#79: How Successful Startup Teams Avoid Startup Failure

One of the most valuable experiences that entrepreneurs can learn from is the mistake that cost another entrepreneur their dream. Whether you’re building your first company or your tenth, entrepreneurship is full of uncertainty. And while success is always the goal, there are a thousand valuable lessons in startup failure. On today’s episode of the podcast you’ll hear from three serial entrepreneurs about the biggest mistakes to avoid when building a startup. First, you’ll meet Michael Cloran. This guy started his career on a bumpy road. His first hand in success was making a kid-safe internet venture. From there he started his biggest company, Interactions. While working there he got his first real display of technical debt. Learning from this experience, he founded Developertown to help other startups that don’t have extreme technical skills on staff. Dr .Todd Saxton teaches strategy and entrepreneurship at the IU Kelley School of Business and Kelley Direct, which is one of the best online MBA programs in the world. Dr. Kim Saxton is also a professor at the IU Kelley School of Business. Kim teaches marketing and works as an academic researcher studying how entrepreneurs work, fail and succeed. In addition to their lives in academia, both Todd and Kim are angel investors to several startups. The purpose of their book, The Titanic Effect, is to let founders know what to avoid in order to make a successful venture. The book launches next month, so this episode is a little bit of a preview. Tune into Igniting Startups to hear which mistakes broke good business ideas and how to avoid them yourself. In this episode on how successful startup teams can avoid startup failure with the authors of The Titanic Effect, Michael Cloran, Kim Saxton and Todd Saxton, you will learn: Which startup mistakes to avoid when building your new venture What market research you deserves your focus early on The importance of anticipating problems before they happen How to test the waters in a new market What you can do to build the most “unsinkable” startup in your market Please enjoy this conversation about how successful startup teams can avoid startup failure with the authors of The Titanic Effect, Michael Cloran, Kim Saxton and Todd Saxton! If you like this episode, please subscribe and leave us a review on iTunes. You can also follow us on Soundcloud or Stitcher. We have an incredible lineup of interviews we’ll be releasing every Tuesday here on the Powderkeg Podcast.