Why Start-Ups Fail

Avoiding the traps on the path to commercial success

Bernie Bulkin

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Business
• Year: 2026
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781399430234
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

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.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Epigraph
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Dedication
• CONTENTS
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• PREFACE
• 1 The Horrible Premise of a Business Based on Failure
• 2 The World of Start-Ups and Their Backers
• 3 The First Cause of Failure The Technology Doesn’t Work
• 4 The Second Cause of Failure The Market
• 5 The Third Cause of Failure Missing Engineers
• 6 The Fourth Cause of Failure Leadership
• 7 The Fifth Cause of Failure The Board
• 8 The Sixth Cause of Failure Money or the Lack of It
• 9 This, That, and the Other Thing
• 10 We Can Do This Better
• 11 Could This Actually Work?
• INDEX