I've see these 25 mistakes silently kill business growth:
(I've seen it across all startups I worked with)
Lack of product demand. Being first to market is often a wrong idea; targeting a non-existent niche is a critical mistake.
Building features without speaking with customers.
Not enough focus on sales. Sales should begin from the day the MVP is ready.
Not building good relationships with employees. Leading by fear alienates talented employees who have options.
Promising equity but not putting it on paper makes employees hesitant to stay.
Building with an exit strategy in mind, especially revolving around a single big business acquisition, is risky.
Hiring interns rarely makes sense for ambitious startups.
Following the hype instead of focusing on monetization.
Raising capital too fast, often before achieving traction or product-market fit (PMF).
Giving up too much equity and control early on.
Focusing on unnecessary work at an early stage, such as adding analytics or excessive features.
Not being fast enough: long meetings, unnecessary travel, excessive days off, inefficient capital allocation, wrong hires, etc.
Founder-market fit isn’t mandatory but accelerates progress significantly when present.
Using buzzwords in startup features instead of providing clear value.
Not iterating enough based on user feedback.
Lack of scalable infrastructure.
Ignoring data security best practices, particularly in B2B contexts.
Not discussing numbers (user retention rate, churn rate, revenue, profits, capital allocation, etc.) regularly and transparently, especially with the senior team.
Failing to track essential KPIs like LTV (Lifetime Value) and CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost).
Not being transparent about pricing on the landing page; making customers click ‘Request Demo’ can deter them.
Not conducting enough competitive analysis or acknowledging competitors.
Burning capital too quickly without considering the runway.
Overspending on marketing, product development, or hiring without a clear ROI plan.
Not analyzing and learning from mistakes, which limits growth potential.
Striving for perfection before launching delays time to market and risks alienating early adopters.