The hardest problems in building an automation company are rarely the technical ones. A team that can design a working robot or a dependable automated line has already cleared the bar most outsiders assume is the whole challenge.
What tends to go unbuilt is the business scaffolding around the technology, and that is where a surprising number of capable companies stall.
The failure data backs this up. When researchers catalog the most common reasons startups fail, the entries at the top are not engineering problems but commercial ones: no real market need, followed by running out of money. [Read more…] about Great Robots, Failed Companies: The Business Foundations Automation Startups Skip