Why are so many startups dead before they start running?

Editor’s note: This article is from WeChat public account “Shili Village” (ID: shilipxl ), the author of the horizon.

Special statement: This article is not about spit and out of nothing, but after interviewing nearly 100 employees who have experienced the failure of startups, and found that the startup is a common entry-level problem, please read the text:

In recent years, there have been a lot of startups, and I have come from startups all the time.

It is undeniable that it is precisely because so many startups provide the society with many opportunities for employment and business innovation.

And most of the founders are very good, can get the money, can come out to start a business. Not only does it mean that some of his personal abilities are recognized by capital, but also means that he has to bear the pressure of economy, society, family, business and so on.

But in the middle, there are not many who can really survive. Most companies are short for half a year and long for 1.5 years.

Why are so many startups dead before they start running?

100 employees summary, entry-level death rules for startups

01 Founding TeamLack of Business Core Skills

In the past few years, the fields of shared charging treasure, fresh food, e-commerce, and English education have been very hot. There are hundreds of companies and hundreds of billions of financing scale.

But we took a closer look at the background experience of the founders and found that many founders have little practical experience in the industry.

Many founders seem to be arguing about problem-solving issues, but they are actually blank in terms of business resources, marketing, or education.

And let’s take a look, most of the companies that have gone through the B round, the C round, the founders have either done 7 or 8 years of fresh retail, or have been a training institution for more than 10 years of educational experience. They will also fail, but they are always professional players.

So, what I want to say is that we admire the courage of the founders of the inter-bank. They may succeed, but after all, there are still many gaps from professional players, and it will take a long time to make up for their shortcomings.

ThankIf I have a friend who does a fitness app, but he smokes and drinks himself, the key is never fitness.

Including the projects I have been involved in, I also found that my own core business skills are very inadequate, such as marketing, channel delivery and so on.

02 Do / find what you like, not the business needs

The experience of the founders has a crucial impact on the deep understanding and future development of the business.

If you are weak in one aspect, you should find a player who is complementary to you, that is, a partner.

But I met some founding teams who did not have any complementarity in the necessary business, but instead conflicted. For example, two people are operating, or both are products, but they do not know about market growth and channel resources.

At another point, I once participated in a friend screening partner. He didn’t choose someone with a particularly strong business ability. Instead, he chose someone who could talk to him. I was surprised at the time.

This situation has been partially confirmed by many other friends who have experienced startups. The department head managed to interview a suitable person, and the boss chose a person who could talk to him. (Although sometimes it is a standard to talk to yourself, but it is certainly not a key factor)

Also, many bosses always do what they like, without thinking about whether the user needs it, or whether the business itself needs it.

03My job is not clear

We can often see and hear, and many big coffees emphasize the founder’s duties: to find people, find money, and find directions.

I didn’t understand it before, but I am now at least 90% agree.

Because of different business areas, sometimes the founder is personally responsible for product, technology or market resources.

But actually, the founders of most companies stayed in the office all day.

04 What the founder will do, everything is managed

Not long ago, when I was writing this article, I deliberately found a good friend to consult their previous experience of joining a startup. Their answer is: “Our company, it seems that as long as the boss is enough, what else should I do?”

A friend with 6 years of experience has once worked with the founder to deliver material, confirm the copy, and launch the plan. Even the boss will say that the color of the material is not very good.

A training director with 10 years of education experience, being dragged by the boss to change the curriculum plan, the course PPT, and even the boss feels that the example in one of the chapters is not too fashion.

There are so many such things, the boss even spends a day and writes a pr draft. I will go to the classmates who will guide the operation of the event. What should and should be done for this activity.

You will find that a boss who has only partial experience will suddenly design, meet products, select products, deliver, and train. In short, as long as the company has business, he will.

As a boss, you need to be responsible for the company’s business, but doing so will make many employees unable to adapt.

05Boss, you are all right

We must admit that as a boss, we must have extraordinary skills, professional experience, social resources and senior experience.

But this does not mean that the boss is right.

I also experienced this kind of pain when I first entered the business in 2013. Every time I raise a plan or make a comment, I will be dismissed the next time. Even if I am sure, the boss will have a supplement to prove that I am right.

The boss will tell you that there is no one to participate in this activity. If you design this way, someone will come to play.

The boss will tell you that no one has bought this product. At this time, he opened an app for you to see.

The boss will also tell you that your operation plan is unrealistic. These, these do not need to be done, and certainly have no effect.

In short, the boss is right. Although, we did what the boss meant, and ultimately did not have a good result, the boss also forgot to make the decision he made, and asked the head of the department how to come up with such a mentally retarded decision.

06 Listen to friends, Friends are right

When you report a plan in front of your boss, the boss often denies your thoughts or questions your data. (This is normal and should be)

But then he will tell you that this is what he said to a friend when he attended an event. Or he will tell you that his friend said that your business plan for this month is wrong and you have to do it.

Of course we can’t deny that there must be a lot of good people around the wife, the experience of successful entrepreneurship, deep insights or the unique side of the big business.

But every company in the process of actual experience, only their own employees (especially the frontline students) know the actual situation of the actual business, this time the bystanders clear the situation is rare.

