4 ms·

"Optimism, pessimism, fuck that; we're going to make it happen. As God is my bloody witness, I'm hell-bent on making it work." If you need a thesis for why, 4

by srlake 14y ago

"Optimism, pessimism, fuck that; we're going to make it happen. As God is my bloody witness, I'm hell-bent on making it work." If you need a thesis for why, 4 year later, SpaceX and Tesla are seeing the succes they are, this attitude might be at its' core.

seanlinehan 14y ago
If there is any quote that every would be world-changing entrepreneur should live by, it is this one.
Maro 14y ago
That's Magic Thinking. Just because you want something doesn't mean it's going to come true. There are thousands of other entrepreneurs you've never heard of, who were also highly motivated but it didn't work out for them. (That's why you've never heard of them.) To explain the relative success of SpaceX and Tesla by Elon Musk "wanting success" is a fallacy. You should instead reason by first principles (as Musk himself recommends for entrepreneurs to do) and analyze what they did in the past couple of years, what worked and didn't work, what factors were involved, and how that led to where they are today.
- omegant 14y ago
  Also is known as troop morale, you may hace all the best team with the best plan and execution, if you leave your morale to drift down, your team is not going to hold it for you(they are looking at you for inspiration). In combat, troops have surrendered to weaker enemies just because they just gave up. The same happens with bussinesess. You must hold that "magic thinking" way up because if you dont, all that perfect assets you posses(at leat on paper) are not going to perform at their best(if at all). We are talking of human teams here, not circuits.
- tisme 14y ago
  I read that as 'I'm throwing all that I've got, time, resources, anything towards achieving my goal'. That's no guarantee for success but it works a lot better than doing nothing at all. In order to win you have to first enter the games. Most people that are claiming this is 'magic thinking', survivor bias or generally down on achievement have never actually done any of this, let alone entered the game.
  - Maro 14y ago
    > have never actually done any of this I spent 3+ years on my startup without being able to secure funding, getting by, fully commited [1]. I wanted to succeed really bad, but made too many mistakes from the get go and ran out of time/money eventually. To reflect on the topic of discussion, when evaluating why my startup failed (or another one succeeded), whether the founders wanted it bad enough is not a good core metric, which is what the grandparent claims. [1] http://github.com/scalien/scaliendb http://github.com/scalien/scaliendb
    - tisme 14y ago
      Heal your wounds, save some dough and same player shoots again. You have to play a lot of chess games before you start winning. Start-ups are no different, the learning curve is quite steep but if you persevere at some point it will start to pay off. If your first start-up takes off in a couple of weeks or months that's the exception not the rule. Establishing any kind of business normally takes about three years so you have to plan for that.
      - Maro 14y ago
        I'm fine, thanks, but this thread is not about me. I was just responding to your ad hominem attack.
        tisme 14y ago
        I was not aware I was attacking you.
    - kristopolous 14y ago
      Don't give up. I just saw this 2 days ago at a talk given by Venu Anuganti (the url was on the final slide, he didn't actually vocalize it though). Seeing something for the first time twice in two days in startup land could be a fluke, or it could be a trend. You may be on the brink of success. In fact, I'm going to download and compile this right now.
- srlake 14y ago
  You can slice and dice the success of Tesla and SpaceX in all sorts of ways: analyze the external factors, the market, their employee compensation stratagies, the competitive environment, and so on, and you will probably find several interesting factors which were a contributor to their success. But to ignore the visionary leadership and determination of Musk as a core factor to this success on the basis of other "motivated" entrepreneurs failing would be, I think, unwise. One of the defining charateristics of many of the leaders who have shaped our present is that they are/were resolute in some belief, even in the face of setbacks. Others with firm determination having failed isn't an antithesis - I'm not claiming this represents the only factor for success in business, but rather that in the case of Tesla and SpaceX this attitude that achieving their lofty goals was possibe, was a core driver in theirs. Edit: BB typo
  - Maro 14y ago
    Visionary leadership != determination I think determination is a common trait among entrepreneurs, being a visionary less so. But even that is not a recipe for success.
    - srlake 14y ago
      "visionary leadership and determination" Agreed on both fronts. I wouldn't argue that being a determined visionary is a recipe for success, rather merely that it's a key ingredient for BIG successes and challenging problems. Edit: can't proofread, apparently. Changed "an" to "a"

by srlake 14y ago

seanlinehan 14y ago

If there is any quote that every would be world-changing entrepreneur should live by, it is this one.

