Unstructured Thoughts - Latest Comments in How to Fail: 25 Lessons Learned through Failure

Re: How to Fail: 25 Lessons Learned through Failure

Geokaren — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 12:25:53 -0000

I would add: "don't let perfect be the enemy of good" - know when to get a product on the market even if it's not perfect, you will have time to correct deficiencies and even learn about some you may not have understood if you give customers a chance to use it!

Re: How to Fail: 25 Lessons Learned through Failure

Alport James — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 12:20:22 -0000

This is unreal, thanks a lot, looking into your site more now.

Re: How to Fail: 25 Lessons Learned through Failure

Ryan Biddulph — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 10:27:07 -0000

"Create solutions that solve problems for your customers and buyers..." leaps off the page at me Taylor.

We get what we want when we help other people get what they want, and this means being a solutions provider, or problem solver, for others. Nobody really cares about your problems, they want someone to help them solve their own.

Thanks for sharing Taylor!

Re: How to Fail: 25 Lessons Learned through Failure

Taylor Davidson — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 11:59:57 -0000

Some lessons are just better learned the hard way. And business school isn't the hard way.

Re: How to Fail: 25 Lessons Learned through Failure

Trevor O'Hara — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 06:56:12 -0000

This is an outstanding article. Why don't they teach this stuff in business school?

Re: How to Fail: 25 Lessons Learned through Failure

James — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 04:48:24 -0000

Over 2 years later, there still a ton of truth in these arguments. Thanks for this...not sure all of them apply to me, but #10 is gold!

Re: How to Fail: 25 Lessons Learned through Failure

Taylor Davidson — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:35:31 -0000

Trial and error is only the "best" way if we know 1) what to try and 2) how to learn from failure. Teasing out the particulars of the situation can be difficult given the small sample sizes of our own experiences. There's a lot we can learn from others before we start creating our own trial and error experiments :)

Re: How to Fail: 25 Lessons Learned through Failure

KyAus — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 23:24:20 -0000

Very nice post. I also liked that you had it in a pdf. I don't know why, but reading it in that form allowed me to follow it better.
But this is how we learn, we fail and learn. Trial and error is the best way to learn how to do things yourself. Unless you're working on brain surgery. Then you may have problems lol

Re: How to Fail: 25 Lessons Learned through Failure

Taylor Davidson — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 23:19:59 -0000

Or perhaps, "Don't take ourselves too seriously"...

Re: How to Fail: 25 Lessons Learned through Failure

Taylor Davidson — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 23:15:18 -0000

Thanks :)

Re: How to Fail: 25 Lessons Learned through Failure

Tom Altman — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 22:19:26 -0000

I would put #26 as "Have Fun". Sometimes we take ourselves so seriously we forget that it's OK to have fun. And if we're not having fun then maybe no one else is either.

Re: How to Fail: 25 Lessons Learned through Failure

Taylor Davidson — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:38:16 -0000

Congrats, great to hear!

On Tuesday, November 10, 2009, Disqus

Re: How to Fail: 25 Lessons Learned through Failure

Stephen — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:13:45 -0000

and 6 months later... I'm starting my first business!
Thanks for the guidance, I'll let you know if I need your help.

Re: How to Fail: 25 Lessons Learned through Failure

Taylor Davidson — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 05:08:27 -0000

Yep; and it's something I've been learning much too much about :)

Re: How to Fail: 25 Lessons Learned through Failure

David Sanger — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 02:13:23 -0000

"If we learn how to fail fast and fail gracefully together, it'll be easier to move on to the next experiment."

A Case for Innovation about 3 minute mark

from www.copres.org

Re: How to Fail: 25 Lessons Learned through Failure

admin — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 22:27:57 -0000

Hi Taylor,

This is a great list. I always appreciated insights that came from thier true experiences. Thanks for sharing this, I will surely learn and apply all of the lessons you have written ot there.

Re: How to Fail: 25 Lessons Learned through Failure

Taylor Davidson — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 16:24:39 -0000

Perhaps "seen and not heard" means that there are established ways of doing things, well-worn paths to success, that have been proved over time? I hope :)

Re: How to Fail: 25 Lessons Learned through Failure

Suze — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 16:01:56 -0000

God made me sit up and take note.

Great, great advice to live by. I work in an i-bank and best advice I ever got was simply seen and not heard - seated by one of our top traders I noticed he was wearing a wristband which read 'No whining'.

Enough said.

Re: How to Fail: 25 Lessons Learned through Failure

David Noël — Tue, 05 May 2009 12:40:58 -0000

That's one hell of a fantastic post, Taylor! There are several good posts about failure out there but I love how much work you've put into that one. Truly useful for any aspiring/failed entrepreneur. I'll make sure to have it close-by whenever someone asks me to share input about that specific topic.

Thanks!

Re: How to Fail: 25 Lessons Learned through Failure

Taylor Davidson — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 23:12:12 -0000

Glad to hear; drop me a line if I can ever help :)

Re: How to Fail: 25 Lessons Learned through Failure

Stephen Bussard — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:06:08 -0000

Thanks man! As time goes on I feel more and more that entrepreneurship is the way I need to go.

Re: How to Fail: 25 Lessons Learned through Failure

Taylor Davidson — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 14:55:19 -0000

Sometimes :)

Actually, as long as that is the explicit goal of the meeting, and if meeting in person is the best way to disseminate that information (meaning, it requires a personal touch), then I'm all for it.

My main issue with meetings is that typically they are created without real thought and preparation and that the people meeting aren't given the right base (the right "scene") to make the meeting worthwhile...

Re: How to Fail: 25 Lessons Learned through Failure

Linda Margaret — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 05:32:47 -0000

I like it all, but the one about "meeting to decide" could use (as rule no. 25 states) some modifications. I think its important to meet sometimes to disseminate information in person. Rules made at the top and communicated in email or individually to team members can end up being implemented in as many ways as there are individuals in the company. Sometimes, meeting to disseminate information insures that the information is universally understood and uniformly implemented.

Re: How to Fail: 25 Lessons Learned through Failure

Taylor Davidson — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 08:17:20 -0000

Thanks! Any points stand out in particular?

Re: How to Fail: 25 Lessons Learned through Failure

daniel — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 06:46:24 -0000

Amazing article, had to copy the link and sent it around the company immediatly! Thanks for that! We will definitely mention it on our site...