Earlier this week I received an email from an entrepreneur whom I admire, with good and bad news. He was pulling the plug on a project weeks before it was due to launch. That was the bad news. The good news was that he had no regrets about it.
Children of the 80s and early 90s will likely recall a beer commercial with the tagline, “Friends know when to say when,” as a nod to drunk driving prevention. In this case, the founder, successful in his own right, knew that it was time to quit before he had even gotten started.
I’ve emailed my support, and I applaud the decisions to quit.
Though quitting is never easy, it can be a far wiser choice than soldiering on in spite of doubts, and admitting A painful defeat later.
You’re always an entrepreneur, whether you’re working on a startup, or you have a boss so that bills get paid. Not every idea is a home run, or the timing could just be off. You might be ahead of the market, or you might be coming at an idea from a bad place, as was the case with this founder.
Knowing yourself is the true journey of the entrepreneur. Creating jobs, solving problems and making money are all side effects of the process. The better we get at this game, the more able we are to fold when we have a bad hand, regroup and start again when we’re good and ready.
