Perfect Recipe For Failure

Starting a startup is like cooking your favourite dish, except the fact that kitchen is on fire, you forgot half the ingredients, and you’re not sure if you’re making pizza or a smoothie. Yet, somehow, many of us still manage to follow the same recipe for failure. Which is fascinating.

1. Ignore Customer Feedback

“Customers? What do they know?” If you’ve ever thought this, congrats , you’re on the fast track to disaster. Imagine opening a restaurant, serving only mushroom soup, and ignoring everyone who says they’re allergic to mushrooms. Soon, you’ll have no customers but plenty of leftover soup.

Startups fail when they assume they know better than their users. The real pros at failing? They’ll spend months building features no one asked for, then wonder why their product flopped.

2. Over-Focus on Perfection

Perfectionists are like chefs who spend three hours arranging parsley on a dish while the steak burns. You’ve seen it: founders who won’t launch until their app is pixel-perfect or their code is 100% bug-free. By the time they’re ready, their competitors have already taken the market… and their lunch money. And still they are saying they are here to lead the market with cutting edge technology.

Remember: Done is better than perfect. Or as I say, “It’s fine as long as no one gets food poisoning.” Just let someone eat your bit burnt pie and let them tell that what they think, who knows maybe people might love overburnt pie than perfect one. maybe even the pie crust is worse your filling might be tasty. So you can start selling you fillings, others can use it to fill their own pie crust.

3. Hire Like You’re Running a Reality Show

“You get a job! And you get a job! Everybody gets a job!” Hiring your buddies or your cousin who “knows computers” might seem fun, but it’s also a sure fire way to tank your startup. Especially if half the team spends their days arguing over whose turn it is to make coffee. And the worst case you can't ask them to work because you feel bad asking and ended up making the coffee by your own.

Hire people who actually know what they’re doing. And if you can’t afford that, at least hire someone who can Google things effectively. It's important to check your accounts before hiring as well. After a month of hiring you can't tell your employees that you ran out of cash so they have to find alternative ways to feed themselves while working full-time with you.

4. Burn Through Cash Like a Rockstar

Raise $1 million? Great! Now blow it on fancy office furniture, a ping-pong table, and a company retreat to Bali. Don’t worry about things like product development or customer acquisition; those can wait, right?

Wrong. Many startups fail because they treat their funding like Monopoly money. Fun fact: When the money’s gone, investors don’t just give you more because you have a cool Instagram account.

And obviously you should survive for one or more than that with that money and somehow make sure you earn at least 2X of the money you got within that time. If you forgot how to do that please check out the financial documents you sent to the investor to come back to the common sense.

5. Build a Product No One Wants

Here’s a classic move: spend years building something you’re sure people will love, only to find out they’d rather watch paint dry. Think of it as inventing a gluten-free, sugar-free, taste-free cupcake and being surprised when no one eats it.

Successful startups solve real problems. If your “problem” is something that people are not crazy about solving, maybe it’s time to rethink. I mean I would like to have an AI theft detection system where you can identify unwanted people coming to my house and maybe automatically start a siren or a fiery dog bark to make the thieves lose their minds I think their will be people who love to buy.

6. Overpromise and Underdeliver

“Our app will revolutionize the way you breathe!” Bold promises are great for attention… until you can’t back them up. Then, they’re just embarrassing.

It’s better to start small and exceed expectations. Or as they say, under- promise and over-deliver. That way, no one will complain if your app doesn’t cure their insomnia but does help them find good pillow recommendations.

As a founder you should know what your company can do and not, and if your capabilities are aligned with the deliveries the customers will start to respect you as brand who deliver what they say. And after a sometime even though you made mistakes they will accept it because they know you were being true to your word so far.

Final Thoughts: Embrace the Chaos (But Be Smart)

Building a startup is messy, unpredictable, and occasionally feels like skydiving without a parachute. You’re going to make mistakes. Everyone does. But if you follow this perfect recipe for failure, you’ll be out of the game before you even start. And hey, at least you’ll have a funny story to share at your next job interview.

So, skip the burnt soup, listen to your customers, and maybe, just maybe, you’ll cook up something worth serving.