Diego and I like to say that "failure sucks but instructs," but all to often, people don't acknowledge or try to learn from their own mistakes and setbacks, let alone share them with others. As such, I was most impressed to see (thanks to Chris and Scott) Mark Goldenson's post-mortem about why his start-up, PlayCafe, didn't make it. Chris and Scott wrote me about it because Mark talks about the knowing-doing gap as one of the ten causes. But the rest of the list is even more interesting. I especially liked this one:
4. Set a dollar value on your time. I agree with Paul Graham that good entrepreneurs are relentlessly resourceful,
but I have a bad habit of bargain-hunting for sport. I spent three
hours negotiating our wireless bill down $100, which was a poor use of
time given our funding. The mantra to pinch pennies ignores the value
of time.
Time is arguably more valuable than money because you can’t raise
more time. Dev suggested pricing our hours. You can divide your
available work hours by salary, remaining funding, or total company
costs. Ours was around $50/hour. If I was going to spend 5 hours
negotiating, I’d have to save at least $250. This value should increase
as you gain funding and traction. For anything greater than $500 at any
stage, I’d still strive for NPR: Never Pay Retail
I think that Mark's post should be required reading for every entrepreneur, and I applaud him for his courage and honesty. I also wish him luck on his new start-up; the post indicates that he starting a health care venture.
