The most common failure mode I see in student startups isn’t a bad idea. It’s a founder who can build but can’t run, or a founder who can sell but can’t hire.
After coaching 100+ companies at Duke, the pattern is clear: the founders who succeed fastest are the ones who get operational support early — whether a co-founder, an advisor, or just a framework that forces them to think like an operator.
Here’s what I tell every founder in my courses…