Chris Dixon breaks out a series of typical startup risks and offers some advice:
At the early stage, the main way to mitigate these risks is to recruit great people as cofounders or early employees. You shouldn't recruit people that will give you a high likelihood of reducing these risks. You should recruit people that give you an unfair advantage. You should try to win the game before it starts.
I'm not convinced about Chris's approach to call these risks "founder risks", though. They are business risks. A founder is not their company - otherwise, when the company dies the founder would too. Chris further states:
The idea that founders take on "risk" is a misleading generalization. It is far more informative to separate the specific types of risks that founders assume (...)
I agree with these points, but even more useful is to break down the risks into specific risks (rather than just types of risk) - and, the most important step perhaps, to figure out ways to actively reduce those risks.
