Better off lucky than Smart?
Victor Burke
5 replies
Starting a business from scratch is almost impossible... that's the simple, honest truth. Taking an idea and trying to mold that into something real, something tangible that people can believe in, is beyond challenging.
I've had a go... three times so far, so I should know whether a business will be a success, but I honestly don't. I don't think that you could ever know.
Quibi, who launched earlier this year, was a prime example - the most amazingly talented people with all the money in the world and a whole army of analysts supporting everything they were saying. Even still, they got it horribly wrong!
I wonder what it takes to create that magic, that something special?
I have a great partner with an incredible team and a platform that genuinely changes people's lives. We've worked hard for over a year and thrown everything we have at this...Everything, but I guess everyone who starts a business does, so there are no medals for risking it all.
What I do know is that there's no 'Silver bullet.' It takes all of the above and heaps of good luck to even have a chance. We are about to launch Dosen.io and my hopes are high... not just for me but our small team, a group who've come together simply because we believed in this fantastic idea.
It could be a lot of things that guarantee success, but my father (Lord rest him) used to joke that
"you're better off lucky than smart," and there's a whole lot of truth in that!
I’d love to hear how luck has played its part in your journey.
Here's to being lucky for Dosen.io!!!
Replies
Khalid Belghiti@khalid_b
What is luck anyway? Yes an unexpected pandemic might have been bad luck for a platform that was planning to entertain people mainly while commuting. But I think, despite all their talent, Quibi did many things wrong... their cost per minute for some short movies was the highest in the industry's history so it's not only about bad luck here.
I think success is depending on so many factors (market response, competition, pricing,...) that sometimes it gets difficult to understand why we fail or succeed. Then we associate it to good or bad luck :)
This being said, good luck with your project! ;)
Share
It is a bone-chilling truth that no matter the amount of hard work you put into a venture, luck does play a part.
Now - not just any 'dumb' luck. Some encounters, some events, some uncontrollable events can change the destiny of a venture for better or for worse.
But it's the job of the founders to try and anticipate, mitigate, always have about 100 lines in the pond. You can never truly know which one will bite. But you owe to yourself and your team to do your utmost best to cover as much ground as possible.
Then, "magically", luck may happen. I do believe strongly that success contains a part of luck. And it's scary. But I certainly also think that you look for luck.
Well - good "luck"! ;)
People will say that luck is a factor, and I do agree but at certain point luck does run out. That is where the tea begins, how do you deal with the stuff when nothing his going your way everything tends to go south. The real deal is how do you scamper yourself from that.
I think that the smart has more chances, although luck also plays a big role.