Lessons Learned from Failed Startups

Autopsy.io is a new site that aggregates info on failed startups. As an entrepreneur, some of my most important lessons learned came from failures. Take the eCrowds post mortem – poor customer discovery, mismatched on-boarding costs relative to monthly pricing, and slow application speed – now it’s included in Autopsy, and more accessible to entrepreneurs.

Here are a few thoughts on failed startups:

• Failure is a normal and accepted part of the startup ecosystem
• Most startups will fail
• Even if a good idea was too early, it’s still a failure
• One of my favorite questions to ask entrepreneurs – regardless of success or failure – is “what did you learn?”
• Running out of money is most common reason startups shut down

Entrepreneurs would do well to research startups on Autopsy.io and learn from previous experiences. With the recent growth in tech startups over the past few years, look for an increase in failed startup post mortems as well.

What else? What are some other thoughts on failed startups?