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To me, the lesson here is clear: trust your instincts! There are too many stories of founders who built a successful company and then let the "experts" run it

To me, the lesson here is clear: trust your instincts! There are too many stories of founders who built a successful company and then let the "experts" run it into the ground. In almost every case, the founder(s) felt like something wasn't right, but they swept their concerns aside, because they had hired "experts" and felt compelled to listen to them. The reality is that no one has more expertise in your company than you do, and more importantly (particularly in this case), no one cares as much as you do. So yes, surround yourself with experts and seek as much wisdom as you can from them, but (almost) never go against your gut to follow their advice. Your instincts are usually what got you to that point in the first place.

rudiger 14y ago
I'm reminded of AOL vs. Time Warner, Steve Case vs. Ted Turner.
ivancdg 14y ago
Funny, when I read your 3rd paragraph, that made me think of the danger of putting too much faith in doctors. Doctors get really peeved at people who research online and self-diagnose. On the other hand no-one cares about your health as much as you do, and no-one has access to as much information about what the root causes of malady could be. Although Christopher Hitchens hated the expression 'X is battling with cancer', the phrase implies a personal engagement (as opposed to delegating) which can indeed make all the difference in the world.
- urbanjunkie 14y ago
  > Doctors get really peeved at people who research online and self-diagnose Good doctors encourage patients to understand their condition. Let's not conflate that with exasperation over people who have a week old cough that they've decided is lung cancer because they've spent too much time on wrongdiagnosis.com.
  - ivancdg 14y ago
    The larger point about personal responsibility is more important than applying the metaphor to every possible case. No matter who you hire, in any context, it is up to you to make sure they do a good job with the tools available to you.
    - urbanjunkie 14y ago
      Every possible case? Your analogy was terrible. Your follow up was much better, and is what you should have said in the first place.
  - confluence 14y ago
    I'm sorry - I just couldn't resist: http://9gag.com/gag/2074385 http://9gag.com/gag/2074385 You are completely right about the "wrongdiagnosis.com" conclusion. Be aware of your health, and the general statistical chance of various diseases (heart/diabetes/alzheimers etc.). Also get a second or third opinion from other reputable doctors if you disagree. The chances of them all being wrong is very small. Those examples you hear of people going to "10 doctors who all say they're fine when they in fact have a rare disease" are, by definition, insanely rare. It's usually the flu :D.
- nnethercote 14y ago
  Here's a description I like: you know more about your own body than your doctor does, but your doctor knows more about bodies in general than you do, so you have to work together.
  - abecedarius 14y ago
    That's well said, as far as it goes, but I wouldn't leave out the point about different incentives and levels of investment in the outcome for the two parties. (The pithy, cynical versions: "First, let them get sick" (Seth Roberts) and the life/dinner principle (Dawkins and Krebs).)
mathattack 14y ago
It sounds like they trusted their instincts, took an all stock offering, and that's where it fell apart.
rehack 14y ago
I am sure, they ignored their gut feelings along the way - L&H's bad technology should have rung alarm bells. Also its not known if they met L&H founders - one should be able to smell snakes! Basically whether you pay a $5M fee or $100K fee. Your business should be your business and not somebody else's business. Also who in their right mind would agree for a 100% all stock acquisition. Looks like they were also desperate and did not trust their business completely. But still heart goes out to them. Since they clearly were the pioneers in that space, and Nuance became so popular, that even general people having tech interest heard about them, and not many heard of Dragon Systems.

rudiger 14y ago

I'm reminded of AOL vs. Time Warner, Steve Case vs. Ted Turner.

ivancdg 14y ago

Funny, when I read your 3rd paragraph, that made me think of the danger of putting too much faith in doctors. Doctors get really peeved at people who research online and self-diagnose. On the other hand no-one cares about your health as much as you do, and no-one has access to as much information about what the root causes of malady could be. Although Christopher Hitchens hated the expression 'X is battling with cancer', the phrase implies a personal engagement (as opposed to delegating) which can indeed make all the difference in the world.

urbanjunkie 14y ago
> Doctors get really peeved at people who research online and self-diagnose Good doctors encourage patients to understand their condition. Let's not conflate that with exasperation over people who have a week old cough that they've decided is lung cancer because they've spent too much time on wrongdiagnosis.com.
- ivancdg 14y ago
  The larger point about personal responsibility is more important than applying the metaphor to every possible case. No matter who you hire, in any context, it is up to you to make sure they do a good job with the tools available to you.
  - urbanjunkie 14y ago
    Every possible case? Your analogy was terrible. Your follow up was much better, and is what you should have said in the first place.
- confluence 14y ago
  I'm sorry - I just couldn't resist: http://9gag.com/gag/2074385 http://9gag.com/gag/2074385 You are completely right about the "wrongdiagnosis.com" conclusion. Be aware of your health, and the general statistical chance of various diseases (heart/diabetes/alzheimers etc.). Also get a second or third opinion from other reputable doctors if you disagree. The chances of them all being wrong is very small. Those examples you hear of people going to "10 doctors who all say they're fine when they in fact have a rare disease" are, by definition, insanely rare. It's usually the flu :D.
nnethercote 14y ago
Here's a description I like: you know more about your own body than your doctor does, but your doctor knows more about bodies in general than you do, so you have to work together.
- abecedarius 14y ago
  That's well said, as far as it goes, but I wouldn't leave out the point about different incentives and levels of investment in the outcome for the two parties. (The pithy, cynical versions: "First, let them get sick" (Seth Roberts) and the life/dinner principle (Dawkins and Krebs).)

mathattack 14y ago

It sounds like they trusted their instincts, took an all stock offering, and that's where it fell apart.

rehack 14y ago

I am sure, they ignored their gut feelings along the way - L&H's bad technology should have rung alarm bells. Also its not known if they met L&H founders - one should be able to smell snakes! Basically whether you pay a $5M fee or $100K fee. Your business should be your business and not somebody else's business. Also who in their right mind would agree for a 100% all stock acquisition. Looks like they were also desperate and did not trust their business completely. But still heart goes out to them. Since they clearly were the pioneers in that space, and Nuance became so popular, that even general people having tech interest heard about them, and not many heard of Dragon Systems.