Where Start-ups Go Wrong

Larry Wasserman, an experienced COO/CFO who has been a part of and consulted with many start-ups (a dozen or so) provided an excellent presentation this week for the OTBC FastTrac TechVenture program on managing start-up operations.  Larry summarized the ways he has seen start-ups go wrong in their approach to operations management:

1. Not enough empahsis on getting to revenue
2. Too complicated
3. No accountability
4. No measurement of progress
5. Too much detail
6. Too many or inconsistent objectives
7. Not enough comprehension of cost to benefit
8. Not having a Plan (i.e., an operations plan that is outcome based)

Larry urged the program participants to implement an outcome-based planning process and a cash-runway monitoring process to help avoid unpleasant surprises.  Good outcome-based planning and cash-runway monitoring processes that have enough (but not too much ) detail, that assign dates and responsibilities, and that measure progress  on a regular basis  can help start-ups get more done, and spend cash wisely.