Maro 14y ago

That's Magic Thinking. Just because you want something doesn't mean it's going to come true. There are thousands of other entrepreneurs you've never heard of, who were also highly motivated but it didn't work out for them. (That's why you've never heard of them.) To explain the relative success of SpaceX and Tesla by Elon Musk "wanting success" is a fallacy. You should instead reason by first principles (as Musk himself recommends for entrepreneurs to do) and analyze what they did in the past couple of years, what worked and didn't work, what factors were involved, and how that led to where they are today.

omegant 14y ago
Also is known as troop morale, you may hace all the best team with the best plan and execution, if you leave your morale to drift down, your team is not going to hold it for you(they are looking at you for inspiration). In combat, troops have surrendered to weaker enemies just because they just gave up. The same happens with bussinesess. You must hold that "magic thinking" way up because if you dont, all that perfect assets you posses(at leat on paper) are not going to perform at their best(if at all). We are talking of human teams here, not circuits.
tisme 14y ago
I read that as 'I'm throwing all that I've got, time, resources, anything towards achieving my goal'. That's no guarantee for success but it works a lot better than doing nothing at all. In order to win you have to first enter the games. Most people that are claiming this is 'magic thinking', survivor bias or generally down on achievement have never actually done any of this, let alone entered the game.
- Maro 14y ago
  > have never actually done any of this I spent 3+ years on my startup without being able to secure funding, getting by, fully commited [1]. I wanted to succeed really bad, but made too many mistakes from the get go and ran out of time/money eventually. To reflect on the topic of discussion, when evaluating why my startup failed (or another one succeeded), whether the founders wanted it bad enough is not a good core metric, which is what the grandparent claims. [1] http://github.com/scalien/scaliendb http://github.com/scalien/scaliendb
  - tisme 14y ago
    Heal your wounds, save some dough and same player shoots again. You have to play a lot of chess games before you start winning. Start-ups are no different, the learning curve is quite steep but if you persevere at some point it will start to pay off. If your first start-up takes off in a couple of weeks or months that's the exception not the rule. Establishing any kind of business normally takes about three years so you have to plan for that.
    - Maro 14y ago
      I'm fine, thanks, but this thread is not about me. I was just responding to your ad hominem attack.
      - tisme 14y ago
        I was not aware I was attacking you.
  - kristopolous 14y ago
    Don't give up. I just saw this 2 days ago at a talk given by Venu Anuganti (the url was on the final slide, he didn't actually vocalize it though). Seeing something for the first time twice in two days in startup land could be a fluke, or it could be a trend. You may be on the brink of success. In fact, I'm going to download and compile this right now.
srlake 14y ago
You can slice and dice the success of Tesla and SpaceX in all sorts of ways: analyze the external factors, the market, their employee compensation stratagies, the competitive environment, and so on, and you will probably find several interesting factors which were a contributor to their success. But to ignore the visionary leadership and determination of Musk as a core factor to this success on the basis of other "motivated" entrepreneurs failing would be, I think, unwise. One of the defining charateristics of many of the leaders who have shaped our present is that they are/were resolute in some belief, even in the face of setbacks. Others with firm determination having failed isn't an antithesis - I'm not claiming this represents the only factor for success in business, but rather that in the case of Tesla and SpaceX this attitude that achieving their lofty goals was possibe, was a core driver in theirs. Edit: BB typo
- Maro 14y ago
  Visionary leadership != determination I think determination is a common trait among entrepreneurs, being a visionary less so. But even that is not a recipe for success.
  - srlake 14y ago
    "visionary leadership and determination" Agreed on both fronts. I wouldn't argue that being a determined visionary is a recipe for success, rather merely that it's a key ingredient for BIG successes and challenging problems. Edit: can't proofread, apparently. Changed "an" to "a"