

Entrepreneurship is hard but you can’t die - cwan
http://steveblank.com/2012/09/04/entrepreneurship-is-hard-but-you-cant-die/

======
jedc
I served in the US Navy for six years, spending three of those as a submarine
officer. Even though I've never seen a shot fired, I've been in some hairy
situations.

Steve's message is the same thing that I took from my experiences, and why my
(non-Navy) colleagues always cite me as being "calm in the center of a storm".
No matter how crazy or insane things get at work, I know there's no chance
that if I screw up that 100+ people would die. It absolutely puts perspective
on problems. :)

~~~
mej10
Now the question is: how do you get this trait without being put in such dire
situations?

~~~
colomon
Not on the same scale, but I've found having screwed up badly in the past
helps me keep my calm in the present. My favorite example: about twenty years
ago I accidentally played a note during a grand pause (the entire orchestra
silent) in the first movement of Beethoven's Fifth. In concert, at Hill
Auditorium. That's one of the worst musical mistakes possible, in the one
piece of classical music almost everyone knows, in what is almost certainly
the nicest concert hall I will ever get to play in.

Ever since then when getting ready for a concert where I'm not the soloist, I
can just tell myself "What can I possibly do wrong that would be worse than
that?" and the tension goes away.

~~~
EzGraphs
Music performance is an interesting analogy. It is simply impossible to learn
music without making mistakes. One of the things that separates amateurs from
pros is the ability to recover from a mistake, failure or disruption.
Regardless of how great things sound in a practice room, the goal is the
performance.

Its funny, failure in front of an audience is rarely fatal, but a huge fear
for many.

------
j_s
Is this in response to this comment
(<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4471765>):

    
    
      A start-up changes a person in the same way a war does -
      trauma, triumph, battle, and blood.
    

on the 'I did the scariest thing I can imagine: I resigned' thread?

(<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4471391>)

~~~
Androsynth
I figured it was to the parent of the comment you linked to: _you will be the
wrecked shell of the person you once were_

------
rglover
Really enjoyed this. I'm coming up on the one year mark for my design business
and I've been stressed out about time, money, and everything in between. I've
always told myself that nothing truly horrible can happen, but I relapse from
time to time.

This, however, is an excellent way to ground yourself. Even though I've
(fortunately) never had to be in the environment described here, this anecdote
makes you appreciate what you have and where you are.

~~~
harscoat
Talking of Steve Blank, "get out of the office" anecdote. After studying
philosophy & ancient greek, I wanted to know what real life was so I joined
the Paris firefighter Brigade for a 5 years contract. One evening later on,
working on my 1st startup, things were tough, a Friday night after dinner with
my cofounders I wanted to go back to work. When putting the key in our office
door, I looked at my hands and suddenly realized I had them both… and then
that I had both of my arms, my legs and my brains were in my skull, (it's not
necessarily that way, like I did see brains out of a skull (that's not what
shocked me btw, but that strange little pinky cube 10 meters away on that
street as we were going back to the truck). That was enough for me that night.
Was I an entrepreneur suffering, struggling, risking my relationship and all
my savings? (with that startup I eventually lost it all). No I was the lucky
one. I did not open that door, turned around and went for a walk instead. I
was alive. Hey! I still am :)

// In memory of four of my firestation colleagues, two, motorbike accidents
(after 72 hours duty), one (a chief): heart attack 9 month after retirement,
one dead in operation, rescuing the corpse of a missing speleodiver.
[http://www.plongeesout.com/portraits/portrait/maignan%20nico...](http://www.plongeesout.com/portraits/portrait/maignan%20nicolas%20cv.htm)
he was 27 and the coolest, nicest guy you can think of.//

------
BrainScraps
This is a nice compliment for Brad Feld's recent post about the need for
Boulder, CO to welcome Veteran entrepreneurs.

[http://www.feld.com/wp/archives/2012/08/a-class-of-
entrepren...](http://www.feld.com/wp/archives/2012/08/a-class-of-
entrepreneurs-that-we-need.html)

------
saurik
I'm not certain which I would feel worse about: making a mistake that kills me
(as in, dead), or making a mistake that causes someone else economic ruin
(unable to send children to a good education, for example).

It is that latter situation that keeps me awake at nights being an
entrepreneur: that other people are relying on me... that in some way, I am
responsible for them and their families... I often ask "am I worthy of this?".

