You think it’s the best product ever built, you convince your co-founders and team to follow you on the path to success but what you start realising is that the road is bumpier than any other with unknowns at every corner. In the tech space particularly, there is a lack of retrospect of what our predecessors have built and learning from their mistakes. In a market where success and billion-dollar exits and valuations are so celebrated, the majority end up in failure and hardly anyone talks about them. Join us to understand the learnings derived from failure and practices to put to track your startup’s health.

1. Failure...what we don’t talk
enough about.
Maryam Mazraei, Founder, Autopsy

2. We set off to make an impact.

3. A four year grind, ended in failure!

4. Within 3 years,
92% of startups fail.
(Startup Genome)

5. 2000 company failure submissions
12k+ subscribers
100k+ pageviews in first 4 days
#1 on Hacker News & Product Hunt
Tweeted by Marc Andreessen
Tons of press coverage on...
2000 company failure submissions
12k+ subscribers
100k+ pageviews in first 4 days
#1 on Hacker News & Product Hunt
Tweeted by Marc Andreessen
Tons of press coverage on...

7. What do we do
We are a data and research company that focuses on collecting information of tech
firms which have failed (historical data), company founder/team profiles and zombie
(distressed) companies to provide insights for VCs, angels and startups.
While there are many companies that have focused on collecting data of successful
firms, the resulting survivor bias creates fundamental problems for any resultant
findings. We seek to overcome this by also collecting information of firms which have
failed.

9. How we get our data

11. Strategic Factors Description
Product Market
misfit
Product and service do not find market fit because market does not exist. Includes failure to
find beachhead customer, inability to cross chasm (find next customer beyond initial).
Market failure
Market exists but company fail to find it. Includes failure to expand to appropriate product
category, and geography
Market mistime Market exists but only in future.
Pivot mistime Company changed strategic direction before market turned.
Pivot failure Company changed strategic direction but into a wrong direction.
Lack of capital
infusion Company failed to raise enough investment.
Superior
competition Company is outcompeted by other companies.
Pricing misfit Product pricing is not suitable for the market.
Lack focus Company does not focus and undertook too many different initiatives

12. Operational
Factors Description
Team misfit
Team does not have necessary expertise for the company. Includes lack of expertise, failure to
find suitable advice, etc.
Lack of resources Lack resources to achieve operational goals
Cost Production cost too high. Fail to develop sufficient cost efficiencies.
Marketing Poor marketing to reach customers.
Team conflict
Team members do not exist in harmonious fashion. Includes communication failure, lack of
similar vision etc
Compliance /
Legal Company ran into legal / compliance issues

14. Quick exercises to do with your
team:
1. Try it for rapid validation of new product ideas in workshops or
product sprint
2. Take key failure factors and ranked them bi-monthly to track
performance over-time

15. Some recommendations:
1. ‘The Entrepreneurial Myth’ by Louise Nicolson
2. ‘Black Box Thinking’ by Matthew Syed

16. Thank you!
getautopsy.com
@getautopsy
linkedin.com/company/getautopsy