Part Four of a Four Part Series: The Four Syndromes of Startup Failure.

In his keynote to several budding entrepreneurs, Eric Benhamou, Chairman of 3Com, former Chairman and CEO of Palm, made some observations about how startups fail.

Numero Quatre: The Market Versus Marketing

Eric cited the classic problem of failing to assess market dynamics as the final failure syndrome.  He used a camel’s dual humped profile to describe the curve along which a startup’s market traction can be mapped.  Savvy marketing alone cannot rescue startups from this decline between the growth spurts.   Recognizing early on that it will take partnerships to bring the product to market and making an investment in Business Development activities is necessary. The mature and consolidated software market leaves few partners for startups to choose from. While I agree that timing is everything and knowing when to go it alone or in a partnership can make or break a startup, Eric neglected to mention that the SaaS delivery model and cloud computing enabled market reach for young companies without the a channel partner. This will continue to be a disruptor to the traditional enterprise software distribution paradigm. 

The key point to takeaway is that there is a significant distinction between the market and marketing.