If you want your startup to succeed, you need to understand why startups fail. “Whether you’re a first-time founder or looking to bring innovation into a corporate environment, Why Startups Fail is essential reading.”—Eric Ries, founder and CEO, LTSE, and New York Times bestselling author of The Lean Startup and The Startup Way Why do startups fail? That question caught Harvard Business School professor Tom Eisenmann by surprise when he realized he couldn’t answer it. So he launched a multiyear research project to find out. In Why Startups Fail, Eisenmann reveals his findings: six distinct patterns that account for the vast majority of startup failures. • Bad Bedfellows. Startup success is thought to rest largely on the founder’s talents and instincts. But the wrong team, investors, or partners can sink a venture just as quickly. • False Starts. In following the oft-cited advice to “fail fast” and to “launch before you’re ready,” founders risk wasting time and capital on the wrong solutions. • False Promises. Success with early adopters can be misleading and give founders unwarranted confidence to expand. • Speed Traps. Despite the pressure to “get big fast,” hypergrowth can spell disaster for even the most promising ventures. • Help Wanted. Rapidly scaling startups need lots of capital and talent, but they can make mistakes that leave them suddenly in short supply of both. • Cascading Miracles. Silicon Valley exhorts entrepreneurs to dream big. But the bigger the vision, the more things that can go wrong. Drawing on fascinating stories of ventures that failed to fulfill their early promise—from a home-furnishings retailer to a concierge dog-walking service, from a dating app to the inventor of a sophisticated social robot, from a fashion brand to a startup deploying a vast network of charging stations for electric vehicles—Eisenmann offers frameworks for detecting when a venture is vulnerable to these patterns, along with a wealth of strategies and tactics for avoiding them. A must-read for founders at any stage of their entrepreneurial journey, Why Startups Fail is not merely a guide to preventing failure but also a roadmap charting the path to startup success.

The often hilarious and sometimes poignant story behind Dal LaMagna's rise in the beauty industry By the time LaMagna graduated from the Harvard Business School, his entrepreneurial activities-including operating discotheques in drive-in theaters, working with the 1960s musical teen sensations the Cowsills, and opening an ice cream parlor on the Venice Beach boardwalk-had landed him $150,000 of debt. Raising Eyebrows tells the story of how he finally succeeded. After years of failures and living penniless, LaMagna founded Tweezerman, one of the world's most respected, innovative and successful beauty tool manufacturers with over 40 million customers. A leader for socially responsible companies, Tweezerman became a success by making helping communities and caring for the environment everyday practices, not publicity gimmicks. A responsible capitalist, LaMagna wrote this roller-coaster memoir for entrepreneurs who are struggling and disenchanted with the every changing economic system Packed with of business lessons, financial plans, and practical advice Raising Eyebrows is full of inspiration, conscience, and good ideas for entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs everywhere.

NOTICE: Using a great collection of case studies this book is designedto help new and serial entrepreneurs to: - Learn that failure can be a positive- Learn that failure is normal. 18 of 20 startups may fail- Learn how to avoid mistakes made by others- Learn how to cope with failure and persevere- Learn that failure should be used as a starting point for growthand not an end- Learn that if you do fail, do not quit, keep moving forwardUltimately the reader will be provided with information that they canuse to convert failure into a win! Every chapter includes a brief introby the author, a relatable story, and concludes with Recommendationsbased on practitioner's real-life experiences.Also, some outstanding contemporary books and videos compiled hereas Recommendations for a rich source of research by the author. Inthe real-world of business, there are NEVER any guarantees.However, with the right help, the entrepreneur, the CEO can WIN!

For the want-to-be entrepreneur thinking about taking the leap, the boot-strapped entrepreneur trying to energize a business three or four years in, and the venture-backed entrepreneur trying to scale, Why Startups Fail shows you the key mistakes new ventures make—and how to avoid them. Nearly everyone has an idea for a product they could build or a company they could start. But eight out of 10 new businesses fail within the first three years. Even only one in ten venture-backed startups succeeds, and venture capitalists turn down some 99% of the business plans they see. The odds appear to be stacked against you! But entrepreneurs often make the same avoidable mistakes over and over. Why Startups Fail can help you beat the odds and avoid the pitfalls and traps that lead to early startup death. It’s easy to point to successes like Apple, Google, and Facebook. But the biggest lessons can come from failure. What decisions were made, and why? What would the founders have done differently? How did one company become a billion-dollar success while another—with a better product and in the same market—fail? Drawing on personal experience as well as the wisdom of the Silicon Valley startup community, serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and blogger Dave Feinleib analyzes companies that have come and gone. In short, powerful chapters, he reveals the keys to successful entrepreneurship: Excellent product/market fit, passion, superb execution, the ability to pivot, stellar team, good funding, and wise spending. In Why Startups Fail, you’ll learn from the mistakes Feinleib has seen made over and over and find out how to position your startup for success. Why Startups Fail: Shows venture-backed startups and boot-strappers alike how to succeed where others fail. Is equally valuable for companies still on the drawing board as well as young firms taking their first steps. Takes you through the key decisions and pitfalls that caused startups to fail and what you can learn from their failures. Covers the critical elements of entrepreneurial success.

An inside look at how companies and executives rise and fall,with important lessons for all aspiring entrepreneurs The Good Fail is part business story, part guiltypleasure, exploring Richard Keith Latman's very public missteps andthe painful lessons he learned as a result, presented to fellowentrepreneurs, in his own words, for the first time. Written in alively, conversational style, the book answers questions manycomputer industry veterans have been asking for more than a decadeabout what went wrong at Microworkz, the failed former free PCenterprise. Chronicling Latman's long roller-coaster journey back andoffering pointed advice about effective business development,negotiating, human resource management, and leadership, whichLatman has successfully applied at his latest ventures, iMagicLaband Latman Interactive, the book is an important set of insightsfor entrepreneurs everywhere. Offers 19 practical lessons learned, which can help put otherentrepreneurs on the path to success faster Includes invaluable insight into how to overcome even the worstpublic business failures Provides a behind-the-scenes look from the ultimate insider atan important time in computer industry history Presents a case study of how personal and business lives cannegatively impact each other Microworkz's failure can be your success. The Good Failprovides both important insights into how to start a business thatwill reap rewards, and warnings about how to avoid goingastray.