“Bernie Bulkin distils decades of experience into his lively analysis of causes of start-up failure, many of which resonate with me. Entrepreneurs and investors will find his discussion of strategy and behavioural economics particularly valuable… if they take the time to read, digest and practise the lessons in there.” ―Dr Hermann Hauser FRS, KBE, Amadeus Capital Partners

“Why Start-Ups Fail is enormously relevant to all involved in start-ups. These are wise words to steer you through perilous waters, identifying six main, and avoidable, causes of failure. His analysis of the skills and competences required of leaders is essential reading, alongside the focus on securing an effective focused board involving people with diverse experience. Concise, relevant and beautifully written; yet again, Bernie Bulkin has produced an accessible volume that all should read.” ―Baroness Virginia Bottomley, Chair, Board Practice, Odgers

“Bernie Bulkin reframes the venture-capital mindset with the precision of a scientist and the empathy of a mentor. Why Start-Ups Fail isn’t about postmortems; it’s about pattern recognition – how to turn the most common traps of technology, money, and ego into opportunities for growth and resilience. He shows how the start-up world’s “culture of failure” is not destiny but a design flaw. This book belongs in every accelerator, boardroom, and MBA syllabus concerned with building businesses that actually last.” ―Joel Makower, Co-Founder and Chair, Trellis Group

“If you are starting a business and put this book back on the shelf without reading it, your chances of failure just went up. Be smart – read it and act on it. There is a lifetime’s wisdom here written just for you.” ―Fred Brown, Partner, Kindred Group

“Essential reading for those passionate, energetic types driven to lead, invest in or oversee start-ups and early-stage businesses. Bernie Bulkin has distilled a lifetime of experience into a highly readable text packed with sage advice.” ―Ian Simm, Founder & CEO, Impax Asset Management Group plc

“Bernie weaves a great deal of experience into each powerful set of lessons. He analyses some really eye-opening failures, to help investors and start-ups avoid doing it again! I’m buying my whole team their own copies.” ―Cam Ross, CEO, Green Angel Ventures

“With precision and deep humanity, Bernie charts the critical areas that doom most ventures, then crucially offers practical pathways not merely to avoid them but to translate setbacks into momentum. By treating early stumbles as tuition and incremental wins as the compound interest of greatness, he delivers a guide that is as grounded as it is galvanizing. For any founder or investor intent on turning bold ideas into lasting enterprises, this book is an essential companion.” ―Ira Ehrenpreis, Founder and Managing Partner, DBL Partners

“From a founder and VC perspective, I believe Bernie Bulkin captures what most founders learn only after painful experience and what most investors never learn at all. Why Start-Ups Fail is a powerful guide for anyone determined to create real, lasting value and increase the odds of real success.” ―William Chen, Co-Founder of Billpoint, Founding Managing Partner, ClearVue Partners

“Must read for budding entrepreneurs as well as grizzled investors – with deep insights and pragmatic advice to accelerate success and make failure an exception.” ―Atul Arya, Chief Energy Strategist, S&P Global

“Bernie’s wealth of experience shines through clearly. He delivers a number of gems, including “you should spend very little of your effort on the size of the market, and a lot of it on the structure of the market”, making the book a great read for thoughtful founders and investors.” ―Patrick Sheehan, Founder and Managing Partner, ETF Partners, The Environmental Technologies Fund

“For anyone entering the start-up world, this book is a must-read foundation course – compiling decades of learnings into a very accessible and valuable guidebook. Most start-up writing focuses on the heroic success stories. Bernie, instead, critically examines what makes companies fail. Knowing what to avoid, knowing what to challenge and knowing where the failure points are will vastly improve the probability of success for companies and their investors. This is required reading for founders, executives and investors.” ―Alan Barton, Board Member of Wilbur-Ellis Holdings, Chairman of Nuritas Ltd, and Senior Advisor to Natrium Capital

“Bernie Bulkin brings the wisdom of his vast experience in highlighting the main causes for start-up failure and how to avoid them. A book every founder and venture investor needs to read.” ―Lord Barker of Battle