You spent a lot of money and dug it up.P7, P8, or other high-level management in the enterprise, but when the business is launched, their opinions or suggestions are not as good as what a friend said, attending a so-called meeting.

07Every dayNew discoveries, new ideas, new business

Chen Min is the product manager of a startup company. He smiled and said to me that since the product release of 1.0, in just two months, the product has been changed to six versions. One of the discovery sections, which has drawn five prototypes of his own products, is not because of excellence, but to change.

Lele is the head of the department’s event operations. What is most feared every day is that the boss and her say that he has a new idea. For the boss’s new ideas, she submitted numerous campaigns, but almost every time the report was reported, the boss said that this was slow first, and I suddenly had a new idea, what do you think.

Many companies have reached a certain stage, and while focusing on their core business, they must diversify their business (always related to their core business) in order to maintain their continued growth.

100 employees summary, entry-level death rules for startups

But many start-up companies have been laid out at the beginning, and it is inevitable that employees are full of doubts. “Many times, I don’t know what our company is doing? Everything I want to do. Today, the boss has to do a small program matrix, and tomorrow I have to do a live broadcast, and the core business has not yet iterated several versions.

As a boss or employee, it is the most basic business literacy to look at and think more. However, in actual work, if you always fantasize, you will constantly disrupt the operation plan and waste the manpower of the operation. Not only did the actual business have no significant progress, but the operating class was also awkward.

08The target is high and the confidence is

I also told my teammates, dare to dare to do it, don’t be afraid of difficulties. But this does not mean that it is unrealistic to set goals for yourself and the team.

There are often many bosses, the products are just online, the number of GMV users is at least one million or even ten million, and the business is at least 100% growth.

It’s undeniable that an extremely good team or a good time can be achieved, but most teams are impossible.

Many bosses often share quarterly, semi-annual goals, or annual, three-year, and five-year goals in the team. As the boss does have to think long-term, I see that many goals are purely self-proclaimed. Practical, wishful thinking.

Such unrealistic goals, many team members will not only take things seriously, sometimes affect the team’s emotions, but also make the founders make wrong marketing, marketing, operations and other aspects of decision-making.

09Growth is the boss’s most important KPI

Many bosses often grow their business, give them to some departments, or one or two business managers.

And never imagined that technical product design activities can be left alone, but the market alone can not be ignored.

If the founder does not understand the core business, he is not responsible for the growth. Only a few market launches and channels can support the company’s market value of 10 billion yuan? If so, what about your founder? These two students who are marketers can go out and do it themselves.

In most cases, the founding team in the company has the most resources, so the boss should go to mix resources, find people, and find channels.

The company’s market (growth) department should be the most people, the first to be in place, the most abundant, and the most flexible.

10No corporate culture,Do not value employee experience

Many companies have their mission and vision in the first place, but we rarely see startups emphasizing their corporate culture from the start, and in the so-called mission vision, they have nothing to do with corporate culture.

I used to think that corporate culture is a very empty thing. I also think that in the early days of startups, there is no need for so-called culture. But in fact, I found out that I was wrong, because from the confirmation of the interview, the interviewer is feeling the culture of the company.

Many companies believe that employees do not drink, do not play cards, do not drive is not gregarious;

Employees take a break at noon, they are lazy and don’t work hard.

The employee walked off work early, that is, there is no dedication and hard work.

100 employees summary, entry-level death rules for startups

I have been there for a while, leaving the company at 8:30 in the evening, I feel full of guilt. There is always a sense of ecstasy being stared, and the boss does indeed @我 at 21:00, asking where I am going.

I have had classmates in my group who were detained for half an hour before work because of illness, and they worked overtime until 9:00 without any subsidies.

Of course, there are bosses who are arrogant, teasing, and even insulting words in front of the public.

Many startups have never been able toOne of the most important reasons for not being able to retain reliable talent is that they do not respect employees. This leads to the employee being employed or leaving, and will not recommend talent. The circle in the same city is very small, the interviewer’s interview experience is poor, the employee’s work experience is poor, and such a bad word of mouth between each other and peers will spread.

There are really people who don’t care about the small amount of salary and benefits. My previous salary is at least 30% worse than the market. There are no subsidies for business trips, overtime, catering, etc. There will be a so-called group building in half a year, but I still believe that they can do something.

Conclusion

The above are not the spit of the startup company, but the experience I have experienced, or summarized in many interviews, the employees reflect the most. And these problems are also the most initial mistakes in the exchange.

There is no rise to the high level of mistakes in companies or bosses because of so-called financing, market strategy, mergers and acquisitions, crisis public relations, etc., because many companies have not reached this point, they are already dead.

In my communication, there are also problems involving companies with higher dimensions. I will share them in the follow-up intermediate and advanced editions.

The reason for writing this article is not to encourage everyone to vomit. After all, you will find that students who often complain, negate, and carry negative energy are hard to make breakthroughs and achievements.

But these are the real problems that many startups will have, and they are repeated over and over again.

There must be problems with the company, as well as employees with insufficient capacity. But a successful business must face these entry-level issues.

There is a problem with the company, how should you do an employee and share it with you next time.