I have discovered that the only real way to learn is to make mistakes. You can read about mistakes in a book, but until you actually make them and experience th

I have discovered that the only real way to learn is to make mistakes. You can read about mistakes in a book, but until you actually make them and experience the consequences, you haven't really learned. Once you make the mistake, you will try to avoid the pain it caused by doing something different the next time. This applies not just to startups, but to pretty much everything. Case in point - my first startup failed as well. We tried to do things the "right way," but we still made tons of mistakes. But we learned, and at the very least my second startup has gone significantly further than the first because I have avoided some of the mistakes I made the first time around. For example, I picked a cofounder who had skills that I didn't have on the founding team the first time around. Those skills have allowed us to succeed where we failed before.