Every start-up can succeed
Failing to hit the market with your start-up is sad, but it’s not the worst thing that can happen to you. Denying that your initiative is failing if it is, is definitely something that can make you waste the most precious thing you have as an entrepreneur: your time. More or less, this what Christian Perry states in his article “7 things I learned in my start-up failing“ (read it, it’s really good).
On the other side I remember a completely different approach that helped building one of the first Internet businesses based on freeware: Hotmail. When Bhatia Sabeer created Hotmail in late 90s, he didn’t get frustrated after that 20 VCs refused to finance his idea, and more important he didn’t give up to look for the right partner who could keep his company to grow. I remember this fact (really well described in Po Bronson bestseller The Nudist on the Late Shift) because everybody must remember that there’s no way to get a well defined pattern to identify a start-up of success, if not just after it has succeeded. Great entrepreneurs like Sabeer will be remembered because of they fight with the Valley and won: not everybody could have said NO to an offer of $350 ML by Microsoft.
So, every start-up has its own story and every entrepreneur has a different way to promote and sustain his baby. I really believe the truth is that every idea can succeed and be transformed in a major hit, but probably there are a few ways to make it happen. We must keep finding the right one.
By the way, I guess that being in Silicon Valley helps :)
