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Top Three Pitfalls to Avoid When Managing a Startup Launch

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Brenda Phillips Project Manager| Verizon Sanford, Fl, United States
For those with experience managing new business launches, what do you see as the most frequent or biggest issues encountered and in which project phases are they encountered?
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Zaheer Ahmad Awan Head of Projects & Service Delivery| Khaleej Digital FZCO Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
I have worked with multiple startups and my observations are as follows:

1) Organizations aim to achieve big in the 1st shot itself but end up achieving only a portion. Even if they achieve reasonable chunk of the target, its quality is too low. So start realistically and increase your targets gradually.

2) Organizations that keep changing their goals very frequently during execution, achieve very poor results ultimately. It's great to adapt quickly but be sure of what to pick and once picked, ensure it is made functional.

3) Always have a plan to accommodate additional requirements when people start testing the developed product. This is well handled in Agile but if you are waterfall then provision at least 15-20% of project's time and cost to the UAT phase because that's when people go through real business scenarios and come up with additional requirements.

Hope that helps. Thank you
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Sante Delle-Vergini, PhD Senior Project Manager| Infosys Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
1. The startup did not have a clear business plan.

2. There was not enough market analysis done at the start to justify the launch, or to compete effectively.

3. The wrong human resources were employed along the way.
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Kiron Bondale Retired | Mentor| Retired Welland, Ontario, Canada
Projectmanagement.com must have chewed up my original response - I'd recommended reading Eric Ries's book The Lean Startup as he covers a number of these issues in it.

The one that resonates with me the most is the inability to pivot based on sufficient evidence that the current product hypothesis is invalid.

Kiron
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2 replies by Brenda Phillips and Michael Delaney
Oct 22, 2017 5:33 PM
Brenda Phillips
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Thanks for the recommendation!
Oct 23, 2017 1:07 AM
Michael Delaney
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Excellent book and you are correct constant adjustment is a key to success
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Brenda Phillips Project Manager| Verizon Sanford, Fl, United States
Oct 22, 2017 5:10 PM
Replying to Kiron Bondale
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Projectmanagement.com must have chewed up my original response - I'd recommended reading Eric Ries's book The Lean Startup as he covers a number of these issues in it.

The one that resonates with me the most is the inability to pivot based on sufficient evidence that the current product hypothesis is invalid.

Kiron
Thanks for the recommendation!
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Michael Delaney Partner| Delaney Management LLC West Chester, Pa, United States
Oct 22, 2017 5:10 PM
Replying to Kiron Bondale
...
Projectmanagement.com must have chewed up my original response - I'd recommended reading Eric Ries's book The Lean Startup as he covers a number of these issues in it.

The one that resonates with me the most is the inability to pivot based on sufficient evidence that the current product hypothesis is invalid.

Kiron
Excellent book and you are correct constant adjustment is a key to success
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Stéphane Parent Self Employed / Semi-retired| Leader Maker Prince Edward Island, Canada
A startup is fairly fragile. In order to survive and grow, you will need
1. to be lean on processes
2. to hire people who can adapt to circumstances
3. deep pockets until cash flow is positive
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Eric Simms Senior Program Manager Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Very good answers, everyone! I haven't yet had the chance to work with a startup, but I can easily see how the things you mentioned could be serious pitfalls.

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