My Failed Startup Story.
Summary
TLDRIn this reflective video, Daniel Whitson shares his experience with a healthcare app startup that became one of his biggest failures. He discusses the initial excitement and eventual realization that his heart wasn't in the venture, leading to a loss of significant personal savings. Whitson emphasizes the importance of passion in any endeavor and the value of resilience, as he learned from his mistakes and reinvented himself, finding success in other areas such as YouTube and professional speaking.
Takeaways
- π The speaker shared a personal story about their biggest failure, which was joining a healthcare app startup.
- π‘ They were initially attracted by the innovative idea and the potential to become a tech startup billionaire.
- πΌ The speaker had a background in marketing and consulting, which they believed would be beneficial to the startup.
- πΈ They invested a significant amount of personal savings into the startup, totaling around $60,000 to $70,000 over two and a half years.
- π€ There were challenges within the team, including differing ideals and work ethics, which hindered the startup's progress.
- π The startup faced continuous re-planning and re-strategizing, which led to a lack of tangible progress.
- π The speaker felt embarrassed about the failure and struggled with the decision to quit, taking about six months to accept the reality.
- π‘ A key lesson learned was the importance of aligning one's passion with their work, as the speaker realized they didn't truly care about the technology they were promoting.
- π The experience taught the speaker about resilience and the acceptance that not all ventures will succeed as planned.
- π Since the failure, the speaker has reinvented themselves, finding success and passion in other areas such as YouTube and professional speaking.
- πͺ The speaker encourages viewers to keep trying new things but also to recognize when it's time to move on to something more fulfilling.
Q & A
What was the main reason the speaker decided to join a healthcare app startup?
-The speaker joined the healthcare app startup because they thought it was a good innovative idea and believed their experience in marketing and background in consulting and professional speaking could help grow the app.
What were the speaker's initial fantasies about being part of a tech startup?
-The speaker initially fantasized about becoming a tech startup billionaire, driving fancy cars, flying first class around the world, and speaking on stages about creating innovative technology.
How did the speaker describe the team dynamics and work ethic within the startup?
-The speaker described the team dynamics as having different ideals and work ethics, with many discussions, meetings, and re-planning, which led to things not getting off the ground.
What financial loss did the speaker experience during the startup venture?
-The speaker lost around sixty to seventy thousand dollars of their personal savings trying to keep themselves afloat while working on the app.
How did the speaker feel about their failure in the startup?
-The speaker felt embarrassed about failing at something they thought they should be good at and didn't know how to fix or solve the situation.
What was the speaker's realization about their skills and abilities after the startup failure?
-The speaker realized that their skills and abilities were not in the tech startup world and that they had been misled by the seductive appeal of Silicon Valley.
Why did the speaker struggle with the decision to quit the startup?
-The speaker struggled with quitting because they are a persistent person who keeps pushing, and it took them about six months to admit that the startup was not going to be successful.
What was the biggest lesson the speaker learned from the startup failure?
-The biggest lesson the speaker learned was that they didn't truly love or have passion for the work they were doing in the startup, which they believe was a significant reason for its failure.
How has the speaker reinvented themselves after the startup failure?
-After the failure, the speaker has reinvented themselves in business and found new passions such as YouTube and professional speaking, which have re-energized them and led to the success they were seeking.
What advice does the speaker have for those who might be experiencing a similar failure?
-The speaker advises to keep going and trying new things, but also to realize when your heart isn't in it and it might be time to move on and find something that makes you shine.
Outlines
π Startup Failure and Lessons Learned
The speaker shares a personal story about their involvement in a healthcare app startup that ultimately failed. They had high hopes of becoming a tech startup billionaire, investing both time and money into the venture. Despite their background in marketing and consulting, they found themselves out of their depth in the tech world. The startup faced challenges due to differing ideals and work ethics among team members, leading to constant re-planning without any tangible progress. Over two and a half years, the speaker estimates losing $60,000 to $70,000 of personal savings. They express embarrassment and a sense of failure, which led to a reassessment of their skills and abilities, realizing that the tech startup world was not their forte. The speaker also discusses the allure and potential pitfalls of the tech industry, including the prevalence of unfounded confidence and the rarity of true success stories. They conclude by acknowledging the importance of resilience and learning from failure, even if it means admitting that a venture is not going to succeed.
