice that sounds smart because it comes from smart people. Moreover, they follow it even when it doesn’t match their business. As a result, they waste time and money on the wrong strategies.
The real issue is that most startup advice is designed for a specific type of business at a specific stage. When you copy that advice for your different business, it fails. Furthermore, you blame yourself instead of blaming the advice.
Everyone’s Selling Growth
One of the biggest pieces of startup advice is this: grow at all costs. You hear it everywhere. Investors want growth. Moreover, the startup world celebrates growth. Additionally, everyone measures success by how fast you’re growing.
But this advice has destroyed more startups than it has saved. When you focus only on growth, you make bad decisions. For instance, you might sell to customers who aren’t a good fit. Furthermore, you might spend money on marketing that doesn’t actually work. As a result, you grow but you’re also losing money.
The companies promoting this advice have something to gain. If your startup grows fast, investors make money. Moreover, if your startup explodes, the advisors and investors look like geniuses. Additionally, they can write books about how you succeeded. But if your startup dies, they move on to the next one.
The real success in startups isn’t about growing at all costs, it’s about growing in a way that makes sense. Furthermore, it’s about building a business that actually works. Most importantly, it’s about surviving long enough to succeed.
The Survivorship Bias Problem
Here’s something important to understand about startup advice. Most of the advice you hear comes from people who succeeded. Moreover, you rarely hear from people who failed using the same advice.
Let’s say a famous founder built a billion-dollar company by working 100 hours a week. Therefore, they tell everyone to work 100 hours a week. However, what about the hundred other founders who worked 100 hours a week and failed? You never hear from them.
This is survivorship bias. According to research on startup failures and success patterns, you only see the survivors, so you think their advice caused their success. However, many other people followed the same advice and failed. As a result, the advice seems more powerful than it actually is.
When you’re building your startup, remember this. The advice that worked for someone else might not work for you. Additionally, the fact that they succeeded doesn’t mean their advice is the reason. Furthermore, there could be luck, timing, or other factors involved that you don’t see.
What Actually Works
So if most startup advice doesn’t work, what does?
First, you need to understand your actual business. Moreover, you need to know who your real customers are. Additionally, you need to understand what problem you’re actually solving. Most importantly, you need to talk to real customers before you spend all your money.
This sounds obvious, but almost nobody does it. Instead, founders spend months building products before talking to anyone. Furthermore, they assume they know what customers want. As a result, they build the wrong thing.
Second, focus on profit, not just growth. When you focus on profit, you make better decisions. Moreover, you can run the business longer because you’re not burning through cash. Additionally, profitable businesses don’t need investors, which means you have more control.
Third, do things that don’t scale. Build relationships with your first customers. Moreover, solve their problems in ways that don’t require fancy software or big budgets. Furthermore, talk to your customers regularly. As a result, you’ll understand what actually matters.
Fourth, ignore most of the noise. There’s so much advice out there that it’s impossible to follow it all. Therefore, pick a few principles that make sense for your business. Moreover, stick with them. Additionally, ignore everything else.
The Real Failure Pattern
Most startups fail for the same reasons. First, they build something nobody wants. Second, they run out of money. Third, they lose motivation because they’re not making progress.
Notice something? None of these require following fancy advice. Rather, they require understanding your customers, managing your money, and staying focused.
When you talk to founders who failed, they often say the same thing. They wish they’d spent more time understanding their customers. Moreover, they wish they’d been more careful with money. Furthermore, they wish they’d ignored some of the noise and stayed focused on one thing.
This isn’t secret wisdom. It’s basic common sense. However, it’s boring compared to flashy advice about changing the world and disrupting industries.
Your Real Advantage
Here’s something most startup advice doesn’t tell you. Your real advantage isn’t intelligence or hard work. Moreover, it’s not following the right formula or having the right connections.
Your real advantage is being small and close to your customers. Furthermore, you can move fast because you have fewer people. Additionally, you can change direction without approval from a board. Most importantly, you can talk to customers directly.
Big companies can’t do this. Therefore, they hire consultants and advisors to figure out what customers want. As a result, they move slowly. However, you can just ask.
So use your advantage. Talk to customers constantly. Moreover, understand what they really need. Additionally, build products they actually want. As a result, you’ll have something real.
The Choice
You have a choice. You can follow the latest startup advice from famous founders and investors. Moreover, you can chase growth at all costs. Additionally, you can try to copy what others did.
Or you can do something different. You can understand your actual business. Moreover, you can focus on customers instead of vanity metrics. Furthermore, you can build something sustainable instead of something that looks impressive but falls apart.
The truth is that most startup advice comes from people playing a different game than you. Furthermore, they’re optimizing for different things. Most importantly, what worked for them might fail for you.
So before you follow the next piece of advice you hear, ask yourself this: does this actually apply to my business? Moreover, does this make sense for my customers? Additionally, would you still do this if there were no investors watching and your survival depended on making real profits?
If the answer is yes, then do it. However, if the answer is no, ignore it. The companies that win aren’t the ones that follow the most advice. Rather, they’re the ones that focus on building something real and sustainable. And that requires thinking for yourself.
