> Personally, I've started 4+ startups, 2 successful, and directly know dozens of startup founders. So I know many failed startups. None of them was due to a small error that resulted in large penalties.
> Most of them was due to lack of determination, or speed, or being too conservative if anything.
You simply don't get it, but most people don't, including founders. Lack of determination, speed, or being conservative, are the symptoms of those errors. They are second-order effects that cause third-order effects, and so on, in a vicious cycle. Maybe those founders learned those habits from a previous company, but at the root of it was a decision that wasn't given enough care.
They can be related to morale issues, resulting from small details or flaws adding up. Also from hiring decisions, stemming from again small details or flaws in that process.
> If you think people have scar tissue, you should see organizations. Each time there's a disaster, they create a process to prevent future disasters of that type. Eventually they accrete a thick layer of these processes that prevents them from moving. Then they die.
So you're saying entrenched companies become too conservative due to their over reactive policies and get slowed down to the point where they die? I'm really struggling to understand how you think this somehow contradicts what the person you're replying to said.
Alright, this is the part of the message in question, in case it wasn't clear:
> But in practice, for startups it's almost never the case, and having this belief is actually harmful.
Maybe they were thinking of startups in the earliest stages (before having any real number of employees, Pre-series A), but the failures in those situations are less nuanced, at least in this context - do they really need discussion? The article is clearly talking about companies that were not in the earliest stage at the time of the actions being discussed.
> Most of them was due to lack of determination, or speed, or being too conservative if anything.
You simply don't get it, but most people don't, including founders. Lack of determination, speed, or being conservative, are the symptoms of those errors. They are second-order effects that cause third-order effects, and so on, in a vicious cycle. Maybe those founders learned those habits from a previous company, but at the root of it was a decision that wasn't given enough care.
They can be related to morale issues, resulting from small details or flaws adding up. Also from hiring decisions, stemming from again small details or flaws in that process.
Paul Graham said recently: https://twitter.com/paulg/status/1561566435012251648
> If you think people have scar tissue, you should see organizations. Each time there's a disaster, they create a process to prevent future disasters of that type. Eventually they accrete a thick layer of these processes that prevents them from moving. Then they die.