Over the last one decade, ever since the dot-com bust, much has been written about the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of start-up debacles. Yet, not much has been spoken about the ‘why’’ even  though if we scratch the surface, failures-then and failures-now are not very different at a causal level.

As a Transformational Coach, in the last two years, I have come across many who have either started up on their own or have been associated with them. There are also a few who have come to me with their horror stories of how they had to shut shop even after having had a promising start.

With the intention of making entrepreneurship a more wholesome discipline and thereby bring about a kind of ‘healing’ to the entrepreneur mindset, I decided to probe a little deeper into the mindsets of the promoters. As a first step, I posted a question on Linked in – “What are some of the most likely reasons for companies started by technology enthusiasts running into rough weather despite a promising start?” – to which I got a phenomenal response. Respondents were from all over the world, cutting across demographics and psycho-graphics. While some of them came from their own experiences of having burnt their fingers, some others seemed to be at the receiving end. The responses they left behind ranged from being factual, to logical, to opinions and in some cases critical evaluations too.

The question and the answers may be browsed on http://www.linkedin.com/answers/startups-small-businesses/starting-up/STR_STP/868434-5430048.

When I read through the answers, I see a certain pattern (a) in terms of the areas of concern and (b) the level at which the concerns were dealt / seen. Based on these obvious patterns I have attempted to cluster the responses below.  I sincerely hope that the data below will serve as a trigger for start-ups and small businesses to reflect and re-think not just what they are doing and how, but fundamentally why are they doing whatever they are doing and for once be open to transforming the very mind-sets that are unconsciously limiting their entrepreneurial success.  

While the question refers to start-up failures, the answers and the recommendations that they lead to may be seen as valuable insights for yet-to-fail businesses to act upon.

With the economy getting more and more unpredictable and volatile, the only way to develop enterprise resilience is to fortify from the within. And objective of this paper is to arouse this need amongst entrepreneurs – both aspiring and practicing – and inviting them to reach out for transformational support. Without which even sprouting of a living enterprise may not be possible, forget flowering and fruition.