Startup Genome Can Find Your Software Company's Failure Points

What makes a startup successful? We can talk until we turn
blue about all the touchy-feely components: vision, leadership,
focus, luck, and the like. But now, thanks to the efforts of four
young entrepreneurs, you can apply an empirical grid to your own
company's chances for success. The 67-page Startup Genome Report ,
created by Bjoern Herrmann, Max Marmer, Fadi Bishara, and
Aleksandra Markova, began with data from 3,200 startups. As a
result of heavy interest over the past few months, the input now
exceeds 15,000 firms. (The report is free, though registration is
required.) The starting point is the Startup Genome Compass , a
free benchmark survey for your firm. "The more companies that use
the Compass, the thinner we can slice the data," says Bjoern
Herrmann. "We can predict your trajectory." What insights have
surfaced so far? What separates the winners from the losers in the
land of software startups? We spoke with Herrmann to listen and
learn from Startup Genome's findings. Tip #1: Innovation is not
enough; you need data. "I think of the analogy of the fountain of
youth," Herrmann says. "Startups are considered to be the fountain
of youth. Until now, it was super-hard to...Read more