Similar situation: I lost money because I quit my job and lived off of investments. I'd say that most "rules" about starting a business are hot air, because mo

Similar situation: I lost money because I quit my job and lived off of investments. I'd say that most "rules" about starting a business are hot air, because most businesses fail. But: > Lesson #9: A founder's #1 job is sales. This is really the critical lesson. Building a business in a vacuum never works. Even if you have to do hardcore R&D and won't have a working product for awhile, working without some kind of interaction and input from customers is just a dead-end.