Having co-founded Startupbootcamp (the accelerator for startups), Innoleaps (the accelerator for global enterprises) and The Talent Institute (the accelerator for digital talent), Patrick De Zeeuw has worked all around the globe with many different companies, startups and scaleups. Through Startupbootcamp he has also invested in over 600 companies (mostly startups and scaleups but also full grown enterprises) worldwide. In all his years of being an entrepreneur, working with entrepreneurs and supporting entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs, he has learnt and experienced many do-s and don’t-s of starting and scaling up a company. Just last month, Patrick shared his take on the Top 30 F#ckups of Startup Founders, at the largest tech fair in Europe, Hannover Messe. Here is the presentation that was shared.

3. Startups
accelerated since
2010 and adding
200 new startups
each year
650+
Corporate Startups
launched &
accelerated for
Fortune 500
companies
175+
Innovators empowered
on 6 continents
200.000+
Young Digital
Talents provided
to Scale-ups
500+

4. Amsterdam Barcelona Berlin Mexico City Melbourne
Istanbul London Singapore Miami New York Rome
Mumbai Chengdu
Cape Town Copenhagen
San Francisco
In cities all over the world

5. 39- WAYS
FOUNDERS
SCREW UP

6. Picking the wrong
or bad idea

7. Only work on
those problems
you are obsessed
about & will
always keep you
going

8. Not validating
your riskiest
assumptions

9. What do you think the E in
CEO @ a Startup stands for ?

10. Chief
Entrepreneur

11. Under estimating what it
means to be the CEO &
founder of a startup / scale-
up

12. As the
entrepreneur,
you’re not only
running a
company you’re
building one.

13. The Chief Entrepreneur
relentlessly improves both
the startup and his/her own
management capabilities.

14. (S)he ensures that
there is a plan B if
and when plan A
fails and it always
does you are ready.

15. Not
understanding
the core startup
functions & know
how you should
have

16. Team Growth Financing
Leadership Product Customers
THE CORE FUNCTIONS OF STARTUPS ARE:
The CEnO should have a vision, strategy and execute on all 6 topics

17. A startup cannot succeed
without a team…
but even more important a
startup cannot exist without a
chief entrepreneur.

18. Not being 200%
committed &
willing to give
up other great
things

19. Not having
an amazing
team that is
fully aligned

20. Why do sports
coaches only
pick a-players
on their team?

21. Not hiring only
(potential) 9+
on your team
13

22. Not firing fast
if you feel
there is no
(cultural) fit
14

23. Not
appointing a
pre-mediator

24. Not having a vesting
agreement between the
founders

25. For the Chief
Entrepreneur not
spending at least
25% of your time
on hiring new
team members

26. Not hiring an
amazing
operations
person

27. Thinking the
idea is most
important

28. Not managing
your cash flow -
focus on this
every week

29. Cash is king
No cash
means
No king
21

30. Not being on
top of your
debtors

31. Hiring a VP of sales
and thinking he will
actually sell...

32. Launching a new
country based on
demand… Having
no International
strategy

33. Not doing
due diligence
on your
investors
25

34. Not reporting or
keeping your
investors up to
date
26

35. Not preparing your board
meeting agenda
27

36. Spending 90%
of your board
meetings on
what
happened

37. Not agreeing
upfront with
your investors
how you
measure
progress

38. Not explaining your investors
the difference between
“Execution accounting” &
“Innovation accounting”

39. Not asking
your investors,
mentors for
help

40. Not keeping your
mentors and
advisors up to
date on your
challenges and
progress

41. Raising your
next round
too late

42. Sending your
investor deck &
financial models to
analysts

43. Working directly with
friends & family

44. Not
focussing
obsessively
on culture

45. Not living
your
dreams

46. Never
give up
39

47. 3 MUST-SEE MOVIES
Chasing Mavericks Eddie the EagleThe Walk

48. 3 MUST-READ BOOKS
How google works The hard things about hard things Corporate Venture Capital