The Real Issue With Startup Methodologies And Other Silver Bullets

Good entrepreneurs learn from their own mistakes. Great entrepreneurs learn from others’ mistakes. – Dave McClure, 500 Startups Founding Partner

Unfortunately, following a system doesn’t guarantee success. In the same way you can fail cooking a meal with the recipe right in front of you, you can fail getting your business off the ground using a rapid validation framework like the Lean B2B methodology.

A few years back, Forbes Magazine published a list of the top reasons — you can find similar lists all over the internet — why eight out of ten entrepreneurs who start businesses fail within the first 18 months. The top reasons were:

• Not really being in touch with customers through deep dialogue;
• No real differentiation in the market;
• Failure to communicate value propositions in clear, concise and compelling fashion;
• Leadership breakdown at the top;
• Inability to nail a profitable business model with proven revenue streams.

Although Lean B2B helps address four of these five reasons for business failure (Read: How to Find your Prospects’ Most Painful Problems), it doesn’t guarantee success.

Unfortunately, not all problems lead to sellable solutions and not all startups become sustainable businesses. There are many factors at play in the success of startups.

The best startup methodologies won’t make:

• The economy better;
• Competition go away;
• Your team perform and deliver;
• The timing right for your solution;
• Bad ideas succeed.

Although B2B startups have better odds of success than B2C startups, starting a business remains a risky career choice. You must accept that risk. Methodologies like Lean B2B are about putting the odds in your favour; that’s already a good start.

Keep at it!

More on Startup Methodologies

• 17 Fundamental B2B SaaS Frameworks Entrepreneurs Need to Use in 2024
• What’s The Lean Startup? And Can B2B Startups Apply its Methodology?
• This is Why I Wrote Lean B2B: Build Products Businesses Want