The downside to business failure, especially for young people, is that you (usually) get a BETTER job working for someone else. And that’s if you get hit in the head by a bat and forgot all your business lessons learned.

In other words, I can’t really see a downside.

Young people, please ignore Welch’s advice in this respect.

I’ve never seen an official study, but just from talking with other entrepreneurs it seems to be a common pattern that they all had several failed businesses before starting one that really worked.

This is part of the reason I like to talk about starting a business for less than $100. No risk to your credit, no capital to raise, etc.

It’s not to say you should try a business with the assumption of failure, but failing is the best way to learn and get successful…so you might as well do it quickly and inexpensively if you’re going to do it.

So I think it’s sort of silly to worry so much, as Jack says, about making sure your business idea is perfect. Try it! That’s the only way you’re really going to know. By telling people they need the perfect business idea, it just scares them to never take action at all.
Brian

I’m a bit confused. According to my interpretation of Brian Armstrong’s review of Jack Welch’s comments, Brian does not state that”there is nothing like a good idea”, but rather infers that
coming up with the proverbial next idea is not necessary. Also - something to ponder; how much time and money (whether your own, or other people’s, are you willing to spend, or should I dare say gamble on, just testing the waters by diving into business and trying to stay afloat whilst learning the ropes to succeed in bringing in the sales, cash-flow, and sustainability needed to make or break a business? For that matter why bother going to school, or learning the ropes by working for someone, if you’re just going to “wing it”? Very few people are like Bill Gates, and even though he dropped out of college, he was considered
one smart, self-educated cookie, compared to his peers! And even Bill had co-founders and a team of people who helped him jump through the hoops so he wouldn’t have to experiment a whole lot. I believe Mr. Gates was the exception, and not the rule. Fail a few times in business and you’ll literally watch your credit, and ability to raise capital for the next endeavor to be that much harder. Yes, I think that too much time can be wasted on vascilating when it comes to thinking of an idea, or writing the business plan, or just waiting around till you’re not afraid to leave your job first. I believe it’s a myth that an entrepreneur is a flat out risk taker. They are confident people who push things forward, yes, but they take only calculated risks. It’s kind of like real estate investing where you can actually make the profit on the back end come out buy buying right in the first place. You must know how to crunch the numbers first in order to accomplish that, and know about the market as well as the neighborhood itself to do it. I would never advise to dive in and just hope and think that sheer hard work or effort will somehow bail you out. Some people procrastinate and that is a personality defect or habit that must be recognized in the person, by the person himself, and efforts made to break or overcome this if that is the case. An Idea, is only just that, if you do nothing. Do your due diligence first to make sure the numbers look good, then get the heck off the fence and do something with the passion to pull it off over any obstacles that will invariably surface along the way.

Good luck in your future endeavors,
Bruce Donohue

Your Analysis was Good. I reallty liked your courage to express your view point against Jack.

You are correct, there is nothing like a Good Idea, we have to try it out and learn and take it from There.

Cheers
Jogendra Nath

Brian