A VC - Latest Comments in Failure

Re: Failure

thos — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 19:47:00 -0000

Interesting, and long held to be true in all areas of endeavour - from military leadership to business. One thing though, don't be so full of yourself on America-the-beautiful's ability to allow people second bites at the cherry - it's generally held in the English-speaking world, and probably well beyond it, that people who are overnight successes have had several attempts to get there, and they eventually made it because they persisted. I don't think the US has a lock on that.

Re: Failure

markslater — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 07:48:09 -0000

how about this one

is it right?

Re: Failure

svk77 — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 04:33:24 -0000

Am in on the bet with you, Fred. it's gonna happen - healthcare reform. You can make out in the determination of the administration, and it's part of President Obama's core belief system. Read his 2 books. One doesn't pretend to think like this over the years in anticipation.

JLM says:
"Tort reform is such low hanging fruit, such an obvious abuse and would deliver so many Republican votes, it is truly curious that he has not championed this development."

If it is such a low hanging fruit, why hasn't someone fixed it before this? Why damn the person actually doing something about it because it is "easy" to do?

"I suspect it is all a bit too little way too late."

Is it? By what standards? Since he has been there for 8 months and not managed to fix the world? The man has done more n these 8 months than was done in the last 8 years. And if his healthcare plan is too little too late, maybe we should blame the presidents and legislators of the past few decades for not having done it.

Re: Failure

Senthil Balakrishnan — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 08:32:28 -0000

Awesome, I loved it.

Re: Failure

Bruce Lynn — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 05:42:52 -0000

Embracing failure is part and parcel of taking risks. And taking risks is wha entrepreneurship and venture capital is all about. For more quotes, illustrations, books, stories of embacing failure and turning adversity to advantage, my blog - http://brucelynnblog.spaces... - has been exploring this subject for several years now.

For more of Obama's perspectives on embracing failure, check out his SNHU commencement address - http://brucelynnblog.spaces....

Re: Failure

JLM — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 10:30:51 -0000

This debate is not about President Obama v President Bush --- it is about what happens when big financial entrprises stub their toes.

Does Big Government intervene to influence the outcome or does it ensure that the rules were and are being followed and let private enterprise determine its own fate?

One can hardly say that GM was allowed to "fail" given that the government invested huge amounts of money which were simply consumed in the bankruptcy and has emerged as both the DIP lender and the owner of the "saved" enterprise. We, the US taxpayer, lost over $25B in simply delaying the day of reckoning. The arm twisting of legitimate creditors by the Government was unseemly.

The involvement of the UAW and the raw and earthy political implications make it a chillingly scary undertaking.

I agree wholeheartedly that the restoration of "confidence", as ethereal a concept as that might be, is a critical consideration but that is why I find such fault with Candidate Obama's jumping on the "catastrophe" and President Obama's constant harping on the magnitude of the crisis. We need a bit of Churchillian wisdom that we "...shall fight them on the beaches..." --- a real confidence builder.

I suspect that one of President Obama's failings is that he is so smart he discounts the value of cheerleading. He is the Cheerleader in Chief and he needs to get on a skirt and start leading the cheers.

Re: Failure

fredwilson — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 09:24:17 -0000

I'm a centrist but also a realist. This is washington dc we are talking about. He's doing his best to get something done that makes the current system better. Its not what I want but I support it

Re: Failure

fredwilson — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 08:05:02 -0000

JLM does

Re: Failure

fredwilson — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 08:02:03 -0000

Yup

Re: Failure

fredwilson — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 06:25:05 -0000

Nice quote

Re: Failure

fredwilson — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 06:22:02 -0000

Wanna bet on that?

Re: Failure

fredwilson — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 05:51:09 -0000

I believe they all provide some kind of insurance once they have the funds to do that (our funding them is often the starting point as it just was at foursquare)

Re: Failure

fredwilson — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 05:41:03 -0000

He did let GM fail. And Bush let Lehman fail

I believe we had a panic last fall. And the way to fix that is to restore confidence

I think they did that. We can differ on whether they did it intelligenty or prudently (or maybe we can agree they did it unintelligently and imprudently), but I think we have to credit them with a policy that got the job done

Re: Failure

knackeredhack — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 04:58:25 -0000

Hmm, kind of agree. My feeling is that the Dragons may make good TV, but it is not good business TV.

Re: Failure

COMRADITY — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:13:28 -0000

I was disappointed by the healthcare speech. There is so much confusion. I would have preferred he address misperceptions head on instead of with fluffy rhetoric.

