You’ve heard that nine out of 10 startups fail. I have been fortunate to have built four startups , sold three and destroyed one.
I have also advised over a dozen founders, some who “killed it,” others who destroyed it. And I think that stat is dead wrong.
The truth is 90% of startups don’t fail. Their founders destroy them – by not building a “parachute” when they should have.
What’s a parachute? It’s a reference to Reid Hoffman’s famous quote, “building a startup is like throwing yourself off a cliff and assembling an airplane on the way down.” Yet there are easily discernible stages in that free fall.
And if you recognize them in time, you can actually build your own parachute before hitting bottom.
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