The War Room on Business Insider ran a story on how the startup GoCrossCampus.com received millions of funding and tons of users but still failed. The founders admitted they made some key mistakes or as they said “We f*cked this up ourselves.”
It goes to show that there is much more to running a business then just getting money and users. You have to create something sustainable and profitable. Many people think big numbers means big success but they are wrong. Think about how much money was invested in facebook just for it to make a dollar (100s of millions) and even twitter now. While so many small business are profitable at the start. Maybe they aren’t making millions but $50,000 in profit is still more then many companies were and are making with millions of users.
GoCrossFire.com Keys to Failure:
- “You don’t have a company, you have a job”
- “We were developing for no, and just right now”
- “We should have waited to launch”
- “Many testers were family and friends, making feedback personal and difficult”
- “Too many chefs in the kitchen”
- “We should have gone after one, not two markets”
- “College kids spend money on booze, clothers and more booze”
- “Startups are like Anna Karenina”