being nice, smart people running a startup with some fanboys is not actually a get-out-of-jail card Well, let's be charitable. I'm sure a lot of people are in

being nice, smart people running a startup with some fanboys is not actually a get-out-of-jail card Well, let's be charitable. I'm sure a lot of people are in shock. People in shock say silly and even random things. Have you ever rooted for a soccer team, or a hockey team, and then watched them lose a very important game by scoring an own goal in overtime? I have. You tend to go into shock. You can't necessarily say anything rational, or even printable, at a moment like that. It's never fun to watch another startup make a big mistake. [1] It's too easy to imagine yourself making a similar mistake. We all work with powerful tools that are capable of turning a small lapse of knowledge, attention, or judgement into a problem that potentially affects millions of people. The tools can be great -- they let two people, living on Ramen in a tiny apartment, make big changes in the world -- but they can also really amplify your mistakes. --- [1] Okay, okay... it's rarely fun.