What makes a ‘business startup’ fail. A story I experienced firsthand.

While launching various projects on my own.
Recently, there have been a few things I truly thought I failed at.

No matter how much I regret it, there's nothing to do but improve.
That said, until three years ago, I had hardly made any mistakes.
I think it turned out to be good medicine for myself.

This time, I will summarize the failures, including a sense of self-admonition.
Even so, if you broadly categorize it, it can be summarized in one word.
In a word, it's a failure concerning 'people'.
I hope you all can use this as a reference so as not to make the same mistakes.

When I sold the company and became alone.
This time, I decided to start a business with someone.
My previous business was entirely built by me, a one-man operation.
I left Japan on my own accord and created everything unilaterally.
After that, various people followed.

But, if I had proceeded with someone.
Wouldn't I have been able to grow faster?
Based on that idea, I started looking for a partner.

To grow with someone and build a business.
That's why we can move forward with more speed.

It was supposed to be.

As we started activities, people quickly gathered.
Gathering people is easy, but the problem starts after we begin operating.
It wasn't as easy as I thought to create something from scratch with someone.

This time, I'd like to talk about what went wrong and how, one by one.

Mismatch of skills

Just remembering this makes me want to punch myself. (lol)
You tend to just try to team up with someone you get along with.
Without even considering what they are capable of.
In the end, after starting, nothing gets done.

At first, I thought it was just a lack of motivation.
However, upon closer observation, they simply couldn't do it in the first place.
Their skills weren't up to the required level.
The person says they will do it, but there's no progress whatsoever.
Ultimately, I end up doing that task myself as well.

However, that doesn't mean the person who can't do it is at fault.
Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses.
It was my oversight for not clearly recognizing the roles when we started.

What do I want them to do, and what do they want to do?
These fundamental basics tend to become unclear, surprisingly, during the startup phase.
If you plan to divide tasks after launching, you will fail.
Always confirm what needs to be done in advance.

Bringing in trouble, such as spending money without consultation.

This was the worst.
One day, there was an incident where I noticed the remaining balance had drastically decreased.
It was being used for purposes that were not anticipated.
Frankly, I was foolish to have trusted them with money.

The money management itself was assigned to a specific person.
However, other members would use it thoughtlessly for various things.
All the money I worked hard to earn went down the drain.
Furthermore, they themselves had no ill will; they just used it strangely.

However, company money is a lifeline.
If it runs out, the continuation of activities becomes impossible.
Naturally, it was my fault for trusting too much.
Until the organization can function properly, such things will happen.

Regarding money management, no matter how much you trust the other party, you should understand it.
Instead of assigning roles to team members, everyone should manage it.
And when using it, always get everyone's approval first.
If you rely on the assumption of human goodness, human foolishness will explode, and everything will collapse.

There were also people who initially said they would provide all the necessary money.
However, when all was said and done, there were cases where they only contributed at the beginning.
I didn't believe this from the start, but.
It's best to remember that people's words are more unreliable than you imagine.

Not only that, but they also unnecessarily brought up legal disputes.
You can't even focus on product development or business launch, which you should be doing.
People are truly difficult.

Discussions over shares drag on endlessly.

A pattern where disputes over stock shares cause projects to never progress.
Companies start with everyone contributing money and resources.
The discussion about shares is about how much one has contributed to the company on an ongoing basis.
Those who pay more money are not necessarily superior.

For example, let's say someone invested 10 million yen.
On the other hand, there are also people who provide 10 million yen worth of resources.
It's wrong to get more shares just because you paid money.

What should be decided is how much one can contribute to the company.
The proportion of shares should be determined according to the degree of contribution.

However, those who provide money do not yield.
As a result of only seeking immediate shares, the project collapsed.
No one wants to board a disadvantageous ship.

If you find yourself in such a situation, immediate withdrawal is an option.
There is no capital as precious as time.
When I think about what could have been created with the lost time, I feel regretful.

Is this a special case? Apparently, it's surprisingly common.

For these reasons, there were times when I couldn't make progress as I wished.
To the question of whether it's really faster to launch with everyone, the answer is, it depends on the person.

I mentioned earlier that people have strengths and weaknesses, and it's the same here.
While some people are good at working with others during launch, others are better at creating things alone.
As for myself, I fall into the latter category.
I decided that I'm better at launching alone and then involving people after achieving results.

Nevertheless, cases like this one seem to be common.
I myself had never encountered such trouble before, so it was surprising.
When I consulted with people around me, many of them had similar experiences.
People who were embezzled, people who ended up in court over stocks, people who broke up after a fight.
I also heard many experiences that were frustrating just to listen to.

It shows how difficult it is for people to motivate others and form a proper team.
In this world, if you rely on the belief that people are inherently good, things might not go well.
Among them, there are also people who always think about benefiting only themselves.
A kind world still seems far away.

And so, this was a failure story, as I see it.
I was able to experience early on 'how to make a project succeed'.
However, I must have been growing without experiencing 'how to fail'.
By learning the hard way, I was able to understand firsthand what leads to failure.
I will never repeat the same mistake again.

That being said, there were also a few cases that went well.
It's only by venturing into unfamiliar territory that a new stage becomes visible.

When you all challenge yourselves to something, please try to keep this in mind.
Before you exclaim 'This is it!', it's important to calmly think it over yourself first.
Because if you make a wrong step, your life plan could be significantly delayed.
But, indeed, precisely because of that, there are also areas where I was able to grow.