CHAPTER 1Architecting an Intentional Business
If you are not intentionally building a business, you will accidentally build yourself a job.
No matter how good you are, and no matter how long you’ve been at this, the reality is that 91% of all businesses fail within 10 years.
According to the US Small Business Administration (SBA), around 66% of all new businesses make it to the two-year mark, only half of all companies survive past five years, and more than 90% fail within 10 years.
And it’s not just small businesses that suffer this fate. I almost fell off my chair when I learned that 88% of all the Fortune 500 companies that existed just 50 years ago are gone. They have either gone completely bankrupt, crashed, or been eaten up in a merger, and even those few that still exist are no longer a Fortune 500 company.1
Steven Denning, a Forbes senior contributor, pointed out that 50 years ago the life expectancy of a Forbes 500 company was 75 years.2 Today, it’s less than 15 years!3 This means you will likely outlive some of the biggest companies that exist today.
That was a lot of data, but stay with me. This is all-important for you and your business.
In his study of hundreds of startups, Harvard Business School professor Tim Eisenmann found that while business owners may have the right acumen and decision-making skills, a whole host of issues can lead to the demise of a small business. One of these issues is the philosophy of “just start” – a message I see shared over and over ...
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