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Having a solid product is important, but very far from the only important thing. That's why you see some bad products achieve success and some good products fai

Having a solid product is important, but very far from the only important thing. That's why you see some bad products achieve success and some good products fail. There are a whole lot of other, equally important, factors such as timing, running a solid business, marketing, etc. But one that people tend to discount that is just as important is just plain luck. Having a great product improves your odds but is no guarantee of success. It just gets you in the game. Literally everyone I know that has achieved success has a string of failed attempts behind them before they finally hit. The real key to success is simple: you try again after each failure, applying lessons learned, until the dice come up good for you.

anthonyot 1y ago
Totally agree on the luck factor, it's humbling how much of it comes down to timing and being in the right place. The persistence part is what got me thinking about this though. Like, if most of us are going to fail multiple times anyway, why not at least fail with someone who's been through it before? The pattern I keep seeing is founders who are incredible builders but treat each launch like their first time (because it usually is). Seems like there's got to be a better way than just grinding through the same mistakes everyone else made and rolling the dice??
- JohnFen 1y ago
  > Seems like there's got to be a better way than just grinding through the same mistakes everyone else made and rolling the dice?? There is! What I recommend is, to use a term I hate, networking. That is, get to know, on a social basis, other people who have experience starting and running businesses (not just businesses that are like yours, either). You'll hear war stories. Pay attention to them and learn their lessons vicariously. Also, read books and articles that analyze business failures. That's far more valuable than reading about business successes. The odds of you replicating the successful path of someone else's business are much lower than the odds of you replicating someone else's mistakes. "Make your own mistakes, not somebody else's." Be an optimist, but also be honest about the reality that even under the most ideal circumstances, there's a significant chance that your venture will fail and plan accordingly. Hope for the best, plan for the worst and all that. I do think the key to success is resiliency. The people who win aren't the ones who never fail, they're the ones who get back up and try something else.

anthonyot 1y ago

Totally agree on the luck factor, it's humbling how much of it comes down to timing and being in the right place. The persistence part is what got me thinking about this though. Like, if most of us are going to fail multiple times anyway, why not at least fail with someone who's been through it before? The pattern I keep seeing is founders who are incredible builders but treat each launch like their first time (because it usually is). Seems like there's got to be a better way than just grinding through the same mistakes everyone else made and rolling the dice??

JohnFen 1y ago
> Seems like there's got to be a better way than just grinding through the same mistakes everyone else made and rolling the dice?? There is! What I recommend is, to use a term I hate, networking. That is, get to know, on a social basis, other people who have experience starting and running businesses (not just businesses that are like yours, either). You'll hear war stories. Pay attention to them and learn their lessons vicariously. Also, read books and articles that analyze business failures. That's far more valuable than reading about business successes. The odds of you replicating the successful path of someone else's business are much lower than the odds of you replicating someone else's mistakes. "Make your own mistakes, not somebody else's." Be an optimist, but also be honest about the reality that even under the most ideal circumstances, there's a significant chance that your venture will fail and plan accordingly. Hope for the best, plan for the worst and all that. I do think the key to success is resiliency. The people who win aren't the ones who never fail, they're the ones who get back up and try something else.