David Feinleib at Mohr Davidow Ventures pens a piece called, “Why Startups Fail.” Here are his four reasons with my thoughts below.

1. Spending too much on sales & marketing before they’re ready

This is exactly why we encourage new companies to stay as far away from venture funding as they can. VC’s encourage you to spend! And since software is virtually free, and hardware is dirt cheap these days, and you only need a couple people to get your company and product going, the only place to spend your money is on sales and marketing. And spend you do, cause there’s nothing easier in this world than spending other people’s money.

2. The market outpaces the startup’s ability to execute

I hear this one discussed a lot, but I rarely see evidence of its impact. The market doesn’t really move that fast. Things generally move pretty slowly. Consumers move even slower, and consumer loyalty is built through great experiences over time not through early availability. First mover or early advantage is overrated. Google was late to search, Flickr was late to photosharing, Facebook was late to social software. Being late gives you a chance to watch the market develop and spot what’s actually working and what isn’t. Take your time, build something valuable, and then go to market. No, you can’t wait 36 months to release something that’s 3 years behind, but if you’re a few months “late” (whatever that means), and you’re great, you’ll do just fine.

3. There is no Entrepreneur

This one I do agree with. Every great company has a great leader who is willing to make decisions, say “no” more often than “yes,” and see a clear vision through to fruition.

4. The market takes too long to develop

If the market takes too long to develop, there is no market… it doesn’t exist. Unless you have one of those rare products that can create a market, you’re dropping a product into a void. So don’t blame the market, blame the entrepreneur’s judgement.

(One other thing)

One more thing I want to comment on. At the end of the article there’s this sentence: “A startup that struggles for reasons beyond the entrepreneur’s control.” This deflects blame in the wrong direction. If the entrepreneur finds themselves in a situation they can’t control it’s almost certainly because they put themselves in that position — either by borrowing too much, spending too much, rushing too fast, creating a false sense of urgency, hiring the wrong people, attacking a market that doesn’t exist, or not focusing on generating revenue early enough. Natural disasters are out of our control, bad business decisions are in your control.

(And another thing)

“It’s not just how fast you run the race that matters. It’s how fast the race is run. When it comes to startups, speed wins.” That’s just ridiculous.

BJ asks:

How do you handle disagreements? What happens when David and Jamis disagree on the best way to implement something? What happens when Ryan and Jason disagree on the best way to interact with a new feature? How do you avoid arguing for hours about the (seemingly) tiny details?

Luckily, we don’t run into extended disagreements all that often. Disagreements can certainly be a good thing from time to time, but extended ones often have a negative impact on morale. We try to treat morale as the most important limited resource we have.

But when we’re deadlocked, eventually (usually 10-15 minutes into a discussion) someone is going to propose a solution. The solution usually involves the stronger advocate taking full responsibility for the decision.

For example, if Jamis feels a lot stronger about something than David does, Jamis will “win” but he’ll also be responsible for any bugs or support related issues due to this decision. This forces the winner to think about if they really believe in their position strongly enough to deal with the possible demands on their time post launch. If they still do, they usually accept the deal. If not, the “loser” gets his way without the support strings attached.

That’s just one example. It doesn’t always work this way, but that’s been a successful model we’ve used in the past.

One thing to keep in mind is this: Make sure you’re disagreeing on point. It’s really easy for arguments and disagreements to flare up quick. Flare-ups often lead to two people talking right past each other. They stop arguing with each other and instead argue at each other. At that point the discussion is lost and someone has to rein it back in.

Got a question for us?

We’ve received over 100 “Ask 37signals” questions so far. If you have a question about design, programming, entrepreneurship, marketing, or anything related, drop us an email at svn at 37signals dot com and include “design decisions” in the subject line. Thanks.

A lot of entrepreneurs are inspired by Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook and other megacompanies. But let’s face it — these are outliers. They are exceptions. They are the rarest of rarest cases.

That’s not to say they aren’t worth paying attention to, dreaming about, and otherwise admiring, but it’s handy to have success stories that are a bit more common scale. A company doesn’t have to earn billions to be a great inspiration for budding entrepreneurs.

