1. Outsourced my development team - Never do this. If you are building something in tech you need a strong passionate tech co-founder.
2. Took on too many projects at once. I tend to think of many “great ideas” and want to do them all at once. I’d say it's pretty impossible to make more than one start-up successful at once. Unless you are Elon Musk - I am not.
3. Focused on raising money rather than on getting customers and building a great product. It’s easy to get caught up in the hype of “having a start-up.” look I got a business card, I made a LinkedIn corporate page, I’m going to put together a sick powerpoint presentation. In the beginning none of this shit matters unless you’ve built something that actually solves a problem for at least one person. Start there.
4. Worked on ideas that I wasn’t totally passionate about. No matter what, you’ll face a ton of obstacles. In order to not give up you have to really believe in what you are doing.
5. Building something that doesn’t even add value to people's lives. Ask yourself: how does my product really make people's lives better? Key hints are to think about: Am I saving people money? Am I saving people time?
This question originally appeared on Quora: Have you failed with a startup? Tell others what you did wrong! Answer by Justin Adam Ling.
