Top 10 Startup Mistakes

from Roger Hamilton 

FIve things make up 79% of all business failures:

1. Building something nobody wants (36%) - Find out what the customer wants - give them what they want and you will get what you want! 
2. Hiring poorly (18%) -Hire the best - that you do not need to manage - or outsource / partner with the best - build a culture which will encourage the best to come to you
3. Lack of focus (13%) - focus on what you do best.... and ensure you have a team (outsourced) who can handle the other 80% of stuff 
4. Failing to market & sell (12%) Get your product out there.... marketing... sales.... .Don't make sales by closing customers. Create buyers by opening relationships.
5. GIving up because of failing Learn from failures (testing and measuring) and avoid failures that sink you (when you run out of money and time). Fail passionately and fail often, earning and learning with each failure, so it's you that keeps failing (and learning) and not your company!

SO!!! 

- Launch fast
- Make your users really love you
- Avoid distractions
- Don't give up
- Don't die

And above all, understand your users - give them what they want 

"The biggest risk is not taking any risk.. In a world that is changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks."
~ Mark Zuckerberg

And...

"Never, never, never give up."
~ Winston Churchill