Recreating Silicon Valley

cooperw · Joined: 05 Apr 2011 Posts: 1

Hey team...aka Devon.

It's hard to think of my biggest, single failure, but one that readily comes to mind is one I've used before on similar questions in classes or interviews. My senior year of high school I was vice president of the largest club at my high school, the California Scholarship Federation (CSF), when the president got really, really sick and had to take the year off. It was a difficult situation because for a long time she (the president) kept thinking she was going to return "in the next few weeks," so I kept thinking of myself as acting president on a week-to-week basis. After a few months of this, it became clear that she wouldn't be returning to school, and I was stuck being president of a 300+ member club with little idea of what I was doing and an advisor that was the only teacher I've ever actually disliked. The reason I think of this as a failure is that rather than step up to the plate like I should have, reaching out to the current and past president, or speaking to the advisor more openly, I let the whole situation really negatively impact my motivation. CSF went from being one of the best run clubs on campus to a mediocre, sloppy organization. It might sound lame, but this really drove home for me how important it is to be able to remove yourself from negative influences in your environment and focus on what needs to be done, reaching out when appropriate and taking independent initiative otherwise, because in this instance the sloppy management of the club affected the over 300+ members in the club as well.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting started on this project!

dhinton · Joined: 05 Apr 2011 Posts: 2

Thats awesome (and by that I mean thats a really cool experience although I am sure that at the time it wasn't so great). I think that is really good message you took away and is part of really hard process to decide when to do it yourself and when to reach out, something I am still struggling to learn! Thanks for sharing man! Very Happy

dhinton · Joined: 05 Apr 2011 Posts: 2

I guess the biggest failure I can think of, involves rowing. In my sophomore year of high school I first competed in CRASH Bs (Charles River All Star Have Beens) which is essentially an indoor rowing competition (on stationary rowing machines called ergs) Basically, the machines, and the competition, is essentially pure pain. I competed, and did quite well.
Junior year, I then returned for to compete again, thinking to do much better. I went for it and well as you might imagine, I crashed and burned....I went out way too hard, died in the second half and distinctly remember screaming (if you'll excuse the language) "fuck!" while the Yale coach sat watching (haha). Anywho, I spent an hour and half in the med tent after throwing up and being seriously pissed. I had been working for this for a year (running stairs and erging countless hours in the cold Boston Winter) and it all had come to essentially nothing, no net improvement, I should have just spent the last year drinking natty and hanging out on the couch, it sucked.
Overtime, this experience has really showed me how to not only not overestimate my skill but how to laugh at myself. To turn a negative event into a great memory. To try new things because even if I fail miserably, Ill have a good story to tell.

mike-num · Joined: 08 Apr 2011 Posts: 3

My biggest failure was related to entrepreneurship at Peresroika days (early 90-s of the last century). The country rolled out of the "dry law" and it was very profitable selling vodka. Today we can buy it in every store, those days it was not that easy to do. Thus I was a young school boy with $20 in my pocket and suddenly I discovered a place where they sell vodka at 1/2 price: $10 per bottle. I immediately invested all my pocket money, jumped in a train and went to a market place. In half an hour I got 100% profit and $40 in my pocket. I liked it so much so on the next day I crashed my piggy bank and collected money for 2 boxes of vodka! 2 boxes were mine and I decided going in a small village to sell the bottles for even higher price than in the market square. That was my biggest fault! Instead of having fun I got a rifle pointed on me saying "you must share with me you product and we will be selling vodka in a night club". I had no other choice rather than to agree. All night I was selling shots in the night club however I never got the money as they all come to a cashier girl. You most likely can imagine end of the story: I was kicked out from the club when the vodka was over with no money and means to get home (remember, those days there were no cell phones). Since that time I have leaned two things: 1) superprofit opportunity usually has a backside which you will have to deal with at some point and 2) security is essential part for running business.