Kim Hvidkjaer - How to F*ck Up Your Startup: The Science Behind Why 90% of Companies Fail--and How You Can Avoid It

Contents

Entertaining and thought-provoking. Destined to be a classic in the field of entrepreneurship.

Caroline Ahlefelt, CEO and Founder of TOMORROW, and Former Board Member of LEGO

Dont miss out on a humorous ride through the many reasons why companies fail, as well as how to avoid them. A mandatory read for everyone working with startups.

Henrik Ernlund, Investor and Country Manager, SAS Institute

A fantastic tour de force through the business failures that cause the vast majority of companies to crashneatly accompanied by the remedies required to fix them. A no-brainer investment of your time.

Peter Friis, VP Northern Europe, Google

Success is hard to learn from. Failures are more generous in their inclination to point you to a handle. This book focuses on what to avoid, but it would be a failure to avoid reading it.

Dr. Daniel Hjorth, Professor of Entrepreneurship, Copenhagen Business School and Nottingham Business School

I should have read this before I f*cked up my first startup and maybe things would have been different.

Paul Clements, Investor, Founder, Creative and TEDx speaker

How to F*ck Up Your Startup

Kim Christian Hvidkjaer

How to F*ck Up Your Startup

* The Science Behind Why 90% of Companies Failand How You Can Avoid It

Matt Holt Books

An Imprint of BenBella Books, Inc.

Dallas, TX

This book is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information about entrepreneurship. Neither the author nor the publisher is engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services by publishing this book. If any such assistance is required, the services of a qualified financial professional should be sought. The author and publisher will not be responsible for any liability, loss, or risk incurred as a result of the use and application of any information contained in this book.

How to F*ck Up Your Startup copyright 2022 by Kim Hvidkjaer

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

BenBella Books, Inc.

10440 N. Central Expressway

Suite 800

Dallas, TX 75231

benbellabooks.com

Send feedback to

BenBella is a federally registered trademark.

Matt Holt and logo are trademarks of BenBella Books.

First E-Book Edition: February 2022

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021034781

ISBN 9781637740590 (trade cloth)

ISBN 9781637740606 (ebook)

Editing by Katie Dickman

Copyediting by Michael Fedison

Proofreading by Sarah Vostok and Jenny Bridges

Indexing by Amy Murphy

Text design and composition by PerfecType, Nashville, TN

Cover design by Urgent.Agency

Illustrations by Kim Hvidkjaer

Special discounts for bulk sales are available. Please contact .

Dedicated with love to the two entrepreneurs before me, my mother and father, the entrepreneur at my side, Sofie, and the two entrepreneurs after (and outperforming) me, Katinka and Wilbert. Lucky guy, huh?

Already have a startup off the ground?

Congratulations!

Yes, the most likely scenario from here is your startup will fail.

It doesnt matter if you havent founded it yet, if youve bootstrapped, or if youve already successfully pitched and received venture funding.

This is the general rule of startups: they fail.

90 percent of startups fail.

67 percent of startups stall at some point in the venture capital process and fail to exit or raise follow-on funding.

97 percent of hardware startups die (or become zombies).

Are you perhaps dreaming of becoming a startup unicorn? The likelihood of that is less than .0001 percent. Best of luckI sincerely doubt it will happen, and equally sincerely, of course, hope the best for you.

But, as you probably already know, hope is not a strategy.

. A privately held startup company with a current valuation of US $1 billion or more.

Launching a startup sounds sexy, but in reality it sucks.

The media enjoys portraying an entrepreneur with a hero narrative, but the rasping reality is building a startup is considerably closer to running a marathon through a minefield. Its hell on earth with things blowing up around you, until you probably step on a mine yourself.

Its an awful, tiring, and long struggle of constant stress, often on the edge of a mental breakdown. And Im not exaggerating even a tiny bit.

It takes a huge toll on your financial situation, your health, and your family. Even worse, an alarmingly large number of CEOs commit suicide when their companies crash.

And we could end the story right here. Butobviouslywe wont. Instead, we will look at why 90 percent of companies fail and how you can avoid stepping on those mines while running your startup marathon.

With my motivational speech out of the way, lets get started.

. Not to be confused with the Afghanistan Minefield Marathon run held at Bagram Air Base near Kabul.

I remember the day I realized I was a millionaire: New Years Day 2007. It was the warmest January day Denmark had seen in years. My girlfriend; our beautiful one-year-old daughter, Katinka; and I had recently moved into a spacious 1896 brick manor house. The herringbone-patterned oak floors fit in perfectly for one of the most expensive areas in Denmark.

I sat at our kitchen table, looking out at the large terrace and picturesque garden. On the laptop in front of me, I studied the Excel spreadsheet which tracked the assets for all the businesses Id started in the last ten years. When I registered the total sum in the final box, I stopped and double-checked the math. Yes, it was true... Id finally done it. I was a millionaire! My assets, real estate investments, stocks, private equity, and cash added up to well over the equivalent of $2 million. In those days, $2 million could support my family for the rest of our lives if converted to cash and invested.

I had no such plans. My career was ramping up. After completing my Executive MBA at Copenhagen Business School, I sold a large chunk of my startup, Shockwaved, a marketing company that made online games, to one of the top three advertising agencies worldwide, TBWA. If all went well, the company would soon announce me as the new CEO of their Danish division. Id get to run the new digital leg of the Danish business, as well as the other companies in that group. Meanwhile, Denmarks leading business magazine,