No customer. No money. No business.

На PandoDaily неболь­шой, но полез­ный текст про глав­ную и, как утвер­ждает автор, един­ствен­ную при­чину смерти стар­та­пов — отсут­ствие денег. При­чем, речь идет не о день­гах вообще, а о моне­ти­за­ции.

Несколько цитат:

For some, it was because of a problem with their product, the market or the competitive landscape. For others, it was poor investment management or lack of team cohesiveness. But, at the end of the day, the one reason why most startups fail is that they weren’t able to profitably monetize their product.
…
The money of your customers is the life-blood of your business. Not the money of investors. Not the money of your family or friends. The money of your customers. Without paying customers, your startup starves, suffocates and eventually dies by suicide.
…
One of my mentors once told me, “you’re not a real business until you get paid.”
Pre-revenue, your “startup” is just a hobby. If your startup is venture-backed and a registered business but has no paying customer, then it’s just a glorified, well-funded and registered hobby.
Find paying customers as soon as possible. As Henry Ford once said: “It is not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money. It is the customer who pays the wages.”
No customer. No money. No business.

Это кажется совер­шенно оче­вид­ной вещью — ведь любой биз­нес начи­на­ется с целью зара­ба­ты­вать деньги, но подав­ля­ю­щее боль­шин­ство стар­та­пов, кото­рые я видел, либо не думают о моне­ти­за­ции, либо — и это вто­рая, видимо, при­чина смерти стар­та­пов, — думают о ней очень опти­ми­стично в духе «Сей­час пове­сим бан­нер и зара­бо­таем мил­лион, или возь­мем с каж­дого по дол­лару и полу­чится куча денег».

http://blognot.co/11635