Failure Comes From Not Following Your Additive Rules
|
| Tweet |
|
Free PDF Download Deep Breath - By Brad Feld |
The cliche “rules were meant to be broken” is a common one in the world of entrepreneurship. Paul Berberian – a great entrepreneur (and dear friend) almost died yesterday when flying his airplane because he broke three of his rules of flying in a row. Paul got lucky and I very glad he’s alive.
As an investor, I’ve developed some rules. These are not absolutes – I break individual rules on a regular basis. These are not “ethical”, “moral”, or “legal” rules; rather they are functional guidelines for helping create companies that I’ve developed over 20+ years of doing this with 100+ companies. If you are an entrepreneur or executive at a company that I’m an investor in (or a co-investor with me) and have ever had to listen to me blather on about a story of something that has happened at another company to illustrate one of my points, you understand what I mean by “a rule.”
While my rules evolve over time, the core principles don’t. Paul’s post illustrated a point that I hadn’t ever really thought about. When you have a set of rules, it’s ok to break one of them, but it’s probably not ok to break two in a row and it might be fatal to break three in a row. In some recursive parallel universe, I guess that’s a rule.
As a result there are two concepts in play: one of “rules” and one of “additive rules.” (Rule_1 or Rule_2 or Rule_3) is very different from (Rule_1 and Rule_2 and Rule_3). The second case is the one that will get you intro trouble.
Being rigid and slaveishly following rules is stupid. Being flexible and breaking three of your rules in rapid succession might be fatal.
Read this article in Brad's blog.
Related Articles
Home
> Entrepreneur-Advice
> Brad Feld
> Failure Comes From Not Following Your Additive Rules
> Google +
|
Free PDF Download Deep Breath - By Brad Feld |
|
About the Author: Brad Feld RSS for Brad's articles - Visit Brad's website Brad Feld is currently a Managing Director at Mobius Venture Capital and has been with the firm since 1996. Prior to Mobius, Brad founded Feld Technologies, which was sold to AmeriData Technologies in 1993, where he became Chief Technology Officer. Brad currently serves on the boards of a number of private companies, including Atreus, Comergent, ePartners, FeedBurner, Gold Systems, Judy's Book, Klocwork, NewsGator, Quova, Rally Software, and StillSecure. In addition, he is on the board of The National Center for Women & Information Technology, The Community Foundation Serving Boulder County, and The Colorado Conservation Trust. Brad has previously been a member of the board of directors of the Young Entrepreneurs Organization and founded the Boston and Colorado chapters. He holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Management Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Click here to visit Brad's website. Post Acquisition Integration Do CEOs Overcompensate for Their Strengths Focusing on the Wrong Thing Learning the Right Lessons from the Amazon Outage Spam Continues to Try To Pollute The Universe |
Related Forum Posts
Share this article. Fund someone's dream.
Share this post and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva.
Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.
Trending Articles
|
|
Like this page? PLEASE +1 it! |
Newsletter
Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!
Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!
Popular Articles
Computer Love
Sales Rep Lame Excuse #83
When Did You Last Put Your Ear To The Ground?
Computer Love
Sales Rep Lame Excuse #83
When Did You Last Put Your Ear To The Ground?
Suggestions
Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.
Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.