So, ignoring the usual suspects for now, which companies inspire you? Which companies do you respect enough to say “I love what they’re up to. We’d like to achieve their level of success.”

I’ve been looking for a modest protein drink that doesn’t taste like a protein drink. Something silky smooth, not grainy thick. Something with some legitimate flavor, not sorta flavor. Something all natural, not mostly natural.

I finally found one I like. It’s called Mix 1. All natural, 200 calories, 15 grams of protein, 2.5 grams of fat, 3 grams of fiber. 22 grams of sugar, but that’s not too bad.

I’d been buying them at a local market and at Whole Foods, but I just discovered that Amazon sells them by the case as well. With free shipping and no tax it’s an especially good deal.

So if you’re in the market to add some quick protein to your diet, check out Mix 1. It’s a nice product.

A few weeks ago we gave everyone a peek at in/out, our internal app for keeping track of who’s doing what and what everyone’s recently completed.

We mentioned that we were considering building it into Backpack. Today we’re pleased to announce that the Journal is now part of Backpack. Just log into your Backpack account and click the Journal tab. The Journal is available on all plans—from free to Max.

The Journal eliminates the need to constantly ask each other “What are you working on right now?” and “What did you do today?”

Watch a video

RSS and an API too

As part of the Journal launch, we’ve updated the Backpack API to include journal entries and status listings. We’re excited to see what people build with the journal API.

The Journal also has its own RSS feed so you can keep up to date on what people are doing without having to log into Backpack.

We hope you find the Journal useful

The Backpack Journal has become an integral part of our work day. We’re checking it all the time to see what everyone is working on and what’s been finished. We don’t have to bother each other to find out what everyone is up to. It’s a huge interruption saver (and we know how interruption is the enemy of productivity).

Special thanks to Jamis for prepping the Journal for launch and documenting the API at the last minute.

Yes! Our buds at Threadless made the cover of Inc. Magazine as “The Most Innovative Small Company in America.” We’re so happy for them!

Read the full article by Max Chafkin online.

Note: Jake and Jeffrey (the cover boys above) will be speaking at the Seed Conference on June 6th here in Chicago. There aren’t many seats left so pick up one up while you can.

The greatest.

I especially love the Bill Plympton-esque person-inside-a-person stuff.

This weekend I was in NYC speaking at the AIGA Smart/Models conference (thanks again for the invite, Liz). One of the other speakers was a designer named Douglas Riccardi. After his talk I checked out his site.

It’s one page. It lists the name of the agency at the top. Then it says “A graphic design firm” in NY. Then it lists his phone number and email address.

Then it shows his work. Not links to case studies or a portfolio page. Just pictures of his work. He doesn’t have to bullshit. He doesn’t have to give detailed descriptions of what he did, what the goal was, or display the obligatory testimonial quote from the client. It’s just the work. Here it is. It speaks for itself. This is the kind of stuff I do.

Then at the bottom of the page it says “Thank You,” lists the phone number again, and simply states “Please call us to learn more about our firm.”

It’s as effective as any agency site I’ve ever seen. More so, in fact. It’s not full of filler, full of effects, full of slick transitions, full of clicks, or full of “typical design company stuff.” Instead, it addresses the problem directly: It’s just the name, a single statement “a graphic design firm,” pictures of his work, a “thank you,” and a phone number and email address.

It’s perfect. Excellent stuff.

AfriGadget is a website dedicated to showcasing African ingenuity. A team of bloggers and readers contribute pictures, videos and stories from across the continent. Inspiring stuff.

This guy made a crude helicopter with scrap aluminum and parts from a Honda Civic, an old Toyota and from the remains of a crashed Boeing 747.

Here’s a guy who made a paraglider out of plastic bags and scrap wire.

A home made welding machine from Nairobi. Kids forced to make their own toys show off their ingenuity. In Kenya they’ve developed bio gas generator that turns methane from a manure pit into cooking gas. And this guy turns mortar shells into coffee makers.

And this one will blow you away: A homemade windmill from very spare parts. Includes a video of the creator at the TED conference.

So much from so little. Impressive.