Entrepreneurship is what keeps this country afloat even in these bad economic times. It is a known fact that small businesses create more jobs than the big boys. Entrepreneurship has also jump-started the economies of countries that escaped the oppression of murderous regimes. People striking out on their own create value, jobs, and wealth for everyone around them and this is an absolutely applaudable achievement. But, why do we glorify the entrepreneur way of life and less than 5% success ratio, rather than looking at what mistakes those 95%+ who failed made, publicizing them, and making sure the new crop never repeats again? In my career I have been part of several failures and many great successes, and I learned more from the failures! I don’t treat the mistakes we made as some kind of know-how to be hidden. Heck, majority of the articles I have written are based on what I have learned from the mistakes. I hope people who I share them with will be less likely to repeat them.
I know I can’t change the mentality of all the old and new entrepreneurs, but if I move 2 or 3 to change and they do the same, we can make a difference. I know some of us walk in shame about our failures and choose to keep them to ourselves, instead of using them to benefit the business community. But we need to get over that and start showing others the path NOT to take. Guy Kawasaki, Steve Blank, and some other entrepreneurs and now investors have no problem publicizing their past failures, so the rest of us can learn from them.
I will leave you with some food for thought: my late father used to say that smart people learn from the mistakes of others and dumb ones want to learn everything on their own.
Hi, my name is Apolinaras Sinkevicius, but most call me Apollo. I am the guy who takes care of the day-to-day business and technology of rapidly growing companies. 12 years in managing the "nuts and bolts" of companies and being a steward of corporate cultures makes me a seasoned operations professional and right hand person to founders and CEOs.
