How to Fail
I’ve been sitting on this for a bit now, meaning to write up my thoughts. I’d never heard of Tayler Davidson prior to this post, but it SO resonated with me, I downloaded the PDF, and Kindle-ized it so I could have it all the time, with notes. I’m just gonna post my thoughts on this topic, go to Taylor’s post and read all 25 lessons yourself!
Almost all 25 topics are pretty spot on.
1. Dither, dither, dither; plan, plan, plan.
Instead: Fail fast. Fire, aim, repeat.
So, so easy to do. It’s brain crack to plan and analyze and never act.
6. Focus on the long-term.
Instead: Focus on the short-term.
By virtue of our having no startup capital beyond what we brought to the table, Tom and I are pretty good at keeping the focus on the near term. It’s often said, and 100% true that without near term planning, the long term won’t ever happen.
7. Build prototypes, mockups and samples.
Instead: Start building in a format and medium as close to the finished product as possible, and iterate, iterate, iterate.
Tom and I tend to differ on this one a bit. I’m very much a throw it out there person, he’s more a plan, review, plan type. We usually meet on the middle, which works well. I totally think that it’s not who launches with the best most solid plan that matters, but who launches, listens, and learns.
10. “New, New, New!”
Instead: F*** new. What’s different? What’s better?
Yeah totally. “New, new new” is so sexy, but is a venus fly trap. It doesn’t have to be sexy, it has to be better, add value. Tom and I have seen this in the reviews we get over other events in the same space, that cater to 5k people, have massive expo areas and SWAG galore.
13. Over-promise, over-sell, under-deliver.
Instead: Over-promise, over-sell, over-deliver.
I think we do ok at this, there’s room for improvement at least in my own mind. I think we actually do more promise, under-sell, over-deliver. LOL
14. Be stubborn in the face of failure.
Instead: Be determined in the face of disbelief.
This a tough one. Failure is hard to swallow, disbelief just as much so. Sometimes it’s disbelief internal to us, sometimes it from external sources. We still think it’s possible to have a conference company that can support more than one person Full Time, and not rape attendees and sponsors. We’ve got the value down, now we just need to find the sweet spot for attendees and sponsors. Attendees get us, sponsors don’t mostly. Some do. Some really do, and see that our attendees are the core of who they’d like to talk to. Others still can’t get past “It’s just the two of you?”
17. “I know more than anyone else.”
Instead: If you think you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re the fool.
18. A unanimous decision means we’re all right.
Instead: If everybody agrees, you’re probably all wrong.
We’re really good at never agreeing.
23. Work under “understandings”.
Instead: Create legal agreements as soon as possible.
Possibly our biggest FAIL to date (and ongoing).
24. Everything matters.
Instead: Recognize the difference between “penny-wise” and “pound-foolish”.
This one bites us a lot. Not as much as it used to, but we still focus on things that seem huge to one of us, but once complete, no one cares. It sucks to waste time like that.
July 10th, 2009 at 9:27 am
Thanks; and I'd bet you're doing better at almost all of these than I am myself …
July 10th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
LOL I dunno. I probably coulda wrote 3x more but didn't want to completely depress everyone, LOL
July 10th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
Regarding Number 6…
My whole life has been focused on doing things that are good for the long-term; and I don't regret it.
I agree that it would be foolish to ignore the near-term; but you will just stagnate with no consideration for the long term. With a clear long-term vision, it is much easier to make near term decisions.
As one example that recently happened to me…
The long term vision is to have a successful product company as opposed to a services company. Should I take that year long services consulting job in New York City (~2-3 hours away from home)? It will probably generate more income than I'll see from the product sales for the next 5 years. Therefore it would be a good short-term decision. Cash is king, so having more cash is good!
But it would also prevent the product side of the business from moving forward. How can anyone work 8-10 hour days, commute 4-6 hours a day and still do anything else?
The good short-term decision is not aligned with long term goals; therefore it would be a bad decision.
On the other hand, should I take the one day consulting job for a past client? Yes, it interferes with current product development and support. But, it is only one day out and will generate a small influx of cash, which will keep me in the product business for an extra two day (or more) without having any detriment effect from the customer's stand point.
July 10th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
totally agree. I don't think and hope I didn't come of as saying, that they're mutually exclusive.
However to counter your point, it's easy to focus so far out, small near term decisions and be missed or made badly and have a ripple effect. ie. not taking the New York gig, AND not taking the 1 day.
i think it's kinda akin to focusing on your pacing when you're running a marathon, vs. just focusing on winning it and burning out in the first mile. (I have no idea if that analogy works, I don't run marathons, but it sounded good)
July 10th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
I think we can agree there needs to be a balance of sort between short and long term thinking.
I don't run marathon's either, but I think the analogy is sound. Flextras is a long term model; it only works with a lot of products under our belt. I'm striving for consistency and quality and focusing on building our customer list. As we release more components over time, we hope those early customers will come back, thus making it easier to find a customer base for "Component # 12" than it is for "Component # 1".
From an almost outsider's perspective, it seems to me that this approach has worked for 360|Conferences. Putting on a good show makes it easier to sell the next one.
July 10th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
It's really odd for us. We focus on the short term, i.e. the actual show. However, we realize that our first show in a new market will likely not make much money and that the payoffs will come with later shows. I.e. the new line of show/efforts is long term planning.
July 10th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
From my–admittedly outsider–perspective, I'm not sure I'd say you focus on the short term (AKA Next Show). You've done a lot of stuff in the past year that is beyond the next show, including launching some new shows (InsideRIA / InsideMobile) and expanding the 360 Brand w/ RIAAdventure 360.
It looks like you're thinking 2-3 steps ahead, and I would assume ya'll have a roadmap for 2010.
July 10th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
road map? LOL i think our main/primary goal long term is paying ourselves. Everything goes into that goal. but yeah really, no roadmap for 10 .. yet