~~~
munin
hey don't worry, in the USA, causing someone else economic ruin can also kill
them, by depriving them / their family of health insurance! hooray!

~~~
philwelch
Please don't post snarky political pot-shots like this.

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microtherion
I'm all in favor of perspective, and against the misuse of military metaphors,
but as a matter of fact, people CAN and DO die of entrepreneurship, as in this
case, where I think it was widely suspected that entrepreneurship was a major
contributing cause:

[http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/14/technology/diaspora_cofounde...](http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/14/technology/diaspora_cofounder_died/index.htm)

~~~
moocow01
Im not going to comment or speculate on that individual situation but suicide
is usually caused by a pattern of unhealthy cognition that can be changed. If
an entreprenuer is considering suicide I would strongly advise them to tackle
their depression and anxiety directly through professional therapy rather than
dropping entreprenuership with the assumption it will cure their depression.
In other words entreprenuership is not the direct cause of depression although
it may somewhat exacerbate a person's depression who is more susceptible to it
(just like any other lifestyle situation could).

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callmeed
I have a client (we build websites for photographers) who went from being a
war photographer serving around the world (including Africa and the former
Yugoslavia) to being a wedding photographer.

I told him how I didn't like photographing weddings because it was too
stressful and tiring. He laughed and said "no one is going to shoot you,
though"

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coltr
Excellent post. From another point of view: we're all going to die eventually,
nothing is scarier than that (excluding torture, but you get the idea).
Compared to death, what is there to be afraid of in life?

------
pyre
I'm sure that you _can_ die if you push yourself too hard and don't take care
of your body. It's probably not as risky as flying into a war zone, but it's a
risk nonetheless.

~~~
mehulkar
The difference is that in one you're pulling the metaphorical trigger on
yourself and in the other someone else is.

~~~
stickfigure
Some forms of death may be more romantic than others, but you're still dead.

------
juanre
Tangential: a great source of perspective, humility and historical insight is
E. B. Sledge's first hand account of the WWII battles at Okinawa and Peleliu.
With The Old Breed, [http://www.amazon.com/With-Old-Breed-Peleliu-
Okinawa/dp/0891...](http://www.amazon.com/With-Old-Breed-Peleliu-
Okinawa/dp/0891419063)

------
larrys
"Entrepreneurship is hard but you can’t die."

I liked this post by Steve. However one thing to keep in mind is that people
can suffer greatly _in their mind_ as a result of their wrong actions,
failures and the consequences of their mistakes. For many many years. While
the current culture in SV (and on HN) celebrates success but also attaboy's
some of the failures there is an entire other world out there (spouses,
children, parents) that create pressure on stress on and individual that fails
and only really care about success.

------
michaelochurch
This is going to sound dramatic, but there are different dangers to the career
game. War is obviously a lot scarier (and I literally have no idea how scary)
but the kinds of fear are different.

When you're 18 and single, death doesn't scare you much because you don't have
a spouse and kids. No one's being let down in that way. It will be rough for
your parents, but teenagers usually aren't thinking about that, because we're
programmed (either by genetics or culture; not sure which) to be a bit selfish
at that age.

The effects of the career game (not just one business) are, on the other hand,
deeply generational once you have kids and the die is cast. If you fuck it up,
your kids won't have the connections and resources they need to thrive and
they end up as mid-grade meat for society to munch on. This means they will
have worse careers, and the effect propagate. The poor know what the stakes
are, and the rich are terrified of being the one to drop the ball.

Dying at 18 when single means you don't have any kids. That's a lot less
scarier to me than having kids and a mediocre career and having it affect
them. That said, what would keep me from a war is not the fear of death, but
the fear of injury, especially the psychiatric kind.

------
amastilovic
So, somebody was flying a war plane in Vietnam so that you could sleep safe
and sound in California?

~~~
run4yourlives
No, not really. Someone was _prepared to fly_ a war plane _wherever the hell
most people figured they should_ in order to sleep safe and sound in
California.

The honour of the professional soldier in a modern western democracy is that
they don't pick and choose the wars they fight in, they trust the judgement of
the rest of us to figure that out. A mercenary picks the people he shoots at.

This is why it is so incredibly important to not only choose the wars we fight
in - and the governments that start them - very carefully, but to ensure that
our servicemen and women are respected appropriately.

There may come a time when a particular war is essential for our survival. We
better have the people and skills to win it.

~~~
vacri
I find this mysticism around the US military to be puzzling. I mean really,
_"The honour of the professional soldier in a modern western democracy is that
they don't pick and choose the wars they fight in"_? As opposed to every other
soldier ever? And when it's a volunteer military and you sign up after a war
is declared, that's _choosing_ to fight that war.

~~~
run4yourlives
I'm not American, so I have no idea about whatever "mysticism" you are talking
about.

All soldiers should be honoured for the fact that they volunteer for very
dangerous activities, usually will little understanding of when and where
those activities will be.

Your point regarding post-war sign ups is valid, but like I said, if you want
to fight wars you can just join blackwater et al. If you want to serve your
country you can join the nation's armed forces. There is an element in public
service in the soldier that should be commended.

