4 ms·

Harsh. I wonder if having a catastrophic start-up experience is practically a rite of passage for the serious entrepreneur. Obviously some people hit it big f

by swombat 16y ago

Harsh. I wonder if having a catastrophic start-up experience is practically a rite of passage for the serious entrepreneur. Obviously some people hit it big first time, but your very first business is obviously the one that's most likely to fail catastrophically, and if you can take that kind of blow (and it is a very big blow) and keep going, it's probably a predictor of success. Thoughts?

mcantor 16y ago
I wonder if having a catastrophic start-up experience is practically a rite of passage for the serious entrepreneur. I'm sure there are many serious entrepreneurs out there who did not need to lose their spouses to see that they were working too much!
- jacquesm 16y ago
  And if one of the others reads this and changes course it was worth writing.
  - cookiecaper 16y ago
    It was interesting that your summary at the end of your article didn't make a mention of the personal impact. Why didn't that stand out?
    - jacquesm 16y ago
      Because I don't feel like putting my private life out for the world to dig around in. It's painful enough as it is to dig through this old stuff and to try to abstract out the lessons learned in such a way that someone might get some mileage out of it. As for the private aspect, what happened is that we completely lost focus on what was important in life and what was not (or at least, I did) and that I allowed myself to be used in a way that was not healthy. The fights about money, the talks they would differ so much from one person to the next that I don't think that it would contribute much to the story. I'm still in contact with the woman I was with back then, she has since found someone else to live with and has a really nice kid so at least I know that she landed on her feet. She was/is a good person that stood by me until she couldn't take it any more and I really don't blame her. After I quit the company we tried to get back together again but it never felt like it was before and it fizzled out. The carrot was being held about a week to a month ahead of where we were all the time so we really believed that we'd be out of trouble shortly. And I think that 'Fred' believed that too, he was no longer objective about any of this. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
donaq 16y ago
It's probably not so much a predictor as it is one of many prerequisites.
jeromec 16y ago
I wonder if having a catastrophic start-up experience is practically a rite of passage for the serious entrepreneur. Yes, but one in which bodily harm is also on the table? I've read a lot of entrepreneurial tales, but this one puts "sacrifice" and "earning your stripes" at a whole new level.
_delirium 16y ago
A lot of the successful companies I can think of were actually their founders' first-ever business attempt: Apple, Google, Microsoft, Oracle, and Yahoo, to pick some of the bigger ones. Of course, some luck was probably involved there that they managed to avoid a negative experience.
- nitrogen 16y ago
  Microsoft was preceded by Traf-O-Data.

by swombat 16y ago

mcantor 16y ago

I wonder if having a catastrophic start-up experience is practically a rite of passage for the serious entrepreneur. I'm sure there are many serious entrepreneurs out there who did not need to lose their spouses to see that they were working too much!

jacquesm 16y ago
And if one of the others reads this and changes course it was worth writing.
- cookiecaper 16y ago
  It was interesting that your summary at the end of your article didn't make a mention of the personal impact. Why didn't that stand out?
  - jacquesm 16y ago
    Because I don't feel like putting my private life out for the world to dig around in. It's painful enough as it is to dig through this old stuff and to try to abstract out the lessons learned in such a way that someone might get some mileage out of it. As for the private aspect, what happened is that we completely lost focus on what was important in life and what was not (or at least, I did) and that I allowed myself to be used in a way that was not healthy. The fights about money, the talks they would differ so much from one person to the next that I don't think that it would contribute much to the story. I'm still in contact with the woman I was with back then, she has since found someone else to live with and has a really nice kid so at least I know that she landed on her feet. She was/is a good person that stood by me until she couldn't take it any more and I really don't blame her. After I quit the company we tried to get back together again but it never felt like it was before and it fizzled out. The carrot was being held about a week to a month ahead of where we were all the time so we really believed that we'd be out of trouble shortly. And I think that 'Fred' believed that too, he was no longer objective about any of this. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

donaq 16y ago

It's probably not so much a predictor as it is one of many prerequisites.

jeromec 16y ago

I wonder if having a catastrophic start-up experience is practically a rite of passage for the serious entrepreneur. Yes, but one in which bodily harm is also on the table? I've read a lot of entrepreneurial tales, but this one puts "sacrifice" and "earning your stripes" at a whole new level.

_delirium 16y ago

A lot of the successful companies I can think of were actually their founders' first-ever business attempt: Apple, Google, Microsoft, Oracle, and Yahoo, to pick some of the bigger ones. Of course, some luck was probably involved there that they managed to avoid a negative experience.

nitrogen 16y ago
Microsoft was preceded by Traf-O-Data.