failcon zurich 2013

“QUITTING, SUCKING, and failing your way to a better life”

http://www.about.me/michaelrwolfe!@michaelrwolfe!michael.wolfe@stanfordalumni.org!!

fAILURE & ME

FAILURE & CULTURE

FAILURE & YOU

FAILURE AND ME !I often QUIT!!I often SUCK!!I often FAIL!!

My Career !Four startups and a couple big companies!!Founder, VP Engineering, EIR, CEO!!Investing, advising and mentoring!!

QUITTING !I quit several good jobs!!Several pivots!!I shut one company down!

SUCKING !Small teams, no resources!!Roles we didn’t know how to do!!No domain expertise!

FAILING !One company failed!!The rest had near-death experiences!!All had high likelihood of failure!!!

RESULT !Very rapid learning!!Great times, amazing teams!!One IPO, two acquisitions!!Maintained family life, sports, travel, sabbaticals!!

CONNECTING THE DOTS

Everything good was because

of failure!!Every regret came from a fear of failure!

FAILURE AND CULTURE

OUR MODEL of the world CLEAR AUTHORITY!!!KNOWN PROBLEMS!!!DEFINED CRITERIA!!!

CHILDHOOD CLEAR AUTHORITY!Parents!!KNOWN PROBLEMS!Be good, sit up straight, do your chores!!DEFINED CRITERIA!Praise, rewards!!

SCHOOL CLEAR AUTHORITY!Teachers!!KNOWN PROBLEMS!Math, reading, writing, language!!DEFINED CRITERIA!Right and wrong answers, grades!!!

SPORTS CLEAR AUTHORITY!Coaches!!KNOWN PROBLEMS!Football, basketball, athletics!!DEFINED CRITERIA!Skills, strength, wins and losses!!!

WORK CLEAR AUTHORITY!Bosses!!KNOWN PROBLEMS!Well-understood markets, customers, products!!DEFINED CRITERIA!Deadlines, quotas!!!

SOMETIMES IT is the right model !!!!!!!

You don’t want these folks to !QUIT, SUCK, and FAIL!

BUT NOT FOR INNOVATION

Customer, product, market unknown!

Solutions found via trial and error!

Small, inexperienced, teams!

Most fail,!winners are huge!

FOR EXAMPLE Quit school, quit jobs!!Poor management skills initially!!Failed projects!!Near-death experiences!

TAKEAWAY

Acceptance of failure is the single most important attribute of a startup ecosystem and its participants!

FAILURE AND YOU

GO to failcon

√  

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”!

“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  

EMBRACE YOUTH If you are young, jump in – don’t wait!

!Give young people real authority!

!No “paying your dues”!

quit, suck, and fail

If you aren’t growing, quit!!Be willing to suck!!Risk failure!

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!

QUESTIONS?

http://www.about.me/michaelrwolfe!@michaelrwolfe!michael.wolfe@stanfordalumni.org!!