Bit of a nonsense, I don't really get how can social media be generalized as a must for a "business startup". A good product markets itself. Of course marketing is very important but I would rather consider a mistake wasting time talking to people with short attention span on Facebook an not using this energy on building a great product.<p>This article is relevant for "iPhone app" startups but those are rarely a real business startup. People used to do projects like this as a part time hobby in past.
Is it just me, or is the "600% more likely to succeed" statement incorrect? Based on the numbers provided in the accompanying infographic, it's actually that non-Techstars startups were 600% more likely to fail, which is <i>not</i> the same, mathematically.<p>40% failure rate for regular startups -> 60% success rate
6.5% failure rate for Techstars -> 94.5% success rate<p>94.5% compared to 60% is an increase of 34.5%, or a 1.575x chance.
TL;DR:<p>Author seeks advice from consultant.<p>Consultant says they are going to fail.<p>Author ignores advice, fails, blames consultant for giving bad advice.