The fact is that the original plan was to fine any company that didn't insure its employees and the current bill waives this requirement for small entrepreneurs. Originally we were looking at covering anyone (including potentially the undocumented), that is not the case now. Rather than acknowledging this compromise, the word "universal" was not used to describe the plan. The public option is just that: a public option. It is not a single payer system.

I understand that he risked further alienating the left by acknowledging these compromises. So he made a choice - is it better to avoid alienating the left - or acknowledge the compromises that have been made. Which is more critical to winning support from the critical center?

K. Warman Kern (@comradity)

Re: Failure

COMRADITY — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:54:11 -0000

Logo at Leo Burnett - back in the day - was a hand reaching for the stars with slogan "When you reach for the stars you may not catch one, but you won't come up with a handful of mud."

Some folks just have a way with words. Wish I did.

K. Warman Kern (@comradity)

Re: Failure

markallenroberts — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:33:48 -0000

Great post,

Our failures help us get it right the next time. Through adversity we shape and build our leadership muscles.

There are lessons all around us if we just frame them as so, without the emotional attachments that often cloud our ability to see.
For example, the 2009 health care reform has a number of lessons for entrepreneurs that I shared in my blog post: 12 Lessons All Leaders Can Learn About Launching New Products and Services …From the 2009 Health Care Reform http://nosmokeandmirrors.wo...

Keep in mind the failures you learn from do not always need to be your own.
Mark Allen Roberts

Re: Failure

COMRADITY — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:32:05 -0000

keeps lots of really competent people out of politics and probably dilutes the effectiveness of many who are in office

Re: Failure

Carl Rahn Griffith — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:43:55 -0000

Lol, yup. The owner of the plane was even more happy to see me - at the time some $50k worth of brand new Grob 109.

Re: Failure

Carl Rahn Griffith — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:41:54 -0000

David started it.

;-)

Re: Failure

jturner — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:41:35 -0000

While Obama is a good speaker and can get a lot of people to cheer for him, I think there are plenty of other people to quote good things from, rather than a president who is trying to turn our country into a socialist nation by bailing out shareholders of banks at taxpayer expense and trying to fund universal healthcare at taxpayer expense. I think the history books will look back on him as a terrible president who contributed significantly to destroying the value of our currency.

And one of the only ways for the average person to currently protect their wealth from this currency debasement and deficit building is to invest in gold related assets. There are some articles at http://www.goldalert.com/ that further discuss the government's policies and its potential effects on the gold price. There are severe long term inflationary consequences of all of this money printing, and some of these involve the potential failure of our currency.

Re: Failure

Carl Rahn Griffith — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:40:01 -0000

Personally, the few times I have subjected myself to watching it, I find the UK Dragons Den to be facile and patronising. Hideous 'Dragons' 'personalities' and largely negative, being primarily a showcase for the Dragons boorish egos to parade themselves. Never seen the USA version - I'd hope it to be vastly different!

Re: Failure

scott crawford — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:19:17 -0000

Oh serendipity. Read your post this morning. Then happened to just now pick up a book of daily meditations, turned to the reading for today's date, and was greeted by this: "Some of the best lessons we ever learn, we learn form our mistakes and failures...The error of he past is the wisdom and success of the future." -- Tryon Edwards.

Fail early, fail often!

Re: Failure

JLM — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:01:38 -0000

Tort reform is such low hanging fruit, such an obvious abuse and would deliver so many Republican votes, it is truly curious that he has not championed this development.

It would also define his independence from the Fidel Castro-Nancy Pelosi winglet of the Democratic party. It is a lost opportunity.

He may have backed the ambulance over a couple of toes, but he did not throw anybody under the bus.

I suspect it is all a bit too little way too late.

I love the pomp of the President speaking to the Congress. The speech was well written and well delivered. If only President Obama's speeches and governance gee hawed. He had a nice edge and challenge in his voice --- a splash of theatre.

I could have predicted the Ted Kennedy reference but it all comes down to a simple question --- "...or what?"

If the Congress does not produce the bill he wants, what happens? The Democrats are not scared of him and the Republicans are not engaged. He has shut them out. He needed to triangulate and he flat lined.

He has lost any possible bi-partisan support by having rolled with the Democrats and having excepted the Republicans. If his actions had met his campaign rhetoric, he would have the bill he wants.

Dean Smith has already signalled the 4-corners and Phil Ford has the ball. Healthcare reform is dead.

Re: Failure

JLM — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:47:32 -0000

He's a skinny, wiry guy so maybe it's not much of a throat!