OPINION

The Real Troublemakers of Our Startup Ecosystem

They are bad news and the best we can do is learn our lessons

Often, when we talk about the startup ecosystem, we do so with a sense of starry-eyed wonder. We heap praises on these innovative new businesses for being the “growth engines” of our modern economies and sing paeans to their massive potential for disruptive change.

While we are not necessarily wrong in our optimistic assertions about many of their prospect for growth, the dazzling promise of the future can often blind us to the dark underbelly of things: troubles that simmer under the surface and raise their ugly heads when we least expect them to.

It is no secret that more than half of all startups fail in the first four years, and a much larger percentage do so as more years pass by…

Building a successful, sustainable startup is hard work, and sometimes it is terribly frustrating to watch them being ruined and razed by a few who brew trouble and build obstacles that wouldn’t have been there if not for them. Such troublemakers can be found at every turn within the startup…