If you want your startup to succeed, you need to understand why startups fail.

Why do startups fail? That question caught Harvard Business School professor Tom Eisenmann by surprise when he realized he couldn't answer it.
So he launched a multiyear research project to find out. In Why Startups Fail, Eisenmann reveals his findings: six distinct patterns that account for the vast majority of startup failures.
• Bad Bedfellows. Startup success is thought to rest largely on the founder's talents and instincts. But the wrong team, investors, or partners can sink a venture just as quickly.
• False Starts. In following the oft-cited advice to "fail fast" and to "launch before you're ready," founders risk wasting time and capital on the wrong solutions.
• False Promises. Success with early adopters can be misleading and give founders...