[Kurimo]

Another one to add in is "Buzzword Chasing."

I've been a part of a startup where we were growing our core product at a reasonable rate and having success. But some of our customers kept throwing certain buzzwords at us, "Millennials" being the most oft repeated one. As a result, our founder pivoted hard to a new product targeting that buzzword. The consequences have not been ideal. Another buzzword that is currently threatening to derail us again is "bots."

Buzzwords or trends are something big companies can afford to waste thousands or even millions of dollars chasing aimlessly (often for no real return). A startup cannot. Startups need to have a clear vision of a single product and pursue it relentlessly until they are in the black.

When our customers throw buzzwords at us they aren't expressing a need. Reacting to it as such is often self destructive.