Startup is the important thing to make a better world. If one take a group of people with the right equity incentives and organise them in a startup then one can unlock human potential in a way never before possible. One get them to achieve unbelievable things. But why do so many fail ?. That's what one wanted to find out.
There are 5 elements that leads to success
1) Idea
Idea was everything for a startup.
2) Team
Over time, the team, the execution, adaptability that mattered even more than the idea. The teams execution is the ability to adapt to getting punched in the face by the customer. The customer is the true reality.
3) Business model
The company have a clear path generating customer revenues.
4) Funding
Sometimes companies received intense amount of funding
5) Timing
It's the most important thing for life as well as for work
Once there is a survey taken on this factors , the results are like:
The number one thing is timing. Timing accounted for 42%. 42% difference between success and failure. Then team and execution comes second with 32 %. What really surprising is the idea came third but what it very much surprising is the idea wasn't the important thing. Sometimes it mattered more when it's actually timed. The last two, business model and funding.
E.g: there was a company z.com78, it was a online entertainment company. The had raised money, had great business models, they signed incredibly great Hollywood talent to join the company but broadband penetration was too low in 1999- 2000. It's not easy to watch online video in the 90s . One has to put codecs in their browser and do all the stuff and the company went out of business in 2003. When two years later when the codec problem was solved and when broadband penetration crossed 50% in America. YouTube was perfectly timed infact YouTube didn't have a business model when it first started but that was beautifully timed. Therefore timing matters a lot more than execution and idea. The best way to assess timing is to really look at whether consumers are really ready
