Hah .. the title of this post is not the result of a broken caps lock key. It’s a direct quote that I’m stealing from my now-colleague, Carl Mercier. Carl is the founder of a startup named Defensio, that my current employer just recently acquired. In a post-acquisition interview on StartupCFO, he said,
I think the best advice I can give to entrepreneurs is STOP THINKING AND START WORKING. I’m one of those guys who’s afraid to fail. I hate losing. I used to try to come up with the perfect idea and the perfect business model. Obviously, it was never quite as good as I wanted it and I was never starting anything. Not starting meant not failing: it was my comfort zone. But not starting also means not winning. It’s very cliche, but your original idea really doesn’t matter. It’s all about execution and being able to seize the opportunities that arise.
I’m a thinker, planner, strategist, but often I get stuck in the planning phase because I want to get it soooo right, the first time round. Dare I say I’m a perfectionist? I certainly don’t think so (and certainly don’t want to be one!)—but then again perhaps it’s my blind spot. I just don’t want to do a sloppy job. I can live with “good enough”.
This interview made me realize that Carl and myself had rubbed shoulders at least once before at Y Combinator’s Startup School @ Stanford, just last year. We just didn’t really know each other then. Certainly happy to know another YC SUS gang at the work place. What a small world! 
I actually really like this quote. I’m posting it here, also to remind myself .. that subconsciously, maybe I’m just afraid to fail, as much as I convince myself that I’m not, and that I just need to get the hell out there and execute. I like it also because it hurts a sore spot.
As my Practical Product Management teacher John Milburn would say, “it ain’t worth a flip if you can’t prove it.”
p.s. Carl—By golly I swear I will make it to the cool kids pre-SUS robot party 
See you there!
