Realize the game you play

Most startups fail. As a startup (read more about what I mean with "startup" here), you are the underdog trying to make it against all odds. Act like it. Don't always go the safe route. To make it, you have to take risks. It's ok to fail.

I have seen so many startup founders not going "all-in". And at times, I had to include myself in this. When the going gets tough, the funding starts to run out and there is no new financing in sight. I, too, fell into the trap of not having seen the game we played.

Yes, as a CEO it's important to protect shareholder interests and make sure the company survives. However, as a Startup founder, a leader and an employer, it is also important to give the company what it needs most: A chance for long-term sustainable growth & business. And that often means taking risks.

A startup, you do not have the comfort to diversify your business offer or try hundreds of approaches at the same time. You need to take bets - ideally multiple bets - and hope that one of these bets will bring the "breakthrough" or a 100x return on investment. Only going the safe route and not taking risks may yield to a slower death, but a death nonetheless. And worse, taking only the safe route may mean not taking a chance at a 100x return at all. In that case, all you have done as a Startup founder is waste time. And worse, waste time without the chance to "make it".

As a startup, it's better to "take bets" and fail fast than to play safe and fail slowly. That's what people mean when they say: "Fail fast, fail forward".