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“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!
!

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Failcon Zurich 2013