Tag: Dan Wieden

“You’re worth nothing to me unless you’ve had three spectacular failures.” – Dan Wieden

This quote came from a talk at the 2013 SSTI conference in Portland.  Mr. Wieden was speaking about the investor’s perspective on startups.  The point he was making was that more learning comes from failure than from success.

Another way to say it is that previous success does not always predict future success.

Still another way to say it is; failure is not the end of the world.  You take those experiences with you and they inform your world view form then on.

A good friend told me the story of the conversation he had with his wife when they were contemplating starting a company.  The question was raised, “What’s the worst that could happen?”  His wife replied, “well, we’re not going to starve…”

 

 

Blogging Gazelle is published daily by Shawn Carson

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“The trouble with success is, you can’t stop doing what made you successful.” – Dan Wieden

I love my records and still play them.  They still work fine and sound much better than MP3 files.

But markets change.  Technologies change.  Economies change.  What works now likely will not work later and the rate of change today is maddening.

The customer discovery process never ends.  It’s the only way to stay on top of what is changing.  The next thing may not be as good as the last but it doesn’t matter if people stop buying the best in favor of the hip or more convenient.

Talk to your customers every week.  Plug that learning into your plans for what’s next.

Dan Wieden was a panelist at the 2013 SSTI Conference