Taylor Davidson has put together a lovely list of “25 Secrets Learned through Failure“. It is definitely worth a read. Here is the intro…
I started to write about the keys of success for entrepreneurs and startups, but as I wrote I realized that while I’ve seen companies fail, projects flounder and ideas die, I’ve had little first-hand experience with success. My ideas on the keys to success remain just that: ideas.
But I’ve learned a lot through failure. Close observation and unfortunate first-hand personal experiences have taught me many lessons about why companies fail.
Let’s be clear: this is intended to be an assessment of the 25 most important lessons I have learned through failure, not a comprehensive analysis of all the reasons entrepreneurs and startups fail (and trust me, this is the shortened version: I’ve learned more than 25).
The first sixteen primarily address strategic and operational issues while the last nine deal more with management and organizational issues. Since I believe the three most important factors for any company are people, product and market, I’m not sure that I’ve come up with the “appropriate” ratio of ways to fail, but perhaps you’ll have ideas that will bring the ratio more in line. I’m looking forward to hearing about the secrets you’ve learned through failure.
Here are a few of my faves…
1. Dither, dither, dither; plan, plan, plan.
Instead: Fail fast. Fire, aim, repeat.6. Focus on the long-term.
Instead: Focus on the short-term.7. Build prototypes, mockups and samples.
Instead: Start building in a format and medium as close to the finished product as possible, and iterate, iterate, iterate.9. Give customers everything they want.
Instead: Listen to customers, then throw (almost) all of it away.10. “New, New, New!”
Instead: F*** new. What’s different? What’s better?15. “We can build a successful business by capturing just X% of the market.”
Instead: Sell to one customer. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.22. Meet to discuss.
Instead: Meet to decide.
Read on here.
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