Startups Don’t Fail, Mindsets Do
The story of why startups fail has been told hundreds of times. You’ll find articles with top ten lists, opinionated pieces from entrepreneurs and investors detailing why they think a new venture or other entrepreneurs failed in their business pursuits. or why entrepreneurs have failed o their journey to become a company. The stories list reasons such as a “lack of finance”, not getting to a “product-market-fit” or a poorly defined vision/mission.
The list is loooong.
Whenever I read articles about why startups fail, I really feel sorry that these failures were marginalized.
However, after seeing dozens of startups and mentoring dozens of entrepreneurs and building founding teams, I have to come to one conclusion:
Startups don’t fail.
Mindsets do.
I’ve written before about the mindset it takes to form a sustaining business, but I often write about what is missing. Lack of resilience is the number one reason why aspiring leaders, and their companies, fail.
Resilience as an Essential Part in a Startup’s Journey
Being resilient means being able to adapt to any setbacks, accept any mistakes and understand that those are a key part of the journey to launch a business.
One you understand and are willing to accept potential setbacks, you and your business will be more resilient.
From experience, I will give you my very own list of setbacks that would hurt any non-entrepreneurial person. As an entrepreneur, you need to build resilience against these setbacks:
#1: Financial Setbacks
Not being able to close, sudden bankruptcy, and illequidity drives entrepreneurs mad. Sleepless nights over not being able to execute the payroll can cause the biggest harm to a startup.
Why resilience matters: Financial setbacks create extreme learning opportunities. Likely, your future self will want to avoid similar situations at all costs in the future.
#2: Growth Setbacks
When an idea is executed, a small-scale product is built or a campaign is launched to get the first thousand users in.
Most startup teams experience a kind of failure that often leads to resignations at this point. If the product or service doesn’t start flying off the shelves as predicted, teams tend to keep doing the same thing without learning to pivot to find a solution to the issue.
Why resilience matters here: By lining up various experiments and having backup plans (some call these A/B tests), you’ll teach yourself and your team to understand what hasn’t worked in the past and be able to keep trying.
#3: Relationship and Family Setbacks
These setbacks are psychologically the worst on this list. I’ve met several entrepreneurs whose spouses, friends, and other family members tell them in year three, five or seven that the company they’re building isn’t worth it and that they are risking their health and financial future by continuing.
Why resilience is important here: Identify at the very beginning of your entrepreneurial journey which relatives or personal relationships will tell you to give up.
Use their doubts as a source of energy to prove them wrong. At the same time, accept that they (likely) just want the best for you.
Appreciate that they care about you and be honest with them.
Entrepreneurs are not born, they’re made
Get up after a setback and start over again. Use the same enthusiasm and motivation that made you want to be a startup founder in the first place.As an East German citizen, I grew up with this mindset but also with the ideas of Perestroika and political figures like Nelson Mandela, who said:
I never lose, I either win or learn something.
It’s simply not enough to execute an idea and name yourself an entrepreneur. Anyone can do that.
Entrepreneurs are not born, they’re made.
Over a long period.
And only resilience will help you to become a successful entrepreneur, to build teams, to develop confidence and finally to move from a startup to a full-fledged company.
You may wonder why I‘m telling you this: Well, I started writing this post due to recent calls and meetings with founders I’ve had in the last few weeks. It was all about to lose the fight against their setbacks. I‘m here to help them to accept setbacks and recover to build sharper resilience and better finally companies.
Feel free to send me your comments regarding which types of setbacks you’ve experienced. I’m sure I can relate and connect with similar experiences.
