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Woah, cowboy. > if a hundred people follow their dreams and fail and ruin their lives, PG never hears about it Ruin their lives? Hundreds of people fail in f

Woah, cowboy. > if a hundred people follow their dreams and fail and ruin their lives, PG never hears about it Ruin their lives? Hundreds of people fail in front of pg all the time. As an entrepreneur you fail in little ways constantly, and in big ways repeatedly. But that's ok. Failing is how we learn. Can you think of anyone who ruined their life by failing at a startup?

jacquesm 15y ago
> Can you think of anyone who ruined their life by failing at a startup? Yes, I can. Lots of people, actually. But that's fine, I also know plenty of people that succeeded. Failing at a start-up can do a lot more to you than just costing you some money and some time. It can wreck your relationship with your significant other, your children, your family, your friends and so on. It can cost you more than you could afford. It can put you in debt for a long time to come. Whether or not this happens is related to how hard you're trying and at what point you throw in the towel. Fail fast is not just a way to tell people to iterate, it is also a way to remind you that if you fail you should fail in such a way that you don't end up losing more than you can afford.
- paulsutter 15y ago
  All of those things happened to me, but my life hasn't been ruined. Not even a little. It was after my greatest failure that I finally learned to be happy. It wasn't easy, but it was important. The lone exception from your list is family. Failing in a startup cannot wreck your relationships. Only you can wreck relationships. Turning it around, when I think of all the people I know who have gone through the problems you mention, few did so as a result of starting a company. In fact your list seems well within the bounds of normal life. I'd love to hear an example of a person whose life was really ruined by a failed attempt to start a company.

jacquesm 15y ago

> Can you think of anyone who ruined their life by failing at a startup? Yes, I can. Lots of people, actually. But that's fine, I also know plenty of people that succeeded. Failing at a start-up can do a lot more to you than just costing you some money and some time. It can wreck your relationship with your significant other, your children, your family, your friends and so on. It can cost you more than you could afford. It can put you in debt for a long time to come. Whether or not this happens is related to how hard you're trying and at what point you throw in the towel. Fail fast is not just a way to tell people to iterate, it is also a way to remind you that if you fail you should fail in such a way that you don't end up losing more than you can afford.

paulsutter 15y ago
All of those things happened to me, but my life hasn't been ruined. Not even a little. It was after my greatest failure that I finally learned to be happy. It wasn't easy, but it was important. The lone exception from your list is family. Failing in a startup cannot wreck your relationships. Only you can wreck relationships. Turning it around, when I think of all the people I know who have gone through the problems you mention, few did so as a result of starting a company. In fact your list seems well within the bounds of normal life. I'd love to hear an example of a person whose life was really ruined by a failed attempt to start a company.