Lessons from the 70% That Don’t Survive

We celebrate unicorns, funding rounds, and high valuations. But what about the 70%+ of startups that fail?

No one writes headlines about them. No one interviews those founders. The truth is, startups are fragile. Even great ideas, strong teams, and well-funded companies collapse After years of investing, sitting on cap tables, and working with founders, I’ve seen brilliant startups die for reasons that have nothing to do with a “bad idea.” Let’s break down the real reasons why startups fail:

Too Much Money, Too Soon

Funding is seen as a badge of honor. It’s not. It’s a loan against your future. And the more you raise, the less room you have to fail. A startup that raises millions before it figures out a working business model? 

That’s not a success—it’s a liability. Because the moment the next round doesn’t come, the house of cards crumbles. We’ve seen this play out over and over again. Yet, founders still think “if we raise more, we’ll survive.” They don’t.

Growth at All Costs is a Death Sentence

“Scale fast or die trying.” That’s the advice. And it’s terrible. Byju’s was a rocket ship—until it wasn’t. What killed it? Not competition. Not demand. But reckless expansion. More markets, more hires, more acquisitions. But growth isn’t about getting bigger—it’s about getting better. If your customer retention sucks, if your revenue isn’t profitable, if you’re burning cash faster than you’re making it, scaling will only make the problem worse.

The Fundraising Trap

The moment you take VC money, your company isn’t yours anymore. The pressure to hit targets, show growth, and keep raising forces founders to make bad decisions for the sake of optics. Suddenly, it’s not about product-market fit. It’s about showing revenue spikes before a raise. It’s not about sustainable hiring. It’s about doubling headcount to “look bigger.” Startups don’t get time to breathe. They run at full speed—until they hit a wall.

Some Founders Never Wanted to Build a Business—Just an Exit

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Here’s the dirty secret: some founders aren’t trying to build great companies. They’re just playing the valuation game. They know how to tell a good story, raise capital, get media hype… and leave before the cracks start to show. And when the company implodes? It’s the employees, investors, and customers left picking up the pieces. These aren’t real entrepreneurs. They’re opportunists. And the worst part? The ecosystem rewards them.

Failure Isn’t the Problem—It’s the Silence Around It

For every unicorn, there are hundreds of startups that shut down quietly. But we don’t talk about them. Failure isn’t the issue. Refusing to learn from it is. The best founders aren’t the ones who never failed. They’re the ones who failed, adapted, and built something stronger. So let’s stop pretending every failure is some “unlucky break.” It’s time we started holding founders accountable.

What do you think? Why does no one want to have this conversation?

Startups don’t fail in silence—they fail because we refuse to listen. We glorify the winners, ignoring the graveyard of companies that could have been. But real innovation doesn’t come from blind optimism. It comes from understanding why things fall apart. If we keep celebrating only the successes and sweeping the failures under the rug, we’re doomed to repeat the same mistakes. The best founders don’t just chase headlines—they chase resilience. It’s time we stopped obsessing over who raised the most and started valuing who built something that actually lasts.

Credit: This article has been reproduced from the LinkedIn post of Archana Jahagirdhar, Founder and Managing Partner at Rukam Capital, and a leading voice in the Indian startup ecosystem.