I don’t want to be Johnny Raincloud here, but the truth is startups fail. A lot. Of course, this isn’t news. You knew this before you said “screw it, let’s do it”. And you’ve probably read an article or five on why they fail (i.e. here, here and here). Hell, there’s even a site dedicated to it.

Inevitably, you’ll see reasons like “ahead of it’s time, no market, not enough demand, ran out of cash, product mis-timed, no investor interest, couldn’t secure funding, too early”, and on and on.

Interesting enough, you won’t see the most fundamental reason, and the one at the core of many of those listed above—not getting people to care.

In large part, the startups that fail, failed to get people—both customers and investors—to care about their product as much as they did.

It’s as simple as that. They weren’t able to break through the noise and seemingly infinite choices of how to spend our time and money.

So how do you get people to care? Don’t just delight them, make them fall in love.

Use your brand to create an emotional connection. Understand who your audience is and why your product should matter to them. Then convey your “why” using your unique voice. Lastly, wrap it all up in an incredible experience that knocks their socks (and shoes, and shirt) off.

Do this, and you’ll build an army of believers and advocates strong enough to ensure your startup doesn’t become one of the walking dead.