One of our goals at Found|READ is to create an environment where founders feel free to talk about topics or issues they don’t even want to _think_ about, much less discuss in an open forum. Such topics might include: their strategic missteps; failure; or most loathsome, giving up. By sharing these difficult experiences we’ll all learn a thing or two, be less likely to repeat them, and be better founders for it.
*One ugly topic I’m interested in is quitting.* We all take it for granted that most startups fail. That even the most successful entrepreneurs have to try more than once, with more than one business idea, to find their ultimate success. We usually forget to talk about the less attractive, but necessary, stages that come in between the first (‘starting-up’), and the last (‘success’) — which is to say we avoid talking about the failures that come in the middle.
We go to lengths to celebrate “serial entrepreneurs” who never to give up, succeed more than once, or refuse to retire. What gets lost is that successful entrepreneurs, especially the repeat winners, are not only people who “keeping trying.” These are the founders who know when it’s time to abandon one idea that isn’t quite working, to move on to the next idea, which might. Stamina is an admirable quality in a founder, for sure. Knowing when to “say when” is a _quality of judgement_ that entrepreneurs need to possess, too.
So I was excited to discover yesterday a new book by marketing guru “Seth Godin”:http://www.sethgodin.com/sg/bio.asp, about just this topic called, “The Dip: A little book that teaches you when to quit (and when to stick)”:http://www.amazon.com/Dip-Little-Book-Teaches-Stick/dp/1591841666/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-2118619-3581261?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1187199452&sr=1-1. Seth is a pundit, blogger and author of many best-selling tomes, including the one the really put him on the national map, “Purple Cow”:http://www.sethgodin.com/sg/books.asp, about how to make your company remarkable.
“In Seth’s own post on Squiddo”:http://www.squidoo.com/theDipBook/, he writes:
“*The old saying is wrong — winners do quit, and quitters do win.* Every new project (or job, or hobby, or company) starts out exciting and fun. Then it gets harder and less fun, until it hits a low point…then you find yourself asking if the goal is even worth the hassle. Maybe you’re in a Dip-a temporary setback…What really sets superstars apart from everyone else is the ability to escape dead ends quickly, while staying focused and motivated when it really counts….Winners *quit fast, quit often, and quit without guilt* — until they commit to beating the right Dip for the right reasons. In fact, *winners seek out the Dip. They realize that the bigger the barrier, the bigger the reward for getting past it*…Losers, on the other hand, fall into two basic traps. Either they fail to stick out the Dip-they get to the moment of truth and then give up-or they never even find the right Dip to conquer.”
I think we could all benefit from getting more comfortable with the notion of quitting, if for nothing else than to take the fear and shame out of it. Success, after all, lies on the other side. I encourage you to add *The Dip* to your business library — we’re adding to the Found|READ books list.
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