Easy and Hard Tech Startups

Some are easier, some are harder

There are easy and hard tech startups from my experience. From being an engineering manager and CTO in several startups, to my consulting work in startups and my #CTO coaching practice for startup CTOs, I have seen many tech startups.

Easy startups are easy, and I’m skipping them here.

There are several types of hard startups

Type	Reason why it is hard
Consumer Hardware	2 Bad reviews on Amazon can kill you Hardware bugs hard to fix when released Manage hardware supply chain with changing components Long lead times for hardware delivery Limited developer pool
Regulated Market	Regulation and certification take a lot of effort Development is slower du to compliance
Marketplace	Need to grow two sides at the same time. No sypply means no demand. No demand means no supply On which side to focus?
High touch sales B2B	Often confusing marketing and sales Excellent sales setup and processes needed to succeed

I have (co-)founded four marketplaces (ImmobilienScout24, brands4friends, eBay, eventsofa) I have founded or worked for as an engineering manager or CTO. Seems I’m stuck :-) In each of those startups pushing supply and demand was a struggle. Often it was not clear, if demand would follow supply or supply would offer demand. It was not clear where to focus and who was in the lead.

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