At the Future of Web Apps conference, held September 13-14 in San Francisco, Odeo’s CEO Evan Williams revealed how his startup podcasting company screwed up.

Last year Williams blogged his thoughts about tech startup companies, publishing his Ten Rules for Web Startups. But according to Williams, he didn’t follow his own rules, letting his company become unfocused and bloated.

“I was working on Odeo at the time I wrote that,” admits Williams, “and I was ignoring most of those rules.”

Williams went on to list the company’s top five screw-ups.

Odeo’s Top Five Screw-ups:

1. Trying to build too much “Odeo set out to be a podcasting company, but had no focus beyond that.”
2. Not building for people like ourselves Williams doesn’t podcast himself and, as a result, the company created web-based recording tools that were too simplistic.
3. Not adjusting fast enough The company thought its strategy would win out over the competition, primarily Apple, in the long term. It turns out long term is not soon enough for a startup if you’re trying to get a foothold.
4. Raising too much money too early After Williams tied up over a million in angel funding, a term sheet came through from Charles River Ventures at three times the angel round valuation. They took the money.
5. Not listening to your gut “When you’ve got a bunch of money and you’ve hired a lot of people and you’e talking to your board and you’re talking to reporters, your gut can get drowned out.”

Despite the company’s screw-ups, Odeo has still managed to become one of the most popular podcasting sites, and one of the more popular sites on the Web.

via GigaOM