9 Deadly Startup Diseases—and How to Cure Them

Building a startup is hard. There are many problems that can hurt a startup—perhaps even kill it. This article examines some of the more common diseases that plague startups, and proposes some cures. All of these issues can be remedied if detected early enough, so it’s really worth being aware of them. That way, you can operate before they become fatal.

Startup Disease 1: The Imaginary User Syndrome

A product that’s not geared towards a specific user is unlikely to benefit anyone in particular; hence, there’s no such thing as a generic user. No matter how great your initial vision might seem, if you don’t have a target audience in mind, your startup will lack direction and flounder. In addition, it’s difficult to market to everyone, so not only will your product suffer, it’ll be hard to sell too.

Symptoms:

• Your product is targeted at all or most small businesses online.
• You don’t know any of your likely users personally, but you’re sure they’ll find your product very useful.
• Your product seems so versatile that it will be useful to practically anyone.

Cure:

Stop developing until you’ve established a small, defined set of users who could benefit from your product. Then contact these users and convince them to test-drive your site. Tailor the product so that it benefits them, and chances are it will appeal to other like-minded users.

Startup Disease 2: The Frenetic Distraction Pox

A startup’s primary resource is the time and intelligence of its founders. That resource can easily be squandered on non-essential tasks that don’t bring the business closer to break-even (and then to profit). Until you have paying users, every activity in your startup should be aimed squarely at achieving that objective.

Symptoms:

• You’ve had a productive day, but didn‘t actually do any product development.
• You’ve just spent a week preparing stationery and business cards for your startup.
• You haven’t released a new version of your product to your users in the last month.

Cure:

Refocus. For a startup, there are only two activities that matter: building the product and attracting users. Although there is a constellation of other nuisances such as business administration and accounting, these should be avoided, or at least delegated to those who have the appropriate expertise.

Startup Disease 3: The Wrong Hire Infection

The caliber of the people who work on a startup is directly related to the quality of the product that they deliver. The raw material of startups is people. Bring on board the wrong person, and it could cost you your startup. Bringing in friends and family who lack the required skills is a common cause of a startup’s early demise.

Symptoms:

• You find yourself micromanaging one of your cofounders or employees.
• You have to establish a policy of how many hours people will work each day.
• Someone isn’t pulling their weight.

Cure:

Startups have no room for people who need to be micromanaged. The time you waste and unnecessary distraction could kill your startup. The smart, brave solution in those cases is amputation. Let them go gently if you want, but let them go.

Startup Disease 4: The Implicit Promise Fever

Assumptions are dangerous, particularly if they occur between cofounders who are close friends. Sometimes close friends assume that they know what the other’s thinking. Unless your friend has telepathic power, that’s not the case.

Symptoms:

• There are a number of issues that bother you, but, although they haven’t been discussed, you’re sure they won’t be a problem later.
• You’ve not discussed share percentages, or voting rights, or what to do if there is a major disagreement.
• Everything is always done face-to-face (or on Skype); nothing is written down.

Cure:

To cure this disease, make the implicit explicit. Have those discussions. Write the results down. You will find much more disagreement than you expected, but that’s good. Work it through, come up with compromises, and agree on a way forward. You’ve come this far already. Together, with a distinct understanding, you can solve whatever problems you dig up. In your discussions, don’t avoid the question: “What if it all goes wrong?”