There’s possibly a million pieces of advice that aspiring entrepreneurs can find on the Internet about what to do to be successful. However, it’s equally important to know what not to do, and in such cases it’s much better to learn from somebody else’s experience.

Check out: 4 Key Lessons From a Startup’s Spectacular Failure

.

Listen

.

Glossary

• defunct – no longer existing or functioning
• bold – showing a willingness to take risks; confident and courageous
• dubious – hesitating or doubting
• hubris – excessive pride or self-confidence
• lull – calm or send to sleep, typically with soothing sounds or movements
• dwindle – diminish gradually in size, amount, or strength

.

Think about it

Answer the questions below.

• What did Shai Agassi promise?
• What problems was Better Place hit with?
• What does the author say about entrepreneurs’ confidence? Where did Agassi go wrong?
• When does the problem of complacency often arise?

.

Practice makes perfect

Fill in the blank spaces with the missing words. Use ONE word per blank space.

There’s nothing wrong ________ getting excited when you come ________ with a groundbreaking idea. The tricky thing is to remember that the idea doesn’t exist inside ________ vacuum and there are more factors than enthusiasm contributing to ________ success or failure.

________ CONFIDENT and a lack of ________ PREPARE will doom your idea from the get-go, but if you ________ your research, consider your customers, continue to innovate and keep a firm grip ________ your company’s financials, you can avoid these catastrophic mistakes.

.

Explore it more

(795)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download