I love this comment, but probably for the wrong reason:
For every successful startup that has ran their bank account down to $100, maxed out their credit cards, had trouble fundraising, etc., dozens (hundreds?) more have done the same but ended up in the deadpool.
For me it highlights the insanity of our pursuit. Not only do founders struggle, experience the trough of sorrow, and often not emerge... there are often not even any indicators that things are going to turn around. The feedback you get from being $100 away from failure and $100 away from almost turning around and being huge might often be the same.
It's like fate's deliberate and cruel punishment to those who have elected the startup path, telling you that you can't quit, no matter how bleak it feels, because, well ... you don't even have a way to know if it IS bleak.
Yeah, those kinds of situational stories were much less interesting to me than the nuts and bolts of pitfalls and potholes on the way to success that Jessica and Spolsky described.
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I love this comment, but probably for the wrong reason:
For every successful startup that has ran their bank account down to $100, maxed out their credit cards, had trouble fundraising, etc., dozens (hundreds?) more have done the same but ended up in the deadpool.
For me it highlights the insanity of our pursuit. Not only do founders struggle, experience the trough of sorrow, and often not emerge... there are often not even any indicators that things are going to turn around. The feedback you get from being $100 away from failure and $100 away from almost turning around and being huge might often be the same.
It's like fate's deliberate and cruel punishment to those who have elected the startup path, telling you that you can't quit, no matter how bleak it feels, because, well ... you don't even have a way to know if it IS bleak.
It's not over til it's over.
Yeah, those kinds of situational stories were much less interesting to me than the nuts and bolts of pitfalls and potholes on the way to success that Jessica and Spolsky described.
It also illustrates how startup success is mostly random.
So increase your luck surface area, work hard - and most importantly of all time your entry and ideas just before their time.