Why Startups Fail

A New Roadmap for Entrepreneurial Success

By: Tom Eisenmann

Narrated by: Robert Fass

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 best-selling 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-listen for founders at any stage of their entrepreneurial journey, Why Startups Fail is not merely a guide to preventing failure but also a road map charting the path to startup success.

This audiobook includes a downloadable PDF of the book’s Appendix consisting of An Early-Stage Startup Survey.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 Tom Eisenmann (P)2021 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Launching and scaling a startup is like a game of chess: It requires laser focus, relentless prioritization, and contingency strategies galore. I’ve always wished there was a guidebook to help entrepreneurs avoid common pitfalls on their way to wherever they’re headed. Eisenmann has truly helped illuminated a path to success by shining a spotlight on common startup failure patterns. His insights are invaluable, whether you’re just getting started, or you’re eyeing your endgame.” (Jenn Hyman, co-founder and CEO, Rent the Runway)

“It’s no secret that having a great idea isn’t enough to guarantee your success as an entrepreneur. I see it all the time on Shark Tank: Even the brightest, most driven founders with the most innovative ideas sometimes find themselves going down the wrong path and facing the decision of whether or not to close their business. Why Startups Fail is the perfect road map that each entrepreneurs needs to have in their back pocket to help them avoid those heartbreaking choices and continue to grow their business.” (Daymond John, star of ABC’s Shark Tank and New York Times best-selling author of The Power of Broke, Rise and Grind, and Powershift)

“Once you start reading this book, you won’t be able to put it down. Eisenmann has masterfully explained in a clear, thoughtful way why startups fail in a clear, thoughtful way. This is a must-read for any entrepreneur, investor, or startup team member. By avoiding the biggest reasons companies fail, we will see more entrepreneurial success, which is something society needs more than ever.” (Michelle Zatlyn, co-founder and COO, Cloudflare)

Advanced advice for startup founders

Great book. Excellent advice for startup founders that are experienced. Also great for inexperienced founders to know what to look out for.

Good Book, someteimes feels a little bit repetiré.

Good book full of stories of why companies failed and their learnings.

sometimes it feels monotonous, but it states the authors points. It's an easy reading and good learning material for all people wanting to start a new venture.

Great book for startup founders

This audio book includes stories of several failed startups. Majority are not tech startups. It goes into detail of the steps they took, pivots they made and why it failed. You can learn what to avoid from this book. You can also learn how to close your company in case it failed. It sometimes goes off topic at some chapters but still it's really worth it.

I Love it

I am founding an Startup and this book give me a lot of context to start with pros and cons of decision making , with real cases and some frameworks that are very practical in real life; it has more phases like Scaling and Failing, 100% recommended.

Working at a start up? Frustrated? Read this.

What better way to figure out how not to screw up then to study stories of all the people who screwed up… Rather than only looking at success stories? This is an excellent audiobook with a ton of lessons 🤘🏽

Academic but not dull

Interesting case studies on startups that failed. Not a statistically-minded book, so avoiding survivorship bias was essentially impossible. Still, useful details from specific cases. The human element - what makes a good startup team - was represented well.

Valuable, real lessons

I appreciated this book because it spoke to real evidence, instead of staying in the theoretical realm. This is business, no one needs an armchair general. The case studies were valuable and well chosen. I’m guessing he went over many of these cases in his classes. Feels like a must-read if you are about to begin a startup.

Insightful

Even though the scope is mostly limited to business to consumer (B2C) tech companies, some interesting insights can be applied to garden-variety new businesses.

Insightful Real Life Stories

This book does a great job educating you on important patterns to failed startups while also sharing real company’s journeys with detailed timelines.

I felt at times the information was repeated to a point that extended the book longer than it needed to be, but still carried insightful things to know.

Case studies with sound advice

Gives you a handful of examples on what went wrong with promising startups. Sound advice if you plan on learning from others mistakes.