Startup founders should have a vision of failure.
That may sound like a radical idea. After all, advice to founders generally focuses on having a plan for success, not failure.
Planning for success is important. And it is critical to avoid giving up too early. But, founders should recognize failure if it comes.
Too often, talented founders spend too long toiling on a venture when they should find something more meaningful to do. And if it is not time to stop, knowing that it is not time to stop provides motivation to keep going.
It is tricky to identify the time to stop when you are in the thick of things. There are reasons to keep going even if it is time to stop. Founders have obligations to investors and teammates. The vision of success is strong. Founders have trained themselves to keep going despite challenges and the internal doubts. There will be some good news mixed in with the bad. And even successful ventures have periods of questioning or false starts.
No, I’m not suggesting that founders should obsess over the downside of a startup.
Rather, a vision of failure gives a founder a concrete criteria by which to distinguish between a temporary setback and time to stop.
In the book Lean Startup, Eric Ries recommends using core metrics to have a regular pivot or persevere conversation. There is less focus on the criteria by which to decide to stop. The assumption in the book is that you have a fixed runway and the end date is clear.
Yet consider questions like:
- How long will I keep going without some or no teammates?
- How long will I keep going with no pay?
- How long will I keep going with no additional customers or sales?
- How long will I keep going without additional investors?
- How long will I keep sleeping on someone else’s couch?
- How long will I keep avoiding some other attractive career opportunity?
Too often failure is viewed as an indictment of character or competency. In reality, it may be that the world was not ready for your startup’s vision. Go build something.
by Miles Lasater with Julian Jacobs