Mentors at accelerators or incubators have to consider failures possibly happening to startups due to infeasible business models, unmarketable products and services, according to advice provided by speakers at X Fail 2019 taking place in Taipei recently.
About 95% of startup businesses cannot survive eventually, and many fail because they are overly cling to the prototypes of their products, services and business models, said Ben Jai, president for Hope Bay Technologies.
For accelerators or incubators, the key to startups' sustainable development of startup businesses is whether the mentors at their accelerators or incubators have keen market sensitivity to recommend viable business models or modification of prototype ones, Jai indicated.
Accelerators or incubators, while helping startup businesses to enter the market, seldom place enough emphasis on the importance of adjusting the business model when necessary, resulting in complacency during acceleration and incubation, indicated Pokai Chen, founder and CEO of AirSig.
Startups must know when to stop: If the products and services are unmarketable and the business models infeasible, givem them up, advised Jai and Chen, both having experienced failure in their businesses.