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Desperation does not drive success. Everyone can smell desperation and no one likes that smell. What drives success is generally concerted effort over a long p

by fleitz 14y ago

Desperation does not drive success. Everyone can smell desperation and no one likes that smell. What drives success is generally concerted effort over a long period of time. Startups can take on massive risk because they are minimally capitalized. Taking a chance of some Obama-Os is a smart play because the risk is minimal (some photoshop time) and the pay off decent ($25K). Obama-Os aren't desperation, it's smart business. If they printed $10K of boxes before testing the market then it would just be stupid. What the OP is doing is what every business book does, take a bunch of winners, find somethings in common and attribute those things to success. To me it sounds like the OP has decided to go down the MVP path by eating what he kills. It's not desperation, it's a good way to get on track to making money because you have to abandon VC fundable ideas early. Caesar feared the hungry man, not the desperate man.

xiaoma 14y ago
As long as we're quoting platitudes, I'd say that the flip sides are that "desperate times call for desperate measures", or as Titus Livius said, "In difficult and desperate cases, the boldest counsels are the safest". Desperation changes the entire game theory. Yes, in many cases people will give the desperate a wide berth. Sometimes, that is just the opening they need. During John Elway's heyday, I saw the Denver Broncos reach the Super Bowl three times. He was an unbelievable talent. I saw "the drive" of NFL lore from my living room and I saw the Broncos lose in the Super Bowl to larger city teams all three times. And then, years later when both he and the team had been in decline, I saw the most desperate thing. After his career should have been over, when he was pushing 40, Elway and the Broncos made it back to the Super Bowl. He played the game of his life. And I'll be damned if there wasn't a steely look of desperation in him. At long last, they won. And the next year, they did it again. In his final game, with the clock of not only the game, but of his life ticking down, he did something insane. As a comparatively fragile quarterback hellbent on securing his legacy, he ran it in for a touchdown against heavily muscled men who had a 100 pounds in him. And it was just desperate enough that they didn't see it coming until it was too late to stop him. That's something that younger, less desperate quarterbacks just wouldn't do. In many cases, the result is ruin. But sometimes desperate actions prevail. It's called a Hail Mary. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzzfbflCGwg&t=4m25s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzzfbflCGwg&t=4m25s

by fleitz 14y ago

xiaoma 14y ago

As long as we're quoting platitudes, I'd say that the flip sides are that "desperate times call for desperate measures", or as Titus Livius said, "In difficult and desperate cases, the boldest counsels are the safest". Desperation changes the entire game theory. Yes, in many cases people will give the desperate a wide berth. Sometimes, that is just the opening they need. During John Elway's heyday, I saw the Denver Broncos reach the Super Bowl three times. He was an unbelievable talent. I saw "the drive" of NFL lore from my living room and I saw the Broncos lose in the Super Bowl to larger city teams all three times. And then, years later when both he and the team had been in decline, I saw the most desperate thing. After his career should have been over, when he was pushing 40, Elway and the Broncos made it back to the Super Bowl. He played the game of his life. And I'll be damned if there wasn't a steely look of desperation in him. At long last, they won. And the next year, they did it again. In his final game, with the clock of not only the game, but of his life ticking down, he did something insane. As a comparatively fragile quarterback hellbent on securing his legacy, he ran it in for a touchdown against heavily muscled men who had a 100 pounds in him. And it was just desperate enough that they didn't see it coming until it was too late to stop him. That's something that younger, less desperate quarterbacks just wouldn't do. In many cases, the result is ruin. But sometimes desperate actions prevail. It's called a Hail Mary. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzzfbflCGwg&t=4m25s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzzfbflCGwg&t=4m25s