Helluva read, so the TL;DR is premature scaling - i.e. scaling the team before you've found a repeatable plan that works. Slightly different take to the stats above.
On the whole I'd say people here manage to avoid it. It's the trap people fall into when they get funding (from VC or other) based on an idea that no-one wanted in the first place (or wasn't good enough to scale/hadn't been iterated enough to get it to scale).
Because IH products are virtually all bootstrapped, there's no escape from building a product that people actually want and actually delivers them value.
Assuming one fail can have multiple reasons. Especially as the sum of everything totals to 219%.
Besides that it seems like if you prevent running out of cash, and have the flexibility to shift your product (or marketing fwiw) to target the right target audience, you have already eliminated about half of the potential issues which will screw a project over in the long run 😃
Contrary, I think it's a nice risk reduction strategy. Prevent the most common failures, and try to keep improving on the rest and you're setting yourself up for eventual success. Slightly related tweet.
Startup genome also did a report on it, which I slightly prefer. It's here - http://gallery.mailchimp.com/8c534f3b5ad611c0ff8aeccd5/files/Startup_Genome_Report_Extra_Premature_Scaling_1.56.pdf
Helluva read, so the TL;DR is premature scaling - i.e. scaling the team before you've found a repeatable plan that works. Slightly different take to the stats above.
Thank you, @rcalvert. I'll certainly add this to the reading list. Much appreciated!
Where do you see Indie Hackers fitting into this Entrepreneurial Enlightenment?
On the whole I'd say people here manage to avoid it. It's the trap people fall into when they get funding (from VC or other) based on an idea that no-one wanted in the first place (or wasn't good enough to scale/hadn't been iterated enough to get it to scale).
Because IH products are virtually all bootstrapped, there's no escape from building a product that people actually want and actually delivers them value.
Good insight. Agreed that VC funding is a trap.
Not always...just if it's used incorrectly...!
Assuming one fail can have multiple reasons. Especially as the sum of everything totals to 219%.
Besides that it seems like if you prevent running out of cash, and have the flexibility to shift your product (or marketing fwiw) to target the right target audience, you have already eliminated about half of the potential issues which will screw a project over in the long run 😃
😁 It makes it seem not so bad to throw your hat in the ring, huh?
Contrary, I think it's a nice risk reduction strategy. Prevent the most common failures, and try to keep improving on the rest and you're setting yourself up for eventual success. Slightly related tweet.
🤞
Thanks for sharing the tweet!