Fail Fast, Fail Cheap, Fail reasonably.
It is okay to fail; fail fast, fail cheap, fail reasonably. It is bit challenging understanding the “F-Word” when you have been raised in an environment that doesn’t embrace failure and encourage constant competition, Africa. No wonder co-founding is not working well at home.
Every failure is an opportunity to learn “fail reasonably”. I have failed in all the startups I have tried to establish in the past 5 years. I have never regret because I didn’t fail, the startup failed, I learned.
Failure is a function of three variables; time, money and experience; until you lost all the three then you can considered yourself to have failed. There is always one which you can save “experience”, something that nobody can take from you unless you ignore it.
“Time” is the most painful variable of the three, “fail fast”. Don’t wait “X” number of years to understand what you are working on is not working. In a battle is always okay to accept defeat so that you can regroup.
Finally, “fail cheap”, habitually we intend to invest much money on the ideas we trust on just because we have money. Failing cheap is an art of every smart serial entrepreneur. Don’t throw in everything unless you are sure you can handle the disappointment.
I haven’t reached yet where I want to be but I’m enjoying the process. It is okay to fail; fail fast, fail cheap and fail reasonably.
