Here is a short list of others, because there are hundreds:

1. Assuming you can raise capital before you have a product, most cannot.
2. Not building a team of 2–3 founders who can work for cheap or free for a year. You need this to build an MVP. This team needs marketing, sales and technical skills, not just product development, as the vision needs to be complete with a sales and marketing plan that requires senior expertise.
3. Not doing sufficient market research and competitive intelligence to understand the target market and customer. Many are so paranoid of their idea being stolen (ideas are worthless, BTW) that they fail to validate their product/service.
4. Pure arrogance and stupidity, yes, this may be 50%. They believe they can get others to do the hard work they need to do and keep the company. Some even believe they can just hire a CEO and give them 10% and keep 80% for themselves. Why would any experienced CEO ever do that when ideas are a dime a dozen, and they can just...

Here are Some Simple Ideas That Can Greatly Improve Productivity and at the Same Time Help Ensure Success of Every New Product or Release

Product management is more art than science and because I have run many product development groups simultaneously, with a very high launch success rate, I have been asked many times what are the key elements for success. This is not easy to answer, as there are hundreds of small things that make success, not just a few large ones. Although most examples are about software, the ideas apply to almost all product development efforts.

Due to my previous technical background as an engineer, software architect, and CTO, prior to becoming CEO, I have always been deeply involved in product development, no matter what title I held. As CEO, VP, or just software engineer, product development is often where the rubber hits the road and ultimately a company is made or broken by the amount of value the product delivers to its customers. In one position at a...