Startup Endings
We want to look under the hood of startup “failure.” We prefer the word ending. Some of our favorite products (e.g. Slack) grew out of a missed product-market fit. This survey is intended for founders who turned down their company. We hope completing this survey is cathartic; we designed it to be a reflective post-mortem. Our goal is to develop collective insight with this data. In time, we will share our analysis of the survey on our Substack (linked at the end).

Note: This survey is entirely anonymous though you are welcome to identify yourself in the final question if you want to participate in a live conversation.

Thank you, 
Maya Joseph-Goteiner, Katrina Pecot, Barbara Natali-Sherman and Kelly Coney
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What industry was your startup in?
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What led to the end of your startup?
 *
If you're inclined to say "we ran out of money," go a layer deeper.
How challenging did you find the following phases in your startup journey?

Rate each activity on a scale of 1-5, where 1=not at all challenging and 5=extremely challenging
 *
1= not at all challenging
2= slightly challenging
3= somewhat challenging
4= very challenging
5= extremely challenging
N/A
Finding a problem worth solving
The go-to-market strategy
Coming up with a solution
Assessing the solution's value
Hiring the founding team
Identifying a domain to focus on
Product-market fit
Building the technical infrastructure
Defining product success
Determining what to include in the MVP
Understanding the target user
Scaling the product
Securing funding
Validating assumptions
Which of the following factors most influenced your understanding of the market opportunity?

Select up to three.
*
Required
How did you go about determining a target user?
*
If you had to narrow it down, what did that process look like?
How true are the following statements? 

Rate each statement on a scale of 1-5, where 1=not at all true and 5=extremely true
 *
1= not at all true
2= slightly true
3= somewhat true
4= very true
5=extremely true
N/A
We solved a real market problem
Our value proposition addressed a user need
We validated our key assumptions
We experimented before building an MVP
We built an MVP that delivered on our promise
We found Product-Market Fit
Looking back on your startup journey, what would you have done differently?
 *
What informed the roadmap and first version of the MVP?
 *
What were the top drivers of product decisions? 

Select up to four.
 *
Required
How significantly did your product pivot in the startup journey?
Clear selection
What metric did you use to measure product success, and why was it chosen as the north star?
 *
If given the chance to redefine the product north star metric, what factors would you consider, and why?
Skip this question if you wouldn't change your North Star metric. 
Assuming you could go back in time, which of the following activities would have benefited from more dedicated resources and energy?

Select up to four.
 *
Required
Willing to dive more deeply with us live in exchange of a 30 minute UX/R consult? If yes, please share your first name and email.
Want to see results from the survey? Subscribe to our Substack. 
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