Sonia Lin - Secret to Startup Failure: Fail Fast. Fail Cheap. Fail Happy.

I came, I saw, I failed.

Success is one-percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent failure.

If you havent succeeded yet, keep failing.

The unfailed life is not worth living.

When in the wrong, fail as the wrong men do.

Be the failure you want to see in the world.

To every success there is always opposed an equal failure.

Call no man happy until he fails.

A success is worth a thousand failures.

You can fail all the things some of the time, and some of the things all the time, but you cannot fail all the things all the time.

Fail Fast. Fail Cheap. Fail Happy.

SONIA LIN

Secret to Startup Failure: Fail Fast. Fail Cheap. Fail Happy. by Sonia Lin

2014 by Sonia Lin. All rights reserved.

Cover design by n23art
Edited by Marta Tanrikulu
Illustrated by Sonia Lin

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author or publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Although every precaution has been taken to verify the accuracy of the information contained herein, the author and publisher assume no responsibility for any errors or omissions. No liability is assumed for damages that may result from the use of information contained within.

http://EntrepreNos.com

eISBN: 978-0-9914265-0-8

To all entrepreneurs
who are crazy enough to keep failing.

CONTENTS

This book germinated from the webcomic series EntrepreNos: Secret to Startup Failure that I have been maintaining to illustrate and ridicule the lack of work-life balance in a startup. While my own startup experience serves as the major inspiration of these comics, the readers of the series who are mostly entrepreneurs, developers, and people with other roles who are influencers and enthusiasts in the startup scene have been expressing how accurately these comics reflect the ups and downs of their startup life, in a subtle and funny way that only startup people understand well.

This book is meant to take the comics further into advice on different aspects of a startup life while serving as a light, enjoyable read. It doesnt teach success. It doesnt teach how to code or run a business. Its about sustainability at all levels that serves as the foundation for long-term success in an entrepreneurial career. While the title Secret to Startup Failure is meant to be tongue-in-cheek, as so many startup resources and experts are trying to give advice on success rather than failure, theres a dose of secrecy implied, as the startup world for many people is still a black box despite what a thriving community it is today. This book is going to help people who are in the dark.

It couldnt have been more mysterious to me when I first treaded into the startup scene as someone who had never devoted my studies to business or computer science, in a city where I had barely lived for a little more than one year after finishing my Masters degree. It was Chicago, where Groupon had just become a household name, where business schools were starting to breed entrepreneurs including Northwestern, where I had just graduated from where startup events were starting to burst the calendar and be hard to choose among. Life was filled with possibilities, and we my co-founder and I took nearly every single one of them. We had immense passion and energy, and we did everything deeming a startup successful and never slacked on the hours. We achieved some milestones that looked like a sure ticket to success top prize of a business competition, national media coverage, endorsements from numerous organizations, and on and on. This early prodigy also enabled us to attract talent that injected new energy to the startup on a continuous basis.

After all these endeavors and achievements, the startup still failed to grow into a sustainable business. It seems like we tried too hard, but we got it all wrong. None of us had worked in a startup and we had no idea what productivity and growth look like. We mistook red tape for growth. We mistook politics for discussions. We mistook fame for validation. So many years of experience, coming from so many talented individuals we were able to recruit, rendered a startup that looked nice and professional instead of producing something real. We were already operating like a corporation, but without a steady revenue stream yet, and the attention needed for the product was constantly diverted to trivial discussions that continuously drained our resources.

And above all, we were not happy, and our lives were completely out of balance. We wanted everything done right and well, yet we never got to that point because we already had taken too many matters into our own hands. The company wasnt driven by passion to create a change anymore. It drowned in its self-defined infinite loop in which the condition could never be met, and one simply had to try to escape before being further stuck. Its not a lifestyle worth living again, not because it was crazy, but because it was crazy AND it didnt get us a successful, sustainable startup.

What I believe was missing from it was balance what distinguishes work from life, day from night, different times of the day from each other, what regulates our rhythm and sets a limit on our indulgence when technology and connectivity trick us into thinking were invincible. We needed balance to give perspective, to separate the important from the trivial, to contrast good and bad, to give the peace of mind to set priorities when overwhelmed by possibilities. We needed balance to give distance for mutual respect and appreciation, freedom for ownership and creativity, room for trial-and-error, as those are what separate startups from all corporations, that leverage individual power to defy the masses and create unique value.

While there is much literature out there about startups, it won't make you laugh, but this one will. While there are enough experts telling the secret to startup success, this book tells you how to fail safely in preparation for the next big success. While everyone is saying you are not doing enough, this book says to make smart decisions on how to spend limited time and energy for sustainability and nobody should care about that more than you.

So heres my secret to startup failure fail fast, fail cheap, and fail happy.

Sonia Lin
January 2014

EntrepreNos.com

WHO THIS BOOK IS FOR

This book is for those who want to change the world and need a better idea of what a startup life is about besides the story of a garage and a bunch of college kids the world is feeding them. While there are many rewarding, successful career paths out there that are equally demanding, those who choose this path deserve a salute for the possibility of no reward and a tumultuous life waiting ahead. This book is so they know it can really be that cool, not because they are going to rule the world, but because itll probably suck, and theyll still power through it and make a difference.

This book is also for those who have been on an entrepreneurial journey that turned out less successful than expected. As the book is based on the belief that long-term sustainability is the real game, not the short-term validations that are more noticeable, it reminds them they are on the way to their big break and they are not alone. This book will give them a new perspective on many funny and trivial things in a startup life that at times can seem like life or death.