Steve Toback says startup founders don't know what they don't know:

If you ask 10 successful entrepreneurs or venture capitalists why startups fail, you'll probably get 10 different answers. That's because there's no shortage of common failure modes:

- They don't solve a big customer pain point way better than others.
- They invent technologies, not products.
- The target market's too small or just plain wrong.
- Their burn rate's too high.
- They try to shoestring it and run out of cash.
- They can't scale.
- The lack of focus.
- Their cofounders clash.
- There are no competitive barriers.

Yup, there are lots of reasons why startups fail and every one of them is valid. But here's the thing. There's actually one basic cause underlying all those failure modes. It's actually quite simple and yet, its implications are surprisingly broad.

Here's the problem: Founders don't often know what they're doing. No, I'm not trying to be flippant here. It's not a crime, just the truth. They don't know what they don't know.

The bottom line is this. Some entrepreneurs come up with an idea that goes viral out of the gate and they're off to the races. You should be so lucky. Startups are usually a marathon, not a sprint. The sooner you settle into that mode and find yourself some solid advisors you can trust, the better chance you'll have of avoiding all those failure modes.

yay marathon!

Your enthusiasm for marathons is heartwarming.

Startup Rule #1: SURVIVE.

http://pandawhale.com/post/218/startup-rule-1-survive

Or...you feel you already ran that marathon & can't understand why you're doing it again. 

That's why Triathlons END with a marathon.