November 16th, 2019
Now it's been about two weeks since I was rejected by YC. Things feel a lot better now and it's starting to feel smaller and smaller.
I recently read a Paul Graham blog post about "how not to die", more specifically how not to let your startup die. PG says that they might achieve a 50% success rate at YC.
I have my down days, but I know in my heart of hearts that I will have a 100% success rate.
It's hard to imagine failing at a startup, now. But maybe it's because I see failure differently.
In a startup that raises capital, I guess you can fail when you run out of money, but when that happens, what do you do next? Go start another startup? That's what I would do. But some people might never do it again, and go back to corporate/academia/investing.
I think that's the difference between them and me. I'm not scared of failing because I can't fail. For me, failure is not attached to one specific idea or business - failure is giving up.
When Michael Scott is negotiating the sale of his new paper company to Dunder Mifflin, he has a sudden aura of confidence, and says this:
I recently read a Paul Graham blog post about "how not to die", more specifically how not to let your startup die. PG says that they might achieve a 50% success rate at YC.
I have my down days, but I know in my heart of hearts that I will have a 100% success rate.
It's hard to imagine failing at a startup, now. But maybe it's because I see failure differently.
In a startup that raises capital, I guess you can fail when you run out of money, but when that happens, what do you do next? Go start another startup? That's what I would do. But some people might never do it again, and go back to corporate/academia/investing.
I think that's the difference between them and me. I'm not scared of failing because I can't fail. For me, failure is not attached to one specific idea or business - failure is giving up.
When Michael Scott is negotiating the sale of his new paper company to Dunder Mifflin, he has a sudden aura of confidence, and says this:
If tomorrow my company goes under, I will just start another paper company, and then another and another and another. I have no shortage of company names.
Maybe it won't be this project, or the next one, but I know that I will be successful because I won't give up, and I will just keep working at it until I'm set for life (and hopefully at an early age).