Page 59 - 6 Secrets to Startup Success

38 6 SECRETS TO STARTUP SUCCESS

1. Attachment to an Idea. Whether through an incremental
process or a single bolt of inspiration, you latch onto a com-
pelling business concept: a cool product, an innovative ser -
vice, or an unstoppable mission. It’s good. You know it. And
you can feel your enthusiasm building. The more you think
about it, the more excited you get. Your emotional attach-
ment grows, and leads to . . .

2. Investments and Actions. You invest time, energy, money, or
other resources and move forward with your idea. This can
include many different actions, depending on how far you
have gotten along your startup path—sharing your idea with
colleagues, exploring the Web, talking to potential customers,
hiring team members, or building a prototype. These actions
give rise to . . .

3. Feedback or Results. Early actions always lead to something
that can be seen, heard, and evaluated—the reactions of
friends and family, information about customers and com-
petitors, a duct-tape version of your first product, or even
early sales results. These results are then subject to . . .

4. Biased Interpretation. At the heart of the passion trap is the
enthusiastic entrepreneur’s well-documented tendency to
notice and embrace information that supports existing beliefs
and to discount or completely miss contradictory evidence.

Figure 2-1. The core pattern of the passion trap.

4 - Biased 1 - Attachment to 2 - Investments/
Interpretation an Idea Actions

3 - Feedback/
Results

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