Why few startups succeed, majority fail?

I belive there is nothing that can ensure a sure shot sucess. The most important mix for a good startup is  the right team. Ideas can change, business models can evolve,  but if you don’t have a good team with you, your chances of making it big are close to zero. And by ‘good’ team, I mean a balanced team with the right skill sets. there should be  a good team that is collectively good at ideation, execution, marketing, sales, finance & the ability to think ahead of time.

A start up is basically an idea that has enthralled one or a group of people and are dead sure that it will work.

Believe me, most start ups fail because they have not been able to think what they have seen as a potential to make money from, through to the end!! Its more often than not the short term gains that excite the group of people rather than the crysatllised process. A start up will not only have to be just a business proposition but it has to be a proposal that will ensure a good product tyat has a utility value to the consumer at a great cosy. It cannot be just an innovation, but it has to have the sutainability to evolve into something bigger or better that would give it a londebity in the market scenario.

The brand hygeine and the key have to be thought through. The vision has to be crystal clear!!!

If the idea is not thought through, how will you be certain that the team in place is the winning team. Its like hoping for rice to grow in abundance where the land experiences more famines than floods!! Its a good exercise to think this Veena. It can be a good lesson in learning for the budding enthusiast to sit back, rethink and then tighten the seat belt for the final take off!! :)) 

Failing, as we all know, creates major problem. It's expensive. Every time a startup fails, people lose their jobs, customers lose their investments, and investors lose their shirts. So "prevention is better than cure" Gather a great team. Select those with  different skills from you. Consider people who are better than you. Sharing ideas is another path to success the more you get advice and the more you learn. Focus on customer satisfaction rather than focusing to become rich.

Please let me know if you agree with these points!!

Majority of Startups fails within shot span of time while a few able to suceed and underwrites the sucess story to find the place in Corporate head honchos... why ? The Big answer is 'Art of Execution ' . Often the people are enthusisatic about idea and also pasasionate about it .They might did everything right , have good people around , have fundings roped in etc but still they fail becasue they fail to convert their idea into a full proof execution plan, chopping down idea to its lowest level of execution. Their execution paln is like standing on a mountain cliff , drpoping the a nail and hoping that it drops to the soil as planned. What do start ups need ? A thorough understanding of the customers they are targetting via their product / services ,  exetensive reasearch of the market they are entering , Thorough understanding of the competiters if any , A concrete plan for  rolling balence sheet for next 2-3 years , A business plan with clear focus and direction on execution ,  and importantly Plan B for thier business if plan A don't work. Off course the buisiness don't work without good skilled people but whats even more important is continuously  training/ mentoring  the people for skills , changing market dynanmics  and most importantly  fitting the right people to right job.    

According to my understanding and my experience in working with 3 startup companies following are some of the reasons why some startup companies face failures

1. Most of the times Entrepreneurs venture into a new business because they have seen somebody making it big in that kind of business. They may not be having the kind of passion that is required to start something. Without passion and love for whatever you want to start I don’t think anyone can succeed.
2. Some Entrepreneurs fail because out of their enthusiasm and passion they might not see road blocks, and might have not done proper market research on product/service acceptability. By working on a business plan prior to start, one will gain required understanding about the problems that they may face and can be prepared to face them head-on.
3. As Mr. Bhave suggested some business men look for short term gains instead of focusing on their long term positioning. By focusing their total attention on their core values and brand positioning we can avoid these kind distractions.
4. In the initial stages of startups, generally people want to get everything right in a very short period of time to get to where they want to. To achieve this they generally spend more in most of their sourcing and overheads.

Eg: They employ more people to suit their future demand, they use bigger spaces, and over all they spend more than what is required. They need to understand there is clear difference between luxury and necessary.

1. They need to look for cash inflows over profitability. Profitability is definitely important but cash inflows are for sure have greater importance.
2. Few of them might face testing times in Initial stages; these are the times when the entrepreneurs need to stand by their businesses. But here is the catch, sometimes we may actually be facing the trend showing that we invested in a wrong thing. We should be able to identify whether it’s a passing cloud or storms before the thunder. It’s a waste to use good money for bad money.