06. Ten Quiet Killers of Startups And How to Outgrow Every One

Let me tell you something most people don’t say out loud: you will fail. Not once, not just early on, but over and over again. And that’s okay. Because if you’re scared of failing, you’re probably not building anything bold enough to begin with.

In 2007, I started a company called eco-wizer. It was smart. It was timely. It was right. We helped businesses save energy by switching to LED lighting back when LED was still the weird kid on the lighting shelf. But you know what happened? Nothing. No interest. No traction. No one wanted to hear it.

Were we wrong? Maybe. Were we too early? Definitely. Or maybe we just quit too soon. Here’s the thing: I’ve had failures. Multiple. They sit right next to a shelf full of wins. And I’m still here. Because I’ve learned something along the way.

You’re not an entrepreneur because of one good idea. You’re an entrepreneur when you don’t break the moment that good idea fails. If you can’t pivot, if you can’t evolve, if you can’t let go of “your moment,” then you’re not a founder. You’re a fortune hunter. Success is not built on getting it right. It’s built on getting back up.

You have to be able to say, “Okay. That didn’t land. What’s next?” And sometimes, “what’s next” is the same idea - just reframed, restructured, or retimed. So yes, we talk about purpose. We talk about mission. We talk about building something meaningful. But don’t confuse that with thinking you’ll get it right the first time. You won’t. And that’s the point.

Because purpose isn’t just what keeps you going. It’s what brings you back after the world tells you “no.” Most founders are scared of failing. But I’ll tell you what’s worse: failing and making it mean you’re done. That’s not failing. That’s quitting.

Real entrepreneurs fail forward. They build again. They reframe. They evolve. So if you’ve launched something that flopped - good. Now you know what not to do. Now you’re building with data, not fantasy. Now you’re dangerous.

Because the strongest founders? They’re not the ones who started perfect. They’re the ones who started anyway. And never stopped.

Let me leave you with this. Success isn’t the absence of failure. It’s your relationship with it. So if you’re building something right now and it’s slow, or messy, or not landing — don’t panic. Step back. Breathe. And ask yourself: is this the wrong idea? Or is it the wrong time? Or is it just not finished yet?

Either way, you’re still in the game. And that already makes you a rare breed. Build again. Refine your offer. Realign with your purpose. Get closer to what matters. Because you don’t become a damn good founder by avoiding failure. You become one by outgrowing it.

Let’s talk about a different kind of failure. Not the obvious one. Not the one where no one buys. Not the one where you run out of money. I’m talking about the kind of failure you only notice in hindsight - the failure to see, the failure to listen, the failure to let go of being right.

Most people think Steve Jobs invented the iPhone. But that’s not the truth. The truth is, he didn’t even believe in phones. He thought they were beneath Apple. Unnecessary. Distracting. But a few people on his team saw something. They believed in touch, in interface, in the future.

Back then, phones had buttons - big ones. Glass screens were science fiction. But this team pushed forward. Built in silence. Tested. Tweaked. Believed. And one day, after months of work, they showed Steve the prototype. He was quiet. And if you know anything about Steve, you know he was never quiet.

After a pause, he looked up and said, “Show me that again.” The iPhone was born. Sometimes, failure isn’t loud. It’s not dramatic. It’s silent. It’s stubborn. It hides behind certainty. You can fail by chasing the wrong thing. But you can also fail by ignoring the right one.

The best founders know when to push and when to step aside. They trust their gut - but also their team. They know that vision is powerful - but curiosity keeps you alive. So yes, fail. Test. Learn. Adjust. But don’t fail because you were too proud to see it coming. Or too slow to shift. Or too certain to listen.

And if you want to stay in the game - if you want to avoid the most common landmines - let’s bring it home with ten reasons why startups fail, again and again. Not to scare you. To prepare you.

So, you’ve got a vision. A team. An idea that just won’t leave you alone. You’ve launched. You’re moving. And still, something’s off. Something’s not landing. Let me walk you through ten quiet killers — the things that don’t scream “failure” at first, but whisper it until you break.