Back in 1996, Frederick Beste of Mid-Atlantic Venture Funds gave a talk on Entrepreneurial Deathtraps:
- 50-50 Partnership
- Three Musketeers
- One or Two Customer Overreliance
- “Mousetrap” Teams
- Inadequate Pricing
- Insufficient Start-Up Capital
- Failure to Look at the Downside
- Failure to Look at Industry Norms
- Lack of Focus
- Bringing on the Vulture
- First Class from the Start
- Inappropriate Distribution Path to Market
- Emotional Litigation
- Product Never “Ready” for Market
- Low Barrier to Entry Growth Industry
- Inadequate Market Research
- Failure to Segment Market
- No Reason for Customer to Change
- Payback Can’t Be Calculated
- Failure to Admit a Mistake
- Step Function Growth
- Betting the Ranch
- Ignoring the Handwriting on the Wall
- Spiraling Costs
- Silliness Phase