Startups – Tom Eisenmann analyzes the most prevalent failure patterns and how to avoid them

Abstract

PurposeThe Fail-Safe Startup: Your Roadmap for Entrepreneurial Success, the new book by entrepreneurship researcher Tom Eisenmann, sets out to help improve the odds by looking more closely at the most prevalent causes of startup failure and how to avoid them.Design/methodology/approachEisenmann research led him to identify six distinct patterns that explain a large proportion of startup failures, three relating to early stage failures and three to late stage.FindingsStrong demand from early adopters may lead a founder to scale up prematurely.Practical/implicationsEntrepreneurs must research differences in the needs of likely early adopters and mainstream customers during the upfront customer discovery phase.Originality/valueEntrepreneurs must research differences in the needs of likely early adopters and mainstream customers during the upfront customer discovery phase. 10; 10;The line between visionary entrepreneur and cult leader can become blurry, and a founder?s ?reality distortion field--useful for motivating others to help pursue the founder?s dream?can become a liability.