Paul Graham: The 18 Mistakes That Kill Startups

Paul Graham has posted an essay on The 18 Mistakes That Kill Startups. Graham hits a bullseye when he claims that a big mistake that startups make is that they don’t make something that users want (After all of my usability posts this week, I feel like I want to leap into a Steve Ballmer chant: “Users! Users! Users!”).

If you are creating something that users want, then the 18 mistakes are mostly business-oriented shortcomings: too little funding, too much funding, launching too early, launching too late, spending too much, and so on. (Interestingly, one mistake, “Single Founder”, is not possible in Massachusetts, where a company or LLC needs at least two founders)

As always, I find Graham’s essays to be a worthwhile and informative read. Here’s the index of his essays for your viewing pleasure.