Reading this summary of EdX from a recent HN post, it's clear there is a pattern with what they did and the strategy not working[1]:
i.e.
a) buying for a high price at an unprofitable time
b) pursuing a platform strategy with a diminishing brand / during covid reopening reducing demand
When I am planning, I can easily find the strategy of my competitors who have succeeded - or at least, what they claim. But I cannot easily find notes or summaries on the strategies, not terminal end reasons, which panned out poorly.
The reason I ask if because I know there are sites that list startups and why they failed. But, I want to go beyond the why to the strategy they enacted which failed, and when they made that choice, what alternatives existed. For me, mentors often do this - they have a reflex memory over the decades to strategies that have commonly failed and can see when you are edging that way. In ways, a mentors best power is to build your character of decision making by helping you avoid mistakes, I find.
Are there resources or great blogs/people for this: Avoiding strategic mistakes, when they are still decidable?
When I am planning, I can easily find the strategy of my competitors who have succeeded - or at least, what they claim. But I cannot easily find notes or summaries on the strategies, not terminal end reasons, which panned out poorly.
The reason I ask if because I know there are sites that list startups and why they failed. But, I want to go beyond the why to the strategy they enacted which failed, and when they made that choice, what alternatives existed. For me, mentors often do this - they have a reflex memory over the decades to strategies that have commonly failed and can see when you are edging that way. In ways, a mentors best power is to build your character of decision making by helping you avoid mistakes, I find.
Are there resources or great blogs/people for this: Avoiding strategic mistakes, when they are still decidable?
[1] https://www.classcentral.com/report/2u-edx-bankruptcy/