As an entrepreneur myself, I live under the pressure of failing my startup everyday. And I think I have a solution to beat this feeling by a concrete service.
What if there is a service I can offer you to work and focus on your own startup, without fearing failing it? It's a new startup idea I'm working on, and I'd like your feed back on it. Is it worth it for you? would you apply for such a service?
Thank you for your answers and feedback.
What if entrepreneurs never fail?
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Re: What if entrepreneurs never fail?
#2Frankly speaking, I think you need to throw some more light on the 'service' you are talking about. As an entrepreneur and/or a probable customer, I want to understand what your service/offering is and how it will help me mitigate the risks associated with my venture or help me overcome the fear of failing.
Re: What if entrepreneurs never fail?
#3I second nsitoula's comment. I am interested but confused what you would be offering that could help stem what I think are fairly normal feelings for any entrepreneur.
Honestly, the image I had in my mind when I finished reading your post was an old time snake oil salesman standing on a soap box trying to sell the magic elixir to cure everything from boredom to cancer. Sorry, not saying you aren't legit just sounds too good to be true kinda thing.
Re: What if entrepreneurs never fail?
#4Sounds too good to be true.
Re: What if entrepreneurs never fail?
#5Well, what's failure?
If failure is the total loss of an entrepreneur's own capital, then VCs and Angels already do this. They (in some cases) completely insulate the entrepreneur from losing his/her own capital in the business.
If failure is the lack of a return, or the lack of profitability, then I would expect any service to lie on the typical risk/reward curve associated with all financial instruments. That is: if your service eliminates all risk, it should also eliminate all reward greater than whatever T-bills are returning.
So it's hard to imagine what kind of service you could be talking about.
Re: What if entrepreneurs never fail?
#6Isn't this what an incubator does? It kind of shields you from "going it alone" and provides a pathway for growth by maximizing benefits and minimizing risk?
Re: What if entrepreneurs never fail?
#7If a startup never fails, it will never be successful. Failures (or the fear of) are what causes us to drive forward. They are how we learn what works and what doesn't work. Businesses must fail in order to drive innovation. Innovation is driven by the failure of a current solution. I, personally, would never be interested in a product or service that guarantees I wouldn't fail; because, that would mean I am not innovative or even relevant.
Without failure, what is a success?
Re: What if entrepreneurs never fail?
#8Hi Everyone and thank you all for your thoughts, it is nice to hear different perspective from fellow hackers.
I'll try to summarize all the answers to your questions in one post. First of all, I'll begin by defining failure in this particular context. It will be the loss of your capital and incomes that are all based on your startup. The fear behind it is not to be able to provide for itself or its own family and loved ones.
To pursue in the idea itself, it's a financial service based on a business model inspired from the shared economy concept. It is going to be an additional service that an incubator can offer but definitely not replace it, and unfortunately I can't disclose more information for now as I'm still waiting to close the legal part of this model.
The image davismwfl described made me really laugh, because he's right, it is awfully too good to be true :) but please bear with me, and allow me to earn your trust, at least in this topic :)
Thank you all again.
Re: What if entrepreneurs never fail?
#9If a startup never fails, it will never be successful. Failures (or the fear of) are what causes us to drive forward. They are how we learn what works and what doesn't work. Businesses must fail in order to drive innovation. Innovation is driven by the failure of a current solution. I, personally, would never be interested in a product or service that guarantees I wouldn't fail; because, that would mean I am not inno…
Thank you HIPAAtrek, it is really one of my main concerns. I myself failed in my professional life, and I don't consider this as loosing money, but as an investment in my knowledge capital.
But is it really the only way to learn? or the only way to be innovative or even relevant as you say?
Many examples crossed my mind that contradict this, we can discuss them if you want :)
Re: What if entrepreneurs never fail?
#10Not everyone does what they do to make a buck. If Einstein had failed, the world today would be a different place. Paying him money to make him feel better about that would not begin to make up for what the world would have missed out on.
You are basically talking about insurance. I was in insurance and I have a pretty low opinion of it. Insurance is billed as "risk management." It's billed as "we will be there for you in your time of need." It would be more honest to claim it is kind of like Las Vegas, but in order to hit the jack pot, something really bad has to happen to you first. Real risk management is about trying to make sure bad things don't happen in the first place. It isn't about going "Oh, look, now that life has crapped all over me, I have a big check to make my suffering seem somehow okay."
Let me respectfully suggest you go do something else. I don't see how you can begin to value unborn dreams. How could you possibly know that Microsoft would be worth billions until after the fact? How can you possibly tell in advance which two guys in some basement or garage will be world changers and which will be remembered as "losers"?