Pitfalls of startup

People don't share the same vision and passion

In a normal company, even if people don't share the same vision, they still can execute the plan and contribute value. For a startup (with limited resources) to proceed (or for a normal company that wants to be more efficient), people need to contribute much more than just merely executing the plan. And usually people will do that (go an extra mile) if they feel that they are working for their dream, not just working for their boss

Why it happened ?

• People can't participate in decision makings

• Investor micro-manages too much (and be a product manager)

• Hires wrong people

No strong leader

A competent tech lead is not a leader.

A smart marketing guy is not a leader.

We need a guy who can pin-point the problem (be it people or technical problem) and do his best to get that fixed (not necessarily that he's the one who fix, but he must be the one who initiate the process)

No plan to find customer

Engineers tend to think that people will have the same problem with them, and try to solve that. In reality, it's usually not that case. And there's no way to find out what the real needs are if the team just sits in the office

Not being agile enough

Agile is not about having a standup every morning

Agile is not about decorating offices with inspirational stickers

Agile is 'bout empowering people to share their problem, to be proactive in suggesting new ideas, fixing bugs, to actively get your hands dirty to find customers (not just guessing what they want)

-- to be updated --