When was the last time you were “freshly” sent a newsletter with an article that was almost 10 years old?! And it rang true, and was immediately valuable and actionable? On February 28, 2023 I received “The only way to guarantee startup success” – from July 29, 2014 – I had just signed up for new newsletter and thought this has got to be a joke of some crazy spam. Really? Guarantee startup success? Honestly surprised it wasn’t caught by spam filter.
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Ok you tricky email, since I know I signed up for this newsletter, I know it can’t be crazy spam. Can it? The email was tiny, just a few sentences and a link:
Everyone said this would be the most embarrassing moment in the band’s eight-year career.
Depeche Mode had decided to play the Pasadena Rose Bowl — capacity 60,000 — for the 101st show of their 1988 tour. To sell out would make it one of the largest music concerts ever played in America — highly unlikely for an English electronic band. Claiming they were popular enough to fill that stadium was an audacious act of bravado that critics were eager to see transform to humiliation as they played to a vast, near-vacant space, mocked by the each of the tens of thousands of empty seats.
Either through witchcraft or a generous universe, the email got me … Depeche Mode is my favorite band (well at least for most of my life it has been). Dare I click the link …
To stop burying the lede, this is from Jason Cohen’s, A Smart Bear, The only way to guarantee startup success. In a perfect world, this should summarize your startup (or career):
If you look back and say “That was a wonderful time in my life. I’m glad I did it, and I’d do it again. Sure I would do some things differently — is that not true of anything? — but I’m proud of what I did and I’m stronger and wiser today than ever before. I created terrific jobs, where great people were empowered to build important things together, who were comfortable and safe, who shared in the bounty of whatever upside we could muster, and who themselves would also say they’re personally fulfilled just as I am.”
Then you win.
As a side note, this really really helps with good old fashioned FOMO and Imposter Syndrome.