Why startups fail

    Hello. Today I want to touch on one sentimental theme - why many startups fail, even without having to start. This year I ran into at least three very large projects that were really interesting. But they all died before they could begin.

    In my last article, " From Idea to Implementation. Part Three - Creating TK, " I tried to explain how important a systems approach and planning is. Today, I will say this again, and give a couple of examples.

    The first and most important problem that is not understood by both domestic and foreign customers is that programmers do not build the concept of your project, its ideology and architecture. At the customer, it just does not fit in the head, as it may be. This is explained, in principle, easily - 98% of customers have nothing to do with IT. The concept of the process of creating a new project is not something vague, but in general, some kind of perverted. Built on their own guesses, some stereotypes and personal inner understanding, as it seems to them, that life is arranged exactly as they came up with themselves. And most importantly, that this is not possible to do anything. It is impossible to convey to the person that this is not at all the way he imagines. Attempts to bring the truth begin to tear down the fragile world of the customer, destroying all its illusions in the bud.

    The second problem, also important, is that the vast majority of customers cannot realize that the Terms of Reference (TK) are necessary for programmers to create the project itself, and not to calculate the cost of work and, accordingly, the budget. I face this problem every other day. A certain customer appeals to the development team so that they calculate the cost of the project. As an explanation of the project, the customer is trying to convey his idea to the developers with beautiful speeches and active gestures. And sincerely wondering why programmers send it to the system analyst. Most often to me.

    And what happens in the end? Instead of realizing the importance of the fact that the concept of a new project is the most important part, that without a technically sound approach, the project will be doomed, some customers are already trying to “pull out” the cost of the project from me based on a couple of words about its coolness and necessity. When they understand that they will have to invest money in the development of TK, concepts, ideas and architecture, they try to look for anyone behind my back: even programmers, at least some freelancers, in general, it’s not even clear who will promise them to make a cool project without words documentation and for cheap.

    The third problem is a complete misunderstanding of the purpose for which a specialist is hired at all. Intellectually developed people unequivocally understand that if they hire a high-level specialist, then you need to listen to what they are told and advised. But this is the ideal. And in everyday and cruel reality, the customer very often himself tells the specialist how it should be. And even kill yourself, explaining that this is not correct, will lead to problems in the future, etc. They say I'm a customer, I know better, do as they say to you (at this moment I remembered the wonderful comedy about the Bradley armored vehicle in the movie "Pentagon Wars"). And here some contradictions come into play: to lose a client or to spoil your reputation.

    The fourth problem is not understanding the golden rule of business. If there is no money, then you should not start a business. In the 90s such anecdote was relevant: “There are two new Russians. One says that he wants to buy a composition of stew. And the second one says that he will sell it without any problems. We agreed to make a deal in a month. One went to look for a stew, the second went to look for money. ”Decades pass, and the thinking of many does not change. And if the sales and production business is at least already understandable to many, that if there is no money for it, then there’s nothing for people to endure the brain with their dreams, then in IT it’s not at all clear. And thinking is about that. After all, I can download on the network any pirated software for free. After all, most of all CMS for free. So what should I pay for when creating my startup ?! They say, 500 dollars will be enough for me to create my own social network, etc. This is especially well fueled by all sorts of amateurish articles by young bloggers who tell us how they “climbed to the skies” using the self-installation of WordPress.

    The fifth problem is the sincere belief that with the help of standard software you can solve complex custom tasks. I also meet this problem quite often. Many people really believe that it is enough to buy some kind of program and with its help you can create your own startup or just make money. For example, in one of the articles I wrote about the project of the Best-House real estate portal - “ Startup on my own. The history of the creation of the real estate portal"So for him, I wrote my own unique parser for real estate agency feeds. Moreover, it eventually became very complex with intelligent recognition, logging and much more. But some of my friends went the other way. We bought a certain program (desktop), which makes the parsing of certain data and genuinely believe that it would work. But while real estate 100, then parse in semi manual mode easily. But when they will be hundreds of thousands, then your startup, you can safely put a cross.

    Problems actually much bigger But I have tried to outline five basic.

    So, to sum up some results.

    1) To create your startup you need to very well understand the process of creating IT projects. It is necessary to build a clearly structured plan, which will be divided into clear stages. And go step by step, stage by stage.

    2) In order to estimate the budget of your project, you need to create a detailed ToR. If you are not able to do it yourself, then you have to hire a specialist. A competent specialist will take a lot of money for it. For example, I charge $ 30 per hour for the development of documentation for a project. A time may take from 50 hours to hundreds of hours, depending on the complexity of the project. And this means that in order to understand your costs, you will still have to incur costs. Here is such a vicious circle.

    3) If you do not have money for the project, then it makes no sense to twist and stir up something, trying to make yourself good for others. Systems analysts, architects, project managers and programmers are not fools and not idiots! Many customers for some reason think differently. You should not try to deceive people who, at least, are much more experienced than you. If there is no money, then either look for a sponsor, an investor or forget about your dreams. Nobody will work for free, or for a future share in the project.

    4) Do not try to make the project the same as the competition. Even if you make it better, you simply will not be able to promote it financially. I know what I'm talking about. Make only unique startups.

    5) If you do not have a documentation package or, at best, you have some pages with interface and web page drawings, and contact immediately the programmers who immediately get to work. You know, you yourself have set check and checkmate. What you yourself thought about the project, how it should be, and how you did it - these are two big differences. You do not prove anything to anyone, and no one will listen to you.

    From the main, perhaps all. Be responsible and pedantic. There are no trifles in startups. Do not rush and do not rush to extremes. The owner Ali Express went 15 years to success, slowly and systematically. Have a cold head and a warm heart - and you will succeed.

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