Starting up a small business is always speculative. Despite of the better success rates, a substantial percentage of young businesses do fail. As a general rule of thumb, startups have a 50/50 chance of outlasting for five years or more. However, there are certain key factors that if followed – the success will be certainly yours.

An exhaustive post by Shaila Rao can give a fighting chance to small businesses and startups against the spiraling downward: http://www.p2w2.com/blog/index.php/top-5-reasons-why-small-businesses-fail/#comment-914

4. Poor Management                                                                                      Poor management ranks high on what not to do list of business owner. If you lack current and relevant in formation in finance, purchase, selling, production, hiring and managing employees, get help!