How Timing Is The Top Success Factor for StartUps

A presentation by Bill Gross of IdeaLab on TED about startup success factors has generated a lot of comments in the last weeks.

In this talk, he gives the results from a study he has done over success factors of startups. This study seems to have been done on a reasonably wide sample. Here are the results (the percentages indicate the % of contribution):

Timing (42%)
Team & execution (32%)
Idea (28%)
Business model (24%)
Funding (14%)

This result has generated a lot of comments, because of course, assigning to timing the number one success factor diminishes the importance of the people in the startup (working hard, having a great idea) and around (Venture Capitalists and funders in particular). It is although a tough nut to crack for those specialists and supporters of business planning and business model development.

Yet from my limited experience, timing appears to be really a significant contributor to the success of new ventures – as well as chance. In our complex world we can’t continue to believe that everything is predictable.

So, if you want to start a new venture, check if the timing is right. You can’t always know, but you can certainly have a hint.

Here’s Bill Gross TED talk (6 mins only)