Fail Fast!

I began playing golf when I was only eight years old. My father taught me the game and was VERY patient with me as a beginner. As is true of most youngsters, I did not always hit my drives particularly straight. So, when in the rough or behind trees, I would try to rationalize taking a risky shot that would propel me well down the fairway toward the hole. He would smile and say “Don, take your medicine now. Chip the ball out safely in to the fairway and then have a clear shot at the green.” I did not always listen at first but it was a great lesson to learn in both golf and life.

Last year, I received an email and then had an extended phone call from a broadcaster who is now (sadly) a former broadcaster. I always admired his energy and his ethics. He told me that his two radio stations were in dire straits and he was struggling to make loan payments. Then, he told me something that really stuck with me. “I have hung on here for nine years. About 18 months in, I knew that this mini-station group was a losing proposition. Five years ago, someone out of the blue offered me a price for the properties that would have allowed me to pay off all my debts plus pocket a few hundred thousand. I turned him down saying that I would turn the business around soon. Clearly, I was wrong but what I did really wrong was not recognize that if you are going to fail and all of us will at one time or another, you need to fail QUICKLY and then move on to something else.”

The idea of failing often but quickly is a trait that is prevalent among some very successful entrepreneurs and large companies as well. As skilled as many companies are with new business development, the savvy players all know that most new products fail. Angel investors and venture capitalists know going in that most of the projects or entities that they bankroll for budding entrepreneurs will go bust. Big companies have strong balance sheet strength and can shrug off the failure of a new product pretty quickly. And, they course correct a great deal as they rollout a new venture if things are not going well. They also are pretty fearless about pulling the plug when they clearly have a loser on their hands.

Smaller players such as the aspiring broadcaster discussed above cannot absorb losses so they get in even deeper instead of “taking their medicine.” Yet today some entrepreneurs have fully embraced the fail but fail quickly approach to business development. Of course, they do some do diligence before a launch. Yet, they do not invest so much time and money in to it, that they lose everything if it implodes as most things do. People who go all in and fail are often psychologically scarred by a big loss and are afraid to try anything again. This paralysis has to kill lots of spectacular ideas.

One entrepreneur told me that she has to have significant interest and passion before pulling the trigger on a venture. She always lines up some amount of O.P.M. (Other People’s Money) prior to launch. Some are angels who have worked with her before and both made and lost money. She says that way if she fails it is before things get too complicated and she can make a quick exit and return a portion of her capital to her backers. They appreciate that very much and are often open to her new ideas of which there are many.

The same person says that failure keeps her humble. Even the most successful ventures have marketing or advertising tests that do not work or flanker products that bomb. She recognizes that she is only human and that the marketplace is unforgiving but generally correct. She even said that failure makes her stronger (I wonder if she has read Nietzsche?). Admittedly, she is far more resilient that almost all of us but her spirit is amazing. She plans on failing a lot in the future but recognizing that failure really equals experience.

Finally, a controversial young billionaire, Mark Zuckerberg, testified before Congress last week. He did not do very well according to most media pundits. One quote of his made several years ago rings very true with me. It is: “The biggest risk is not taking any risk. In a world that is changing very quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.”

If you would like to contact Don Cole directly, you may reach him at doncolemedia@gmail.com