Start-Ups fail because they move too fast

Start-Up founders tend to think they will fail because they move too slow, but in my experience, it’s the opposite.

If you’re a seed stage start-up, and you have 18-24 months to reach 1 million ARR (rec. revenue per year, like in fixed contracts), then you’ll have about 3-5 months to find product market fit. Remember, if you got PMF, you still need to build the product, find a good distribution channel, and then scale your customer base, a process that’ll take more than a year on average.

The problem? Most founders lock onto an idea fast within month 1, then build and pursue that idea for 6 months, and only then realize they aren’t selling enough and need to pivot. By which it will almost already be too late to pivot, build, and build up the customer base they need.

They fail to realize that it’s extremely important to find a good fit before starting to build anything. It’s ok to let a few great ideas pass if the trade-off is that you’re not gonna go broke. It’s fine to run a couple more experiments, build prototypes, and a few custom projects to really nail your fit.

It’s ok to go slow (in that sense), because it’ll stop you from killing the company.