Start-up Entrepreneurs - Take Heed On Failing
The failure rate of angel-backed start-up companies is high. I once heard that 1 out of 17 companies succeeds. That is, investors get their money back on less than six percent of their investments.
Entrepreneurs, my message to you is if you fail, keep trying. Here are some amazing "failures" that will motivate you not to quit:
- Michael Jordan, the greatest basketball player of all time, 14-time NBA all-star, 5-time NBA MVP, 10-time NBA scoring champ, 2-time Olympic gold medal winner, winner of six NBA titles and six NBA finals MVP, and 3-time all-star MVP, was cut from his high school basketball team.
- Boston Celtics' Hall-of-Famer Bob Cousy, one of the NBA's 50 greatest players, 13-time NBA all-star, and winner of six NBA championships, was cut from his high school basketball team.
- Tom Landry, third winningest NFL coach of all time with a record of 270 wins, 178 losses, and 6 ties, winner of two Super Bowls, and NFL record holder of twenty consecutive winning seasons, never won a game in his first season as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys with a record of 0-11-1.
- Chuck Noll former head coach of the Pittsburg Steelers, winner of four Super Bowls, and head coach record of 209-156-1, won just one game his first year, posting a losing season of 1-14.
- Bill Walsh, former head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, winner of three Super Bowls, and head coach record of 102-63-1, posted a record of 2-14 in his inaugural season.
- Jimmy Johnson, former head coach of the Miami Dolphins and Dallas Cowboys, winner of one Super Bowls, and head coach record of 89-68, won one game his first year, with a losing record of 1-15.
Click here for a list of heros who would not give up and ultimately achieved renown success.
Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive
Comments
Startup failure is high-- maybe not quite 1 in 17 will breakthrough but I think that making use of your available resources is the most overlooked aspect when getting rolling. There are a lot of programs that are specifically geared toward helping startups and I think that list should be exploited as part of the process-- that's what they're for. Sun Microsystems has a program called 'startup essentials' that offers discounts on x64 servers, free tech support and free events to meet 'missing pieces of your personnel' and we think thats a cool move to lend a hand from the get-go. I'd be interested in seeing a huge list sometime of all of the resources out there but you can start with this one: www.sun.com/startup
Posted by: Brody | March 19, 2008 1:28 PM