Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Tune In, Turn On, Drop Out – The Startup Genome Project

Steve Blank published the findings of the Startup Genome Project on his post today. Here are 3/14 of the key findings:

1. Founders that learn are more successful: Startups that have helpful mentors, track metrics effectively, and learn from startup thought leaders raise 7x more money and have 3.5x better user growth.

2. Startups that pivot once or twice times raise 2.5x more money, have 3.6x better user growth, and are 52% less likely to scale prematurely than startups that pivot more than 2 times or not at all.

3. Many investors invest 2-3x more capital than necessary in startups that haven’t reached problem solution fit yet. They also over-invest in solo founders and founding teams without technical cofounders despite indicators that show that these teams have a much lower probability of success...

One of the most interesting parts of the post was the drive of the 18 year old Stanford student who inspired the project. Check out Blank's blog for the other findings.

Why Women Aren’t C.E.O.s, According to Women Who Almost Were

"It’s not a pipeline problem. It’s about loneliness, competition and deeply rooted barriers." Read more in the NYT .