8 common mistakes startup founders make, according to former executives at Facebook and Foursquare

Oceans Venture Group

Startup founders get gobs of cash, but little guidance.
Three former executives with experience working at companies like Facebook, Google, Apple, and Foursquare are providing a mentorship program that's tailored to the startup set, called Oceans.
Here, they break down the most common mistakes they see founders making.

In the past few years, startups have received an unprecedented influx of capital.

While entrepreneurs might have an easier time getting funding, they're often confronted by problems that aren't solved by money. Indeed, so much interest from investors can actually cause more problems.

One new program called Oceans is hoping to guide startup founders in building successful companies. Founded by three tech veterans, who between them have experience working early on at companies like Facebook, Google, Apple, and Foursquare, Oceans is attempting to help entrepreneurs steer clear of common mistakes.

In an interview with Business Insider, Ocean co-founders Josh Rahn and Steven Rosenblatt outlined the errors that they see entrepreneurs making most often.

Here's the top eight mistakes they said they see the most:

They're chasing high valuations instead of building real businesses.

"This is a really slippery slope," said Josh Rahn, a former group agency lead at Facebook. Rahn said that most of the founders he speaks with are focused on solving funding problems, rather than fixing the flaws within their companies.

They try to do too many things at once.

While being an entrepreneur can often require dabbling in many different roles, Rahn said that founders should always play to their strengths. "It's not about being mediocre at three things, it's about gaining expertise in really individual areas of focus," said Rahn. "When you do that and you scale that, you can conquer just about anything."

They hire the wrong people.

Rahn said that entrepreneurs should never underestimate the importance of putting the right person in the right role. Rahn, who said he's hired close to three hundred people in his former position at Facebook, said that bringing mediocre people onboard can destroy a product, even if that product is inherently great. However, said Rahn, this works the other way, as well: "The best people on the best teams can still make a mediocre product spectacular."

See the rest of the story at Business Insider