Failcon Zurich 2013
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These are the slides from I talk I gave at Failcon Zurich 2013. http://failcon.ch/
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Failcon Zurich 2013
- 1. “QUITTING, SUCKING, and failing your way to a better life” http://www.about.me/michaelrwolfe! @michaelrwolfe! michael.wolfe@stanfordalumni.org! !
- 2. fAILURE & ME FAILURE & CULTURE FAILURE & YOU
- 3. FAILURE AND ME ! I often QUIT! ! I often SUCK! ! I often FAIL! !
- 4. My Career ! Four startups and a couple big companies! ! Founder, VP Engineering, EIR, CEO! ! Investing, advising and mentoring! !
- 5. QUITTING ! I quit several good jobs! ! Several pivots! ! I shut one company down!
- 6. SUCKING ! Small teams, no resources! ! Roles we didn’t know how to do! ! No domain expertise!
- 7. FAILING ! One company failed! ! The rest had near- death experiences! ! All had high likelihood of failure! ! !
- 8. RESULT ! Very rapid learning! ! Great times, amazing teams! ! One IPO, two acquisitions! ! Maintained family life, sports, travel, sabbaticals! !
- 9. CONNECTING THE DOTS Everything good was because of failure! ! Every regret came from a fear of failure!
- 11. OUR MODEL of the world CLEAR AUTHORITY! ! ! KNOWN PROBLEMS! ! ! DEFINED CRITERIA! ! !
- 12. CHILDHOOD CLEAR AUTHORITY! Parents! ! KNOWN PROBLEMS! Be good, sit up straight, do your chores! ! DEFINED CRITERIA! Praise, rewards! !
- 13. SCHOOL CLEAR AUTHORITY! Teachers! ! KNOWN PROBLEMS! Math, reading, writing, language! ! DEFINED CRITERIA! Right and wrong answers, grades! !
- 14. SPORTS CLEAR AUTHORITY! Coaches! ! KNOWN PROBLEMS! Football, basketball, athletics! ! DEFINED CRITERIA! Skills, strength, wins and losses! !
- 15. WORK CLEAR AUTHORITY! Bosses! ! KNOWN PROBLEMS! Well-understood markets, customers, products! ! DEFINED CRITERIA! Deadlines, quotas! !
- 16. SOMETIMES IT is the right model! ! ! ! ! ! ! You don’t want these folks to ! QUIT, SUCK, and FAIL!
- 17. BUT NOT FOR INNOVATION Customer, product, market unknown! Solutions found via trial and error! Small, inexperienced, teams! Most fail,! winners are huge!
- 18. FOR EXAMPLE Quit school, quit jobs! ! Poor management skills initially! ! Failed projects! ! Near-death experiences!
- 19. TAKEAWAY Acceptance of failure is the single most important attribute of a startup ecosystem and its participants!
- 20. FAILURE AND YOU
- 21. GO to failcon √
- 22. PLEASE JUST STOP THIS “That seems like such a time waster”! “They will never make money”! “Companies will never trust that”! “That team has no experience”!
- 23. “LIVE in the future” • Smartphones ! • Cheap tablets! • Wearables! • Robotics! • 3D printing ! • Self driving cars! • Online universities ! • Crowdsourcing! These will impact you – get in front of it
- 24. EMBRACE YOUTH If you are young, jump in – don’t wait! ! Give young people real authority! ! No “paying your dues”!
- 25. quit, suck, and fail If you aren’t growing, quit! ! Be willing to suck! ! Risk failure!
- 26. CREDITS & RECOMMENDED READING “Lean Startup”! - Eric Ries! “Little Bets”! - Peter Sims! “Be a learn it all” ! - Bill Gurley blog! Blog & “Startup Owner’s Manual”! - Steve Blank! “How to get startup ideas”! - Paul Graham Blog!