

How to fail... gloriously - dabent
http://entrepreneur.venturebeat.com/2009/12/11/how-to-fail…-gloriously/

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fnid
You can see the full talk here:
[http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?author=3...](http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?author=327)

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8plot
In which video does he explain how to tell the difference between a brilliant
startup founder and a crazy person?

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GavinB
You cross the brilliance threshold when you can get others to buy into your
crazy version of reality.

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gridspy
So an entrepreneur stops being crazy the moment a co-founder or investor shows
up?

Get me one of those!

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amackera
An entrepreneur stops being crazy the moment somebody pays money for their
product.

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forensic
Have you never heard of Scientology?

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dennykmiu
Having wasted $65M of VC money and failed spectacularly on my first startup
because I managed to execute flawlessly on a flawed business plan, I can
completely related to this video. Time is different now. What I have learned
from my second and successful startup is that entrepreneurs need to defy
Silicon Valley VC myths. Instead of innovating, we need to "nanovate". Instead
of vision, we need to have peripheral vision. Instead of thinking outside of
the box, we need to think inside the box. Instead of supersizing our business
with VC money, we need to sacrifice growth by making sure that our early-
adopter customers are extremely happy. VC's always want us to aim high, but
for bootstrapping entrepreneurs, it is best to shot low. Focus on our current
customer base and make sure everyone is happy. The cost of acquiring a new
customer is extremely high in a down market. A perfect defense is our only
offense. We must ignore our competitors and focus exclusively on our existing
customers. Don't look for the knee of the hockey stick. Instead, wait for the
pivot that would get us onto a different game. No sailboat ever won a contest
by staying in the dry dock. Got to stay in the game before you know what the
real game is.

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CoryOndrejka
Chip Morningstar wrote a nice piece about this idea a few years ago:
[http://habitatchronicles.com/2006/12/smart-people-can-
ration...](http://habitatchronicles.com/2006/12/smart-people-can-rationalize-
anything/)

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richardburton
[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0976470705?ie=UTF8&tag=...](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0976470705?ie=UTF8&tag=lessolearn01-20&link_code=as3&camp=211189&creative=373489&creativeASIN=0976470705)

Takes pg's motto: "Built something people want." and expands on it a fair bit.
This seems to be a great way to succeed ... gloriously.

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mbrubeck
Eric Ries also did a good blog post earlier this year based on the same
experience:

[http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/2009/01/achieving-
failu...](http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/2009/01/achieving-failure.html)

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ntoper
If I follow your logic Madoff was a brillant startup founder? I.e. he
convinced ppl to give him money :)

