Why 90%+ of Founders Fail

Founders fail because they give up. They give up because the cost/benefit of the startup ceases to make sense. That cost/benefit gets out of whack because founders don't receive the encouragement they need to continue. This encouragement comes in different forms at different stages of the startup: Idea stage: feedback from friends and family on the pitch/project-- founders need to articulate their vision and give their closest networks an opportunity to join them on the journey. It's more than sharing a pitchdeck. You need a pitch video and a way for your closest networks to share your vision with the world. Build stage: validation from collaborators willing to invest time to help realize the founders' vision. You won't get this by trolling freelancer sites for mercenary dev shops. You need to find collaborators who are so excited by the problem you are solving that they want to build the solution. Find these people and you will have unlocked not only how to build but also a funnel for your earliest users, since these collaborators likely know or suffer the same problem you are solving and know others who suffer from it too. You need a community of believers and builders who really want to see your better mousetrap built. Launch stage: founder MVP needs early adopters brought in by believers and collaborators from the first two stages. When everyone involved in your project knows and loves the problem you are solving, they will have powerful insights, audiences, and networks to bring you early adopters. But you need to entice these early users with upside in the vision, same as with your believers and collaborators. Reward them with early access, collaboration opportunities for insiders, time with the founders, even equity. Make your users and collaborators owners from the start-- give them skin in the game so they give you what you need to thrive (i.e. not give up) as a founder. Growth Stage: it's validation from revenue, VC investment, and growth hackers/marketers willing to spread the product in exchange for referral rewards. There are hundreds of millions of online hustlers who will bring you users if you give them clear instructions and clear rewards. Most founders fail because they try to reach growth stage via VC investment, rather than bootstrapping their community from the start. VCs are mostly pattern-matching sheep with checkbooks. Depending on them for success is failure mode. Hypergrowth Stage: This is the grail, when the flywheel spins and accelerates, the boulder starts rolling down hill, and every incremental user adds huge value to the network. Your community is the platform for your network. Every one of your believers, collaborators, early adopters, and growth hackers should have clear upside in you hitting hypergrowth. The fundamental reason most founders fail is they don't incentivize and reward the people they need for the encouragement/validation that will keep them slogging and grinding. Don't punk out and give up. Bootstrap your community with coin. Redeem the coin for access, collaboration opportunities, and financial upside. This is the promise of Web3-- play to learn/earn/own. Hit me up if you want to hear more about coin-powered community building.