If you have ever tried to start a small business (unsuccessfully), you have asked yourself — after the smoke settles, the nest egg has been cracked and your entrepreneurial spirit has gone the way of the Ghost of Christmas Future at the break of dawn, what went wrong.

Paul Graham has provided has given us a very lucid list that tries to deconstruct the complex and often contradictory reasons that startup’s fizzle. A few of my favorites are:

5. Obstinacy

In some fields the way to succeed is to have a vision of what you want to achieve, and to hold true to it no matter what setbacks you encounter. Starting startups is not one of them. The stick-to-your-vision approach works for something like winning an Olympic gold medal, where the problem is well-defined. Startups are more like science, where you need to follow the trail wherever it leads

8. Slowness in Launching

Startups make all kinds of excuses for delaying their launch. Most are equivalent to the ones people use for procrastinating in everyday life. There’s something that needs to happen first. Maybe. But if the software were 100% finished and ready to launch at the push of a button, would they still be waiting?

In a Web 2.0 world that’s more than a little obsessed with the tenants of AJAX, Adsense and Arrogance it’s nice to see some old fashioned business acumen. Give it a read.

[The image comes from a shirt by GiantRobotPrinting]

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