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You Don’t Realize How Fragile Your Startup Truly Is But Investors Do
I was at a lunch meeting with the head of the venture capital fund that was sponsoring me as Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR). I said to Mike, “I know if we get funded, we will succeed.”
Mike looked at me and said, “I can think of 100 things that will kill your company.” Mike’s tone indicated he didn’t want to be challenged.
I thought to myself, “What a jerk. Sure, there’s the possibility of something going wrong, but none of that’s going to happen to us.”
You don’t realize how fragile your startup truly is.
Mike was right. I don’t know if there are actually 100 things that can kill your company, and I certainly don’t want to count all the possibilities. That would be too depressing.
However, Mike’s sentiment was right. You just don’t realize how fragile your company is when you’re just starting out.
Any number of things can kill even the best run, best financed startup, that’s staffed with the best people. Don’t think for a second that you are immune from these things happening to you.
Here’s the one absolutely worst, nightmare inducing scenario for any startup CEO:
