Navigating the challenges of startup growth stages

One mindset shift that can transform your entire startup team. It’s simple, but most skip it. I’ve worked with startups for 9+ years. First through an intermediary. Then directly with founders. And one thing always stands out: The best teams know why they’re doing this together. Next time you meet your team, ask these 3 questions out loud 👇 - Why are we investing our life energy, time, and money in this? - If it’s just work, why are we even building a startup? - What’s one extra step you can take today to make this work better? Because if you’re working in a startup just for the sake of it, you’re wasting the most valuable currency you have your energy. But when you’re aligned, truly aligned.. the odds start shifting in your favor. Momentum compounds. And the mission stops feeling like “work.” Startups aren’t built on effort. They’re built on shared conviction.

When you work with an expert, put your ego aside and let them do the job. That's what they're there for. Do not interrupt and be cautious of trying to help where it's not needed. Ask if help is needed (that's welcomed!), maybe it is maybe it isn't. Your advice might be accepted or rejected. Investors' over-involvement in a startup's work is one of the reasons startups fail. Ownership does not imply know-how. A Top-Dog with a vision and a "my way" attitude is a good way to make a startup fail. Founders, executives, experts, and ICs are there to execute to success. They're invested in it every day. Give them space to work. We're on a mission to build a $10B company. Help is welcome, do not interfere.

Startups aren't meant to survive. Everything is against you. The market doesn't care about your vision. Investors want faster growth. Your small team is stretched beyond capacity. Your runway is always shorter than you think. Customers expect enterprise-grade solutions from day one. Incumbents have bigger pockets, more marketing firepower, and dream logos to show off. They can outspend you 1,000-to-1 on every channel. It's a constant David vs Goliath battle. Which is why 95% of startups fail. The statistics aren't in your favour. But three years into building trumpet, I can honestly say that this harsh reality is precisely why building them is so damn fun. Constraints force creativity. The daily challenges sharpen your skills. The small wins feel enormous. The freedom to build something from nothing is endlessly motivating. We don't build startups because they're easy. We build them because they're hard. And that struggle, that daily fight against the inevitable, makes the journey worth it. Especially when you have a kick-ass band like we do at trumpet 🎺

90% of startups fail. Here are the 8 mistakes most responsible. According to CB Insights and Failory research: 📊 90% of startups fail. 📊 82% fail because of cash flow issues. 📊 23% fail because they hire the wrong team. But it’s not just about money. Here are 8 common mistakes that kill startups: 🚫 Bad location 🚫 Single founder with no support system 🚫 Running out of capital 🚫 Hiring bad employees 🚫 Lack of effort 🚫 Bad planning 🚫 Poor management 🚫 Choosing the wrong platform Most of these are avoidable. Yet founders repeat them year after year. Awareness doesn’t guarantee success, but ignorance guarantees failure. Credit to: THEBIZOWNERS on Pinterest ------ You don’t need to have it all figured out to build something great. First Time Founders

𝟵𝟬% 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗹. Let that sink in for a second. Nine out of ten. But here's what nobody tells you: failure isn't bad luck. 𝙸̲𝚝̲'̲𝚜̲ ̲𝚙̲𝚛̲𝚎̲𝚍̲𝚒̲𝚌̲𝚝̲𝚊̲𝚋̲𝚕̲𝚎̲.̲ ̲𝙰̲𝚗̲𝚍̲ ̲𝚒̲𝚝̲ ̲𝚑̲𝚊̲𝚙̲𝚙̲𝚎̲𝚗̲𝚜̲ ̲𝚒̲𝚗̲ ̲𝚙̲𝚊̲𝚝̲𝚝̲𝚎̲𝚛̲𝚗̲𝚜̲.̲ "A startup is a business experiment with potential".  This means failure is part of the definition. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀𝗻'𝘁 "𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗜 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀?" 𝗜𝘁'𝘀 "𝗮𝗺 𝗜 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺?" Here's where startups actually die: 🎯𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺𝘀 (𝟱𝟲%) You can't find product-market fit. Or worse—you found it but can't reach your customers. Are you guessing what your market wants? That's the problem. 👥𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺𝘀 (𝟭𝟴%) I know this one first-hand. Your team doesn't get along or, much worse, is missing critical skills. Domain knowledge? Check. Technical skills? Check. 𝙱̲𝚞̲𝚜̲𝚒̲𝚗̲𝚎̲𝚜̲𝚜̲ ̲𝚊̲𝚗̲𝚍̲ ̲𝚖̲𝚊̲𝚛̲𝚔̲𝚎̲𝚝̲𝚒̲𝚗̲𝚐̲ ̲𝚎̲𝚡̲𝚙̲𝚎̲𝚛̲𝚝̲𝚒̲𝚜̲𝚎̲?̲ ̲Missing.̲ That gap kills companies. 💰𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺𝘀 (𝟭𝟲%) Plot twist: you don't need massive funding to test ideas. You need smart resource allocation. Money becomes critical when you scale. But most startups burn it before they validate anything. 🛠️𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺𝘀 (𝟲%) Only 6%! The real killer? Over-investing in expensive development before you know if anyone wants what you're building. 🔁⚖️𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗟𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗹 (𝟮% 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵) The "boring stuff" nobody thinks about until it's too late. But wait—it gets more complicated: It's rarely just one of these. It's usually 2-3 working together. In my case? Team problems plus operations. A brutal combination. The companies that survive? They see these gaps early. They 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲—internally or externally—before problems compound. They 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱. They strategize before they scale. So let me ask you: Which of these is quietly undermining your startup right now? Drop it in the comments. Let's talk about it. P.S. Want to reduce your failure rate to 6%? Get selected by Shark Tank. (Half-joking. But structured validation really does change everything.) Image & Data Source: https://lnkd.in/dnGKcBNE 

After completing 1 year of building startup (GoEddie), I think these are 5 things people take for Granted While Building a Startup. 1.) Think big — and forget to think small. Thinking big gives you vision. Thinking small gives you execution. You need both. 2.) Ignore the analysis of unknowns. Most “straightforward” things hide unknowns that derail 99% of startups. Anticipate before you act. 3.) Prioritise ego over reality. Ignoring customer feedback, client needs, or team suggestions just to protect your ego — that’s startup suicide. 4.) Get inspired by the 1–100 journey, not the 0–1. Everyone loves the success stories. Few study how those startups actually started. That’s where the gold is. 5.) Delegate too early. The 0–1 phase is about discovering value. As a founder, you must get your hands dirty — not outsource your insights. ⸻ 💡 Building a startup isn’t about doing everything right. It’s about noticing what everyone else takes for granted.

I have worked with more than 700 startups. I built three companies and failed twice. The lessons came to me the hard way. Over the years, I ran more than 20 bootcamps and many workshops for founders , from pre-seed to scale-up — mostly about fundraising and startup financials. Here is what I learned. Most founders don’t need long programs or endless sessions. They need simple, practical tools they can use today, that help them talk to customers, test ideas, and grow what works. You can build, test, and launch in days, not months. If you spend three/six months sitting in an accelerator, someone else will build your idea in six days. Accelerators teach good things, about pitching, building teams, talking to investors, and more. But these lessons shouldn’t take that much time. Founders should not spend months listening to talks when they could be with customers, learning by doing. So I decided to build it , a set of hands-on tools and resources that help founders do in days what used to take months. Something founders can use to move faster, make better decisions, and build what people truly want. I will be sharing these soon with founders from pre-seed to scale-up. If you’re building something, stay close. This is built for you.

𝗧𝗼 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽, 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝗮 𝗵𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝗜’𝘃𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱: Startups can either build your profile or completely break it. The formula for growth is simpler than most think. Start by doing the work that’s given to you. Do it well. Do it consistently. That’s your foundation. But don’t stop there. Alongside your assigned work, start learning what truly interests you. Explore, experiment, and invest in building skills that excite you. That combination, delivering on your responsibilities while developing your passion, is what drives real growth. Because here’s the reality: as startups scale, smart leadership comes in. Smart leaders want smart people around them. And if you’re not growing, someone else can easily take your place. The choice is simple. Keep growing in the work assigned to you, and keep learning the work that fuels your curiosity. That’s how you build a profile that no startup can ignore.

The 3 things that quietly kill most startups. It’s rarely competition that kills a startup. It’s the small invisible things that slowly eat away your momentum until you stop moving. After going through Techstars, running multiple build-in-public challenges, and talking to hundreds of founders, I’ve realized most struggles fall under 3 things: -- 1. Momentum Momentum is like oxygen for startups. When you have it, everything feels possible. When you lose it, even simple tasks feel difficult. The tricky part? Momentum dies in silence. You don’t feel it vanish until you realize you’ve been “planning” for a week without shipping anything. What I’ve learned is, you can’t wait for motivation to build momentum. You build momentum first, then motivation follows. Small visible progress every day beats one big launch every quarter. 2. Clarity (or Priority) Most founders drown not because they can’t work hard, but because they’re running fast in 10 directions at once. When you lose clarity, you start confusing movement with progress I used to wake up and jump straight into Slack, Notion, emails — thinking I was being productive. But all I did was react to noise. Now I ask one question before starting the day: “What’s the one thing that, if done today, will move us forward the most?” It sounds simple, but it’s saved me from countless “busy” days that led nowhere. 3. Effective communication Most startup problems are communication problems wearing different masks. Team confusion? Communication. Missed deadlines? Communication. Wrong product direction? Communication. As a founder, your job is to repeat what matters, until it becomes muscle memory in your team. Not just what to build, but why. I used to think repeating myself was redundant. Now I realize repetition is leadership. -- Startups don’t fail in a crash. They fade (fail) quietly, one slow week, one unclear decision, one message left unsaid. Keep your momentum, clarity, and communication. Protect them like oxygen. Because when these three dies, no amount of funding can bring you back.

Why do 90% of startup ideas fail before launching? Founders often fall in love with solutions, not problems. If customers don’t feel the pain, they won’t pay for the cure. Run your idea through this quick test 👇 1️⃣ Recognition Test Do people instantly say, “Yes, that’s my problem”? If not, it’s probably not real pain. 2️⃣ Emotion Check Frustration or sighs = real pain. Polite nods = no urgency. 3️⃣ DIY Signal If people build messy workarounds, they’re desperate for a fix. 4️⃣ Wallet Test “Interesting” means no. “I need this now” means yes. 5️⃣ 2X Rule Be at least twice as good as current options. Small tweaks don’t change behavior. Your first 10 customers should love your product enough to beg you not to quit. If you’re convincing people they have a problem, you’re solving the wrong one. #startups #ideas #buildingideas #problemsolving #newfounders