Unexpected Startup Lesson #1: Quitting the day job

Post by jheitzeb » Tue, May 11, 2010, 5:27 AM UTC

jmatt wrote: post #18

Chewing on these types of questions was totally unproductive and made me feel shitty. I’ve come to realize that doing startups is mostly an irrational choice. Just effing do it. Right on. I went through this same unproductive time and finally came to a similar understanding. Though I'd argue that instead of "irrational" I'd characterize it as "extremely risky". To many people in technology and business those are the…

Right on! Good way to characterize it. If you are strafing from zero, the downside risk is low, relatively speaking....so might as well go for it. This is why (in my view) it is good to go for it when you're young and/or it is a bad economy,

Post by RiderOfGiraffes » Tue, May 11, 2010, 8:21 AM UTC

chegra84 wrote: post #16

RiderOfGiraffes wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 41% of Entrepreneurs succeed on their first go; That's awfully precise. Not 40%? Not 42%? What is the sample size? Where did you get the data?

That's the source: http://www.kauffman.org/uploadedFiles/ResearchAndPolicy/TheS...

You claimed that 41% of Entrepreneurs succeed on their first go, and then quote the above link, but now you've got me very confused. The paper says that of those being surveyed, 41.4% were on their first business.

Interesting paper, but I don't think it supports your assertion.

For example, it may be that 100% of entrepreneurs succeed on their first go, but that 41% of those interviewed are on their first (of many yet to come).

On the other hand, it may be that all of these on their first business will fail, but potentially go on to succeed on subsequent attempts.

In short, that 41% doesn't at all say that 41% of entrepreneurs succeed on their first try.

Can you explain your thinking further?

Re: Unexpected Startup Lesson #1: Quitting the day job

Re: Unexpected Startup Lesson #1: Quitting the day job