You can't hit home runs without swinging
My year of strikeouts, singles, and success
Last year, I had a conversation with a supremely talented PM who was stuck in an interview rut. We were commiserating about the painful, rejection-riddled process when she made a remark that stuck with me.
She told me, “I was grinding so hard for years but somewhere along the way, I stopped taking risks. I stopped learning.” And as painful as the interview process was for her, her silver lining was that it forced her to get uncomfortable.
It struck me because I realized that I too, had stopped learning. I wanted to do more but fear of rejection kept me from trying.
It turns out I wasn’t alone. Over 33% of Americans have a fear of failure. This statistic is even higher among entrepreneurs, the subset of people who appear to embrace failure to the fullest. This fear is one of the main things that keeps us from success.
In the field of VC, you have to take more swings in order to be successful. Statistically, less than 10% of your investments typically make up over 90% of your returns. Trying to pick one unicorn gives you a much smaller chance of success than picking 20 companies, and accepting that 18 of them might be flops. This translates to your own life and career as well. Only trying one thing your entire life gives you a much lower chance of success (and of finding what you love) than trying many.
This past year, I decided to take more swings. I applied to a VC fellowship, taught Product Management courses, and started advising early stage startups. And while none of these things were easy, and I experienced a lot of “no’s,” I found that diversifying reinforced my learning in exponential ways. Working in VC strengthened my product acumen, because it gave me a broader view of markets and a better understanding of startup financials. Working full time as a product manager makes me a better advisor and investor, because I can relate to the pains that founders and operators face.
What I learned is that being successful isn’t about being the smartest person in the room or always being right. Being successful is about taking swings, and not being deterred when you strike out. Consider this scenario:
Out there in the world is a carbon copy of you. This person is exactly the same as you in capability and intelligence but there is one small difference - they tried the thing you were too afraid to try. They may have been told “no,” or failed at first, but by sticking with it, eventually they saw success. As a result, they are doing the thing that you want to be doing, simply because they got over their fear.
So get out there and take a few swings. Even if you strike out, you’ll be better for it. Let’s share the failures as well as the successes, so we can normalize that this is all part of the process.