
Embrace your startup failure – the faster you fail, the better - jlees
http://uk.techcrunch.com/2009/10/07/embrace-your-startup-failure-the-faster-you-fail-the-better/
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edw519
_We went to Seedcamp, and spent three grueling days analysing our product._

Seems like we're in some kind of time warp here. I understand that with modern
technology, things can happen faster, sometimes much faster. But how does
spending 3 days determining that a business is not viable constitute a
failure?

I really hate the whole "failure is OK" meme. Sure, we all understand that not
everything goes perfectly all the time. But we also have those "Is this really
worth it?" moments. For some of us, this happens all the time - the harder the
project, the more often if happens. Sometimes all that separates _real
success_ from _real failure_ is pushing through these moments, determined not
to allow speed bumps to stop you.

I'm not suggesting that we will never fail or that we should never give up;
sometimes that _does_ make sense. I am suggesting that success is elusive
until we adopt a personal policy of "failure is not an option".

OP was not a failure and not an example of this.

Failure is not OK.

~~~
messel
Failure is not an option, as in "Never give up, never surrender?"
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bI5hi4c4y9k>

~~~
edw519
I'm at work, so I can't access your link. I don't know what you were getting
at.

I do know that if you think that failure is an option, the probability that
you use that option increases dramatically. I'm not trying to use some new age
self-help B.S. (well maybe just a little), I'm just suggesting that "state of
mind" is critical when taking on difficult projects. Almost everyone I know
who has accomplished anything big (including myself) had many opportunities to
quit. Failure would have been easy. In fact, for a lot of software projects,
there are many times when the whole thing looks hopeless, often right before a
great demo or big sale.

I didn't care for OP's easy embrace of "failure" and tried to describe why. I
hope that's what came across.

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marknutter
It takes a lot of effort to admit an idea you get really charged up about
doesn't have any viability in the marketplace. Interesting article; failing is
a good thing most of the time.

~~~
elblanco
We are dealing with the aftermath of this in my company right now. Our former
CTO, though a brilliant researcher, was absolutely not in touch with the needs
of our clients. He treated the business as an extension of his previous R&D
work and rather than focusing on commercializing the research and with a focus
on customer requirements...which _can_ be boring, like interfacing with large
legacy data sources, he focused on the next cool and unproven researchy thing.

He's been gone for 6 months and we are _still_ digging ourselves out of the
crater he tossed us into.

Amazingly, the next release of our software post-CTO, which, now that the
reigns were off, _was_ designed to address very outstanding customer
requirements, resulted in our first break-even quarter and our first cash flow
positive month in the company's history. But we should have been at that point
a year and a half ago.

Lesson to self: sometimes viability comes not from a cool idea, but from how
that idea is packaged.

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ALee
As Nietzsche said, "...if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into
you."

The fundamental tension with all entrepreneurs is the willingness to go to the
brink of the abyss for your idea, but also have the wherewithal to pivot or
pull back. The choice between zombie company (with no high market potential)
and starting another idea is tough, There are some ways to make the decision,
but a lot of what makes you pull back or dive in seems determined by luck.

------
raquo
Critical reasoning is not failure.

------
messel
Is it possible that Sam Collins failed at failure? What if he and his team
could have re-purposed their modular utilities/design for HTML5 support?
There's still a great need for very high level utilities to aid domain experts
in building specialized web services.

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Murkin
And what if they did go on, changing their product and target audience while
developing ?

Like many others, who started with an exciting idea but ended up with (a
completely different yet) exciting product.

~~~
jlees
The thing is that these guys are already part of a company with a different
product and revenue stream. This was kind of a 'what happens if we change our
product and audience' exercise, and fortunately, instead of spending months
wasting money to find out it wouldn't fly, they spent a few days. I guess if
they weren't already doing other stuff, soldiering on and seeing what happened
would be an option - provided you have some way of paying your rent while
doing so.

~~~
messel
Ohhh, that sheds more light on the quick nix. Thanks jlees.

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scotty79
fail early, fail often ;-)

"[x] early, [x] often" is nice rule. Why not apply it to failure?

~~~
raquo
Because failure is not the purpose?

