Is it better to burn out or fade away?
There’s a fine line between never giving up and knowing when to quit.
I’ve been in the startup and investing business now for nearly 15 years.
With the benefit of all that hindsight (but definitely not at the time!), I now realise that one of the best things I did in my startup was fail quickly.
Despite raising $2m, our company was finished within 2.5 years.
I was crushed, to be honest. But today, as the Kurgan—and my brother (who loves Highlander)—would say, I agree that in my case it was:
“Better to burn out than to fade away.”
I was 39 when we started our business and 41 when we closed.
That meant I was still young enough to start again (just).
Sure, had we scaled right back, we MIGHT have made it eventually, but we would have put ourselves and our families in even worse positions.
Deep down, we felt this was the wrong move.
So we stopped and reset.
This meant:
- We could earn some much-needed cash.
- We could reduce the intense pressure on our personal lives.
- We could allow ourselves to heal, away from investor overwatch.
- Our investors could realise their losses and tax breaks.
Today, I’m running DQventures and my former co-founder has been part of two Series B success stories.
If and when I finally get my big exit, I’ll have the option to make my previous investors whole, and I won’t have ‘burnt completely out’ in the process.
…
There’s a lot of talk about never giving up, but it’s not that simple.
Sometimes it’s right to keep pushing. At others, you need to shut down.
Investors can’t tell you what to do.
Nor can friends, family, mentors or advisors.
Only you can make that decision.
Trust your gut.
(Having said that, if want to chat to someone who’s been in your shoes, drop me a DM.)
