The Seven Deadly Sins

David Beisel just wrote a great post and got himself on my blogroll (whatever that is worth – but it means I am going to read him every day going forward).

He lists the seven things that will quickly kill a young startup.

He pretty much nails it.

I’d like to emphasize a few of them.

Authenticity – David says, "most successful entrepreneurial endeavors are sprung from a genuine
idea born from true experience or direct & tangible observation."  Exactly.  I remember 1999 and 2000 when investment bankers were leaving wall street and sitting around in their apartments and dreaming up a "dot com".  That didn’t work.  We look for entrpreneurs who have lived the pain point they intend to address.

Communication – David says, "Rapid progress and constant adjustment in a new endeavor requires continuous communication of these changes."  It’s hard to scale a company if the founder keeps all the ideas, plans, and priorities in his/her head.

Focus – David says, "The beauty of a startup is that there are endless possibilities. The
difficulty is to concentrate on one opportunity, not every opportunity.
The sooner that a new company can find its focus and make strides, the
better."  Charlie says a similar thing in his 10 Steps post – "Solve the smallest possible problem (that is still big enough
to matter) for the user and know exactly what problem you’re trying to
solve."

Do David a favor and post and tag his post in delicious.  This one is prime for the popular list.