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This seems overly reductive. Why would you want to take business advice from people who weren't able to build a sustainable business. I get that starting a busi

This seems overly reductive. Why would you want to take business advice from people who weren't able to build a sustainable business. I get that starting a business is fraught with risk and there are factors outside your control that can impact, but the reasoning on this seems to basically boil down to. "There is nothing you can do to be successful and everything is at the arbitrary whims of fate." Or to put it about another aspect "Career advice plagued by survivorship bias." That souns equally stupid.

jongjong 3y ago
If you're successful then you can benefit from advice of other successful people because you live on an easier monetary playing field where just about any piece of advice you are given becomes self-fulfilling because of the amounts of capital involved. Also, if some rich person gives you advice and you follow it, they (and their friends) will be more likely to invest in your company because they agree and believe in their own advice and they don't want to see your startup fail because of them. There is ego at play. If you're not successful (which is almost everyone) then you should not listen to advice from successful people because it doesn't actually work in your situation. Instead, you should listen to people who failed and understand why they failed. They'll tell you useful things like "find a niche where you can sell your product 100% word of mouth" because they understand how search engines and social media works against you when you don't have capital or influential social connections. And these failed entrepreneurs probably know one person who was able to launch a small lifestyle business like that. This is realistic and achievable and minimizes the role of luck.