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The Patterns of Startup Failure

I've become a student of startup failure.

That’s the kind of thing that happens when you come up empty after pouring years of your life into a startup you were sure the market needed.

It's a curiosity that only grows when your story ends with a boom, as mine did, complete with corporate bankruptcy and courtroom drama. In the aftermath, I was able to describe what happened - but it took years to begin to understand why.

I made thousands of poor choices along the way, each with its own backstory, rationale, and justification. Mine is a complex story of personal shortcomings, poor organizational behavior, and systemic toxicity, all of which worked to quietly feed each other.

I've found that's common.

In fact, as I've dug in and spent time unpacking stories like mine, I've come to understand there are six universal contributors to every failed startup.

That distillation is remarkable because of the breadth of what I've studied: companies with very little in common, ranging across industries, stages, and geographies.

But the same forces keep showing up in every story, shaping decisions until they ultimately land in the same place with the same outcome.

My hope is that by naming and highlighting these patterns, we can reduce the footprint of startup failure. Startups will always fail but clear eyes can make it hurt less - less lasting damage, less drama, and more growth on the other side.

Core Contributors to Startup Failure

Below, I've listed the six core contributors to startup failure. Tap on each contributor to read more about my point of view. When possible, I've also shared additional resources from writing or talks I've delivered.

If you’re interested in discussing this work further, please reach out.

Identity 🪞

Founders often blur the line between who they are and what they build. At first, that overlap fuels conviction: every win feels personal which is a big boost in the early days of a startup when founders are operating without salaries or benefits. But this becomes dangerous when the company’s success or failure becomes inseparable from the founder’s sense of self. Feedback starts to feel like attack, pivots like abandonment, and letting go feels impossible. When identity and company merge, objectivity disappears, and the founder becomes both the engine and the hostage of their own creation.

Additional Reading

Distraction 😵‍💫

When growth stalls or go-to-market flops, founders are conditioned to seek a spark: a new product, a new market, a new marketing idea, anything that resembles forward motion. There are, of course, examples where pivots work brilliantly - but that's the exception, not the rule: this kind of activity rarely builds anything lasting and only serves to help founders avoid the stillness required to confront what's not working.

Vanity 👑

When progress slows, appearances become the product. Founders often start optimizing for perception: polished pitch decks, chasing press, tinkering with metrics, anything that makes the story look better than the substance beneath it. Our startup culture rewards momentum over meaning, but vanity metrics and surface wins mask real issues. And in the end, the story can only out-run the truth for so long.

Additional Reading

Fear 😨

When founders operate from a place of fear - fear of losing momentum, fear of letting people down, fear of missing payroll, fear of being proven wrong - decisions become about protection, not progress. Those founders cling to what feels safe, delay hard choices, and mistake control for stability. But fear isn't constructive - it simply shrinks until survival is the only strategy left.

Additional Reading

Hubris 🚀

Confidence is what makes the improbable seem possible, and is key for any founder. It's all part of the greater "maverick entrepreneur" mythos that investors praise and the media celebrates. But unchecked, that confidence can harden into hubris where founders stop listening, stop questioning, and begin believing their own myth. Absent organizational guardrails, that inflated self-belief is how founders cross lines they swore they’d never approach while still being sure they’re on the right side.

Additional Reading

Isolation 🧊

Mentorship, incubators, accelerators, startup communities, and investor networks are designed to challenge assumptions and sharpen ideas and in the early days, that feedback loop keeps founders grounded. But as companies grow, many founders drift away from it, mistakingly thinking they're beyond the need for community. They surround themselves with loyal voices and slowly lose the benefit of honest challenge. Isolation cuts founders off from others but more importantly, it cuts them off from the truth.

Additional Reading

Let's Connect

I'm continuing to study these patterns through writing, speaking, and conversations with founders, educators, and participants in the startup ecosystem who have lived this story.

If this resonates with you, I'd love to connect.

Get in Touch