Dave Winer’s uber 1337 p057 r0xx0rz:
“..In tech entrepreneurship, repeat success is rare. Not saying it doesn’t happen, it does, but often, the second time an entrepreneur gives it a go, the venture flops. It’s happened to me, and I’ve seen it happen to a number of others, and I understand the reason.
The first time you ran, you had to sacrifice everything to win. Failure was something you visualized around every corner, but something you could never deal with, so you made sure you didn’t have to. You did whatever it took to make it work.
The second time is different. Now you expect success not failure. You’ve mostly forgotten the sacrificing you did the first time, but you remember some of it, the long hours, the lack of sunshine and exercise or a personal life. This time, you want success on your terms. It’s not enough to win, you have to win the way you (feel you) should have the first time.
Problem is, that’s not how success works. If what you seek is worth something, and as we can see from the Clinton returns, this job certainly is worth something, there will be competitors, and if they don’t bring the same conditions you do, if they’re willing to sacrifice the way you once were but aren’t any longer, well, you’ll lose. As the Clintons are losing…
Remember this when you’re plotting a comeback, you’re going to have to deal with this too, everyone does, or so it seems.”
[This is why VC visionary John Doerr was the only investor I heard saying that he is looking for first-time entrepreneurs only. Me: I feel like I’m starting the business for the first time, have to learn everything from scratch and invest significantly more effort and energy than I have ever done..BUT, however, ’success on your terms’ is honestly how we repeat entrepreneurs / veterans feel like. MUST be aware of it and always force yourself into the alpha mode. How? Allnighters, speed, fight for every client & user, skip holidays, sell something you are affected to (car etc.), use a notebook for all your ideas & keep next to your bed]
(VOTE for my i canhazcheezburger creation!)
1 response so far ↓
jankoM // Apr 9, 2008 at 7:16 am
interested thinking from DW. IMHO he is correct but on the second trip you also have experiences, resources and social capital. except this all can be of very little help if you are trying to nail a thing in a highly hit driven market.
so my second would be on a more predictable market, but who am I to say , I am nowhere near the first one.
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