Why Start-Ups Fail

Avoiding the traps on the path to commercial success

Bernie Bulkin (Author) , Bernie Bulkin (Author)

Online Access / Resources

Why Start-Ups Fail

Avoiding the traps on the path to commercial success

Bernie Bulkin (Author) , Bernie Bulkin (Author)

Online Access / Resources

Ebook (Epub & Mobi) ₹2685.00 Ebook (PDF) ₹2685.00

₹2685.00

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Description

A shocking 90% of start-ups fail. Many of these failures are preventable, but you need to understand the causes and how to avoid them – both as an entrepreneur and an investor.

From technology to the market, from leadership to money, there are numerous reasons why your start-up will fail. Bernie Bulkin – who has been at both sides of the investment table – guides you through the six major reasons why start-ups fail, and how to avoid them.

Instead of accepting failure as inevitable, this book breaks down the main reasons why start-ups fail and how to turn them on their head. Whether you're a founder or an investor, if you're going to put in the time, money, and effort to ensure a company succeeds, you should go in with your eyes open. Bernie's common-sense approach offers the experience of a venture capitalist who has been there and done that.

Leadership at all levels makes a difference. Using real-life examples, and applying behavioural economics to venture decision-making, Why Start-Ups Fail spotlights what founders most often lack, and shares the who, how, and why of making a start-up succeed and avoiding the traps blocking your path to commercial success.

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Preface
Chapter 1: The horrible premise of a business based on failure
Chapter 2: The world of start-ups and their backers
Chapter 3: The first cause of failure – the technology doesn't work
Chapter 4: The second cause of failure – the market
Chapter 5: The third cause of failure – missing engineers
Chapter 6: The fourth cause of failure – leadership
Chapter 7: The fifth cause – the board fails the company
Chapter 8: The sixth cause – money or the lack of it
Chapter 9: This, that, and the other thing
Chapter 10: We can do this better
Chapter 11: Could this actually work?

Product details

Published	05 Mar 2026
Format	Ebook (Epub & Mobi)
Edition	1st
Pages	240
ISBN	9781399430210
Imprint	Bloomsbury Business
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing

Author

Bernie Bulkin

Dr Bernard J Bulkin OBE has worked in venture capi…

Author

Bernie Bulkin

Dr Bernard J Bulkin OBE has worked in venture capi…

Bernie Bulkin distils decades of experience into his lively analysis of causes of start-up failure, many of which resonate with me. Entrepreneurs and investors will find his discussion of strategy and behavioural economics particularly valuable... if they take the time to read, digest and practise the lessons in there.

Dr Hermann Hauser FRS, KBE, Amadeus Capital Partners
Why Start-Ups Fail is enormously relevant to all involved in start-ups. These are wise words to steer you through perilous waters, identifying six main, and avoidable, causes of failure. His analysis of the skills and competences required of leaders is essential reading, alongside the focus on securing an effective focused board involving people with diverse experience. Concise, relevant and beautifully written; yet again, Bernie Bulkin has produced an accessible volume that all should read.

Baroness Virginia Bottomley, Chair, Board Practice, Odgers
Bernie Bulkin reframes the venture-capital mindset with the precision of a scientist and the empathy of a mentor. Why Start-Ups Fail isn't about postmortems; it's about pattern recognition - how to turn the most common traps of technology, money, and ego into opportunities for growth and resilience. He shows how the start-up world's “culture of failure” is not destiny but a design flaw. This book belongs in every accelerator, boardroom, and MBA syllabus concerned with building businesses that actually last.

Joel Makower, Co-Founder and Chair, Trellis Group
If you are starting a business and put this book back on the shelf without reading it, your chances of failure just went up. Be smart – read it and act on it. There is a lifetime's wisdom here written just for you.

Fred Brown, Partner, Kindred Group
Essential reading for those passionate, energetic types driven to lead, invest in or oversee start-ups and early-stage businesses. Bernie Bulkin has distilled a lifetime of experience into a highly readable text packed with sage advice.

Ian Simm, Founder & CEO, Impax Asset Management Group plc
Bernie weaves a great deal of experience into each powerful set of lessons. He analyses some really eye-opening failures, to help investors and start-ups avoid doing it again! I'm buying my whole team their own copies.

Cam Ross, CEO, Green Angel Ventures