Some lessons learned

129 points by jeffmiller 14 years ago | 14 comments

MatthewB 14 years ago |

>>If you aren’t getting rejected on a daily basis, your goals aren’t ambitious enough.<<

This is a crucial piece of advice. A few months ago I remember Jeff Bezos caught some flack because Amazon wasn't failing enough, which lead people to think Amazon wasn't taking enough risks. Although I disagree with that analysis of Amazon, the core concept is still true.

It's also refreshing to see that Chris Dixon was rejected a ton before becoming successful. I get rejected on a daily basis and to be honest - it takes a lot out of me. However, when I read something like this it makes me realize all of this rejection is worthwhile and part of finding my way to success.

Swizec 14 years ago |

Relevant xkcd comic on avoiding the most obvious upward next step: http://xkcd.com/761/

Trying out a lot of things for a bit before commiting also seems to be the approach we use as children, I wonder why we forget about it once we're about 20.

parallel 14 years ago | |

I think it's because we start to feel more pressure to succeed and to succeed quickly, so we stop playing and tinkering.

badclient 14 years ago |

1. If you aren’t getting rejected on a daily basis, your goals aren’t ambitious enough

Easier said than balanced, I'd say. I've tried to do things that almost exclusively get me rejected. Sure it fulfills the above. But looking back, it did more to hurt my operational life than make me progress.

Just wanted to point out that you can be rejected too much at which point it may help to score a small victory here and there.

keeptrying 14 years ago | |

Can u share the exact experience you had? I always view this advice to be true when the people your asking stuff from don't know each other and can't talk about u... Ie it would work well in dating and in job interviews but it wouldn't work well in say angel funding int valley where everyone knows each other or hitting on all the women who are friends with each other.

mattikl 14 years ago | |

Yes, creating positive experiences for yourself is a good way to increase your self-confidence and get more inspired. Nobody wants to get rejected, but you may eventually turn getting rejected into something positive. Always good to get reminded of that.

Astrohacker 14 years ago |

The next big thing will start out looking like a toy = bitcoin

jseliger 14 years ago | |

I would wager that just because the next big thing will start out looking at a toy does not equate to everything that looks like a toy will become the next big thing.

wladimir 14 years ago | |

Indeed, payments/currency/money seems to be one of the holdout areas yet to experience a major global disruption by the internet. That doesn't mean the "great new thing" necessarily has to be bitcoin, obviously. But it could be. It also could be that computer security theory and practice first has to be improved for it to be feasible so it'd still be some years away.

Bishop6 14 years ago | | |

Perhaps, but it's coming. Paypal set out to revolutionize payments and finance, and it was a bit before its time. Peter, Max, Luke, et al. wanted to be an online currency, but struggled to stay afloat when the government (understandably) back-lashed against them. They were, after all, trying to destroy the government in many ways.

So Paypal changed their vision, and sold out. Oh well. All's well that ends well. And things certainly ended well for them. But online currency is inevitable. It's just going to take a little longer.

ginzasparrow 14 years ago |

5. Generic advice is generally useless.

staunch 14 years ago | |

Paul Buchheit says it best "limited life experience + over generalization = advice"

kloncks 14 years ago | |

as an entrepreneur, a lot of this is either useful or I've seen first-hand

so I respectfully have to disagree

jgamman 14 years ago | | |

i think that comment was tongue in cheek joke ;-)