Why Do Startups Actually Fail?
Being a first-time founder myself, this is something I continuously mull over. Hearing Alyssa Atkins speak on this gave me an entirely new perspective.
Before I get into it, let’s take a brief look at Lilia. Founded in 2019, Lilia makes it easy for clients to freeze their eggs. Before starting Lillia, Alyssa Atkins worked mainly in marketing & helping with ops at early-stage startups.
Alyssa’s speech genuinely inspired me because of her knowledge, confidence, & wisdom. Despite this being her first company, she seems to have cracked the code.
Here are the primary takeaways I gleaned from her speech:
- Founder burnout is real
- Lean into your productivity hours
- Pitching to investors is a mind game
Founders Burnout. Founders are the lifeline of their startup. Success/failure depends on how hard a founder is willing to work. The common mistake founders make is that they must work 25 hour days to be successful. They rationalize that the more work they put in, the more successful their company will be. However, founders often neglect what Alyssa calls one’s “breaking point.” In other words, founders work themselves into a state of exhaustion and burn out. This, Alyssa says is the main reason why startups fail. Alyssa emphasized the importance of proper self-care and “me” time. Every Saturday, Alyssa takes a screen sabbatical for 24 hours and completely unplugs. We all must accept the fact that we aren’t superheroes and genuinely need to rest.
Productivity. Are you a morning person or a night person? We’ve all heard that question at one point or the other and shrugged it off. Alyssa begs us to answer the question and to take it very seriously. Each of us has a set number of hours throughout the day where we get our most work done. For some of us, it’s at 5 am, and for others, it’s 11 pm; we are all built differently. The goal is to identify when we are most productive and re-arrange our schedules entirely so that we are doing the most critical work at that time. Because of this advice, I began waking up at 5 am every day and haven’t looked back since.
Investors. Taking capital from investors can be a life-changing experience. Raising a successful round from the right people is what every entrepreneur dreams of. The question is, how does one do it? Alyssa shared her secret with us: be yourself. Don’t be the person you think people want you to be — be yourself, and success will follow. Focus on solving the problem you set out to solve, and equity capital will be easier to raise.
Of all the speakers in the Harvard Tech x Social Impact fellowship, Alyssa’s words made the most significant impact on me. I think this is because they were the most grounded and practical. Discussions of success in the business world, while fascinating, can become overly abstract. While there is nothing wrong with this per se, the most powerful tools will always be ones that I can integrate directly into my life. What am I other than the sum total of my habits. Alyssa allowed me to benefit from the distillation of her life experience, and for that, I’m in a better position to harness my potential and attack the day.
