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> We mixed the two ingredients in our kitchen, tasted the result and it was certainly intriguing, but in reality bloody awful. Undaunted, we threw in some sugar
by hyperpallium 9y ago
> We mixed the two ingredients in our kitchen, tasted the result and it was certainly intriguing, but in reality bloody awful. Undaunted, we threw in some sugar and it got better, but it still missed something.
> We went back to the store, searching the shelves for something else, found our salvation in Cadbury’s Powdered Drinking Chocolate and added it to our formula. Hugh and I were taken by surprise. It tasted really good. Not only this, but the cream seemed to have the effect of making the drink taste stronger, like full-strength spirit. It was extraordinary.
They iterated, but not because they thought the product would taste great, but because it fitted nicely with business and marketing considerations: tax breaks and diary connotations. I guess it's serendipity that they found the combination so quickly, and would have otherwise given up after a while.
Quitters never win and winners never quit, but those who never win and never quit are idiots.
- rxhernandez 9y agoSome people only win big in the last few years of their long life. Were they idiots for not quitting?
- esrauch 9y agoIn some cases, definitely. Some people play the lottery their entire lives and win in the last few years of their long lives. They were still wrong for not quitting, even though they happened to get their pay out.
- simonh 9y agoSome people I know that play the lottery just view it as entertainment. It's not really for me, but I can see their point.
- coldtea 9y agoObviously it's not entertainment in any concrete form. It just takes 1 minute every week or so to play the lottery, and that's about it. It's wishful thinking and daydreaming more than entertainment.
- emiliobumachar 9y agoDaydreaming is a form of entertainment. They take a minute a week to play, but can take hours imagining - or discussing with others - what they'll do if they win. I wouldn't recommend it, but I can understand it.
- ZenoArrow 9y ago> "They were still wrong for not quitting, even though they happened to get their pay out." That makes no sense. When someone plays the lottery they don't put their life on hold until they win. Nobody seriously plans their life around a big lottery win, most people just play it for fun, the feeling of anticipation just before the draw. After a draw takes place and they've not won, they just go back to whatever plans they had before. Gambling addiction is more serious, but many people are casual gamblers, including those that play the lottery every week. I don't play the lottery often, but I can see for most people it's a harmless activity.
- stormbrew 9y agoThere are definitely people out there who spend large sums of money on lottery tickets or scratch cards they probably shouldn't be buying and consider it their retirement plan. Many of them have no other viable path to an actual retirement, many just don't know any better. But they do exist.
- coldtea 9y ago>That makes no sense. When someone plays the lottery they don't put their life on hold until they win. Nobody seriously plans their life around a big lottery win You'd be surprised. Especially if we expand the "lottery" to cover betting (horses, etc), gambling, and such stuff.
- rxhernandez 9y agoObviously we can find a few cases that are the exception to just about any subject above physics. I was also hoping that, on a place as entrepreneurial as hacker news, I wouldn't have to explicitly exclude big wins where your chances of winning don't substantially increase with increases in experience. Nor did I think I would have to explicitly include things that take up less than a percent of a percent of your life.
- frobozz 9y agoThose people didn't "never win" did they?
- coldtea 9y agoDepends on the opportunity cost. If they could have much better results putting that energy to another use, then, yes, simplistically we can say that they are idiots.
- jondubois 9y agoTotally worth it. They'll be able to afford that gold-plated coffin they always wanted.
- morganvachon 9y agoOften it's the journey, not the destination, that holds the most fulfillment.
- zipppy 9y agoWinning isn't strictly about money.
- duncan_bayne 9y ago> Quitters never win and winners never quit, but those who never win and never quit are idiots. That is pretty much the definition of survivorship bias, in that you never know which of those groups you fit into in advance (or possibly ever).
- diminish 9y agoAs someone once wrote: Most successful startup advice is tautology or survivorship bias.
- WalterBright 9y agoOn the other hand, the failure rate for those who never try is 100%.
- eru 9y agoI wouldn't call getting a large steady paycheck at a nine-to-five a 'failure'.
- mlevental 9y agoneither would the person you responded to; clearly they're talking about failing at a successful startup
- eru 9y agoI'm not sure. Why would people "who never try" end up at a startup, successful or otherwise? EDIT: Hmm, I guess you meant "fail at having running a successful startup?" Yeah, probably.
- bryanrasmussen 9y agoSince I've never tried swimming, I drowned.
- Retric 9y ago
- zaat 9y ago>fitted nicely with business and marketing considerations: tax breaks and diary connotations. They didn't know about the tax breaks at the time.