π‘ The Importance of Passion in Entrepreneurship
In the second paragraph, the speaker delves deeper into the reasons behind the startup's failure, highlighting a lack of passion for the technology and industry as a critical factor. They clarify that their primary motivation was financial gain rather than a genuine interest in the product or the sector. The speaker observes a common trend in the tech industry where many are driven by the prospect of wealth rather than a desire to innovate or make a meaningful impact. They emphasize the importance of loving what you do as a key to success. The speaker has since moved on to find new passions and success in other areas, such as YouTube and professional speaking. They encourage viewers to persevere and explore new opportunities but also to recognize when it's time to abandon a venture that doesn't align with one's true interests. The speaker ends on a note of acceptance and contentment, suggesting that success can be found in various forms and that it's essential to find one's own path, regardless of societal expectations.
Mindmap
Keywords
π‘Startup
π‘Failure
π‘Innovation
π‘Investment
π‘Passion
π‘Resilience
π‘Fantasy
π‘Work Ethic
π‘Self-Actualization
π‘Reinvention
π‘Community
Highlights
The speaker shares a personal story about a significant failure in their life.
They recount their involvement in a healthcare app startup, which they initially thought was a great idea.
The speaker had fantasies of becoming a tech startup billionaire and the lifestyle that came with it.
Despite a lack of experience, they invested money and quit their career to focus on the startup.
The speaker discusses the challenges of working with a team that had different ideals and work ethics.
They admit to wasting sixty to seventy thousand dollars of personal savings over two and a half years.
The speaker expresses embarrassment and a sense of failure for not being as successful as they had hoped.
A key lesson learned was the realization of their own skills and abilities, and where they were not suited.
The speaker reflects on the allure and potential pitfalls of the tech startup world.
They acknowledge the reality that most startups do not succeed, and they were part of that majority.
The speaker talks about the difficulty of admitting defeat and the decision to quit the startup.
They emphasize the importance of resilience and learning from failure.
The speaker shares the insight that they did not truly love the work they were doing, which contributed to the failure.
They advise that if one's heart is not in their work, it might be time to find something more fulfilling.
The speaker has since reinvented themselves and found success in other areas, such as YouTube and professional speaking.
The speaker concludes by encouraging viewers to keep trying new things but to also recognize when to move on.
Transcripts
so i thought i'd try something a little
bit different this week and that is to
tell you a bit of a story a story about
one of the biggest failures in my life
and some of the lessons that i learned
as a result of it i know some of you
have asked me to share a little bit more
about my personal life and what i do and
things like that and so hopefully this
is in the vibe of what you like but
today we're going to talk about my
startup failure story so several years
ago i decided to become a part of a
healthcare app
startup that was something that i
thought at the time was a really good
innovative idea i met someone who had
started building this technology and
with my experience in marketing and my
background in consulting and
professional speaking i thought i could
be a great partner someone who could
actually help to grow the app now in the
back of my mind i had all these
fantasies of becoming a tech startup
billionaire you know i was fantasizing
that i was going to drive all these
fancy cars i was going to fly first
class around the world i'd be talking on
stages about how i created this really
innovative technology and how is this
amazing in innovative founder all this
kind of crap the truth was that i didn't
know what the hell i was doing but i put
some money into the app i decided to
invest my time into it and i essentially
quit my other career to spend most of my
time working on trying to promote and
market and build interest in this new
technology now the problem is when
you're working on a team with other
people very often you have different
ideals and different work ethics and i'm
not saying anything specific to
criticize the people i worked with but
there was a lot of discussions and
meetings and re-planning and
re-strategizing and things never really
actually got off the ground and in fact
over two and a half years i think i
probably wasted maybe sixty to seventy
thousand dollars of my own personal
savings trying to keep myself afloat
while we were trying to launch this app
of course there was always the promise
that one day it was going to be worth a
lot of money and that we were going to
make a ton of money when we sold it or
that we got a proper investment or
whatever but it never came to fruition
and the thing was at the time i really
felt kind of embarrassed about the fact
that i was failing at something that i
thought i should be good at and i didn't
really know how to fix it i didn't know
how to solve it for myself but that was
an important lesson for me because there
are times in your life where you think
you're going to do something you're
going to be great at something maybe you
have a fantasy like i did thinking
you're going to excel in some certain
area of your life and you just don't and
