In business, you can screw up a lot, and still not fail if you have the core basics right.
This means you’ve chosen the right problem, serve the right audience, and have found yourself landing at the exact right time.
Shaan Puri says as much about his time at Twitch.
On a recent episode of My First Million, he noted how:
“...Twitch could get a hundred things wrong internally but it didn't matter, because they had a network effect, they had a moat, and basically once you get a marketplace to work you can now screw up so many things [and not fail].
[...]
…they got the core thing right [...] and that gave them the privilege, the right to be wrong,"
- Shaan Puri, My First Million
They were on the right wave at the right time, which gave them leeway to make mistakes and still not fail.
It chimes with this section of Noah Kagan’s book ‘Million Dollar Weekend’:
“You, dear listener, are a surfer.
What you are selling, the product or service is your surfboard.
The market is the wave and the wave is what matters most.
Even if you are a great surfer with an amazing board, you will still fail if you don’t have a good wave to ride.
A tidal wave would be ideal but any good big wave is just fine."
- Noah Kagan, Million Dollar Weekend
