When entrepreneurs call it quits | Hacker News Reader

When entrepreneurs call it quits

manylogue.com

23 pointsvitakis9 comments

Like the article mentions, the ironic part is that if every entrepreneur called it quits when it made sense to, we wouldn't have many of the services we rely on today.

Pre-Google, YouTube was hemorrhaging half a million dollars a month [1].

Twitter got lackluster reviews on TechCrunch (and slammed in the comments) [2].

People laughed at Microsoft and Apple for building personal computers.

Facebook and Google entered into fields that were already pretty heavily dominated.

The list goes on and on.

[1] http://www.bivingsreport.com/2006/youtube-show-me-the-money/ [2] http://techcrunch.com/2006/07/15/is-twttr-interesting/

YouTube's business model was to hemorrhage money while getting the groundwork laid, then start making money. Google bought them first, but is still continuing the same path they were on.

You don't give up just because you got a bad review or people laugh at you. If you did, nobody would ever do anything.

You also don't give up just because the competition was there first. Nothing would ever have competition.

Moore on the optimism of visionaries is fun: they see with their eyes closed. That's how they see.

Can you elaborate?

I'm a bit bemused by your question, but anyway:

'Perhaps the easiest way to epitomize the differences between these two groups is to contrast the way they use the phrase "I see." When visionaries say "I see," they do so with their eyes closed. That's how visionaries see. Pragmatists, on the other hand, like to see with their eyes open. They don't trust visionaries for the same reasons that they don't trust people who want to navigate using the force.' - Moore, Geoffrey A. Inside the Tornado (1995) p. 19

for background: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_the_Chasm

"many entrepreneurs would tell you that even considering the possibility of failure undermines your chances of success."

Although I'm overly optimistic about my own company just like every other entrepreneur, you can't be naive and think you'll never face failure knowing you have a 10% chance of success. Starting a company is all about failing, pivoting, and moving past it. So I'd say that you have to expect failure along the way and be ready to overcome it.

I'm reminded of a quote:

"Positions are seldom lost because they have been destroyed, but almost invariably because the leader has decided in his own mind that the position cannot be held." - General A. A. Vandegrift, United States Marine Corps

I think this is often true in entrepreneurship.

I like to think of what others think of as "failures" as just temporary obstacles to get to where I want to be.

The success of an entrepreneur may depend on what exactly they consider to be a failure, rather than just a temporary obstacle.

From the article - "I am not an entrepreneur, but I don’t think it’s that simple. Entrepreneurship is all about overcoming the odds."

Seems dangerous to read too much into what the author says until (s)he has actually gone through the experience they want to write about.

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