that's just the way it is unfortunately
and i think for me in this time in my
life i had a real wake-up call about
what my skills and my abilities were as
a person and they certainly weren't in
the tech startup world you know the
world of technology and apps and you
know all that kind of stuff silicon
valley all that different stuff it's
very seductive and it's very appealing
and i'm not trying to criticize anyone
who has ambitions in that area to do
something for themselves but there is
also a lot of fakeness and a lot of
and a lot of people talking out
their asses when they don't really know
what they're talking about and they're
making things up as they go and
sometimes that does work there are
occasions we've seen companies you know
go from nothing to become unicorns and
their founders become billionaires as a
result of not knowing what they were
doing but making it work but the vast
majority don't succeed and i was one of
those cases as i said i initially
invested my own money my own savings
into
the startup and then i also probably
wasted another 50 to 60 000 of my own
money my own money that i'd saved i
wasted keeping myself afloat while our
app was supposed to be being built and
was supposed to grow and develop in the
marketplace which it never did now i'm
not trying to say that i'm not at fault
at all there are certainly things i
could have done better i could have had
better skills i could have had a better
reality check knowing that you know i
wasn't going to succeed as soon as i
thought i was we weren't going to make
the kind of money that we thought we
were but after that experience
especially towards the end when i
realized that this was going nowhere i
really struggled with giving up the
ghost with actually quitting on my dream
or my you know desire to be successful
in this area it took me probably six
months to finally admit to myself that
this is not going to be a success and
that was a really tough decision for me
because i'm the kind of person where i
will persist with something and i will
keep pushing myself and that's why i
wanted to share this today i know it's a
bit of a different video for me but i
wanted to share the reality that
sometimes things don't work out like you
think i am an optimistic positive
forward-thinking person i'm a person who
believes in self-actualization and
personal growth but there are times in
your life where you will make a decision
and it doesn't work out the way you want
to that's why i want to share this this
week is just a little bit of an insight
into something where i made a big
mistake in my life i certainly paid for
it financially and time wise and in
personal setbacks but it also taught me
resilience and it taught me that
sometimes even though something doesn't
work out it's still worth giving it a
shot and at least you know at the end of
the day probably though the biggest
lesson that i learned from my startup
failure was that i didn't like the work
even though i had all these dreams and
aspirations to be rich from this
technology that i invested in and that i
was putting my time and effort into
trying to promote the truth was i didn't
really care i wasn't passionate about
the industry i wasn't passionate about
the technology i just thought that it
was a good way to make money and you see
this a lot you know in the technology
world where everyone says they're going
to change the world through their app or
their software or whatever the truth is
a lot of people we're just out for the
money and we don't really have that love
and passion for it and that was probably
the biggest mistake i made i didn't love
what i was doing therefore i didn't put
everything into it and that's a big
reason why i believe it failed for me my
friends i wanted to share this this week
as a little bit of a different video
hopefully it gives you a bit more of an
insight into me and my you know past and
the things that i've experienced and i
think sometimes in your life you just
have to face the truth of a situation
you just have to realize things aren't
going to work out the way you hoped and
that you need to move forward you need
to find another way to succeed
fortunately since then that was several
years ago i've been able to reinvent
myself in business and i've also found
other passions such as youtube and also
professional speaking and different
things like that which have started to
re-invigorate me and make me feel much
more alive in my life and give me the
kind of success that i was seeking over
the long term i am not a tech startup
billionaire i probably never will be but
you know what that's okay not everyone
needs to be elon musk or mark zuckerberg
or steve jobs or whatever it's okay just
being who we are and making a difference
in our own way in our own business our
own industry or our own hobbies and
interests so my friends i hope this
video was useful for you maybe you're in
a similar situation maybe you had a
story where you started a business or
you were part of a startup that didn't
succeed i empathize with you i would say
to you keep going keep trying new things
but sometimes you got to realize that if
your heart's not in it maybe it's time
to pack it in and find something where
you really feel that it makes you shine
my name is daniel whitson short please
leave a like on this video if you liked
what i had to say or leave a comment
below sharing your experiences please
consider subscribing we'd love to have
you as part of our community thanks for
watching and as always thank you for
improving yourself ah i feel cleansed
[Music]
[Music]
you
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