Fail Fast, Fail More, Fail Cheap

“I want to try 10 new things, because I know 8 will fail and only 2 will succeed.”

What do you think of this thought?

In my opinion, it is both a great thought and a suicidal thought, depending on how you do it.

The intention is good. Try different things, find the winners and double down on them. But execution is what determines the fate. And the keyword is “try.”

What does “try” actually mean? Is it a wholehearted attempt, or a low-key experiment? Is it a full-fledged product rollout, or an MVP? Are you giving it one to three months to figure out whether it has potential, or a much longer rope?

There is a massive difference between experimenting and launching. I believe every company needs to experiment. It is essential for innovation, for learning and for staying relevant. But experiments should be experiments.

If you believe the chances of failure are much higher than the chances of success, you need to structure the experiment accordingly. Test it in a small way. Spend as little as possible. Get feedback quickly. And make sure that failure doesn't hurt the company.

There's a better way. And it's damn simple.

You’ve got a genius idea. A shirt that turns into a t-shirt. It can be worn both ways and in two colours as well. One piece = four looks. You know the cost. You know the process. You’re convinced this is the next big thing.

So what do most people do? They go all in. Incorporate a company. Rent an office. Start a factory. Hire a team. Twelve months. ₹50 lakh. Blood, sweat and Excel sheets. And then — finally — they launch.

Cue drumroll. And then there’s nothing. People find it pricey, complicated, not cool. You’re confused. You love the idea, so why don’t they?

But instead of letting go, you double down. Borrow from friends. Burn more money. Spend another two years. The result is the same: a big fat zero. Welcome to the startup graveyard where brilliant people didn’t test the product first.

Step 1: Don't build the product. Fake it. Use an AI tool. Create a website with your shirt pictures. Add a price. Build a buy button. Run a few hundred rupees worth of ads.

Step 2: Let users almost buy it. But when they click “Pay”? A pop-up says, “Oops. We’re not ready yet. But we’ll let you know. Thanks for trying!”

Step 3: Check the data. How many clicked on the ad? How many added products to cart? What’s the conversion rate? Call the ones who didn’t proceed. Ask why. For ₹2,000 and a weekend, you’ll get actual market data. No surveys. No “Would you maybe buy this?” People literally voted with their wallets. That’s real feedback. Not your cousin’s opinion.

Fail More

Start-ups don’t die from murder. They die from suicide — slow, expensive ones. — Paul Graham, Y Combinator

Success is a numbers game. More attempts = more chances to hit gold. Imagine walking into a casino with ₹1 crore. One roulette table promises 100x returns. But it only hits once every ten spins. Would you bet the entire ₹1 crore on one spin?

Hell, no. You’d split it into ten bets of ₹10 lakh. You lose nine, and maybe win one. Boom — ₹10 crore in your pocket. Welcome to entrepreneurship.

It’s not about playing safe. It’s about playing smart. Most founders launch like a missile — all-in, one shot, big boom. If it misses, there’s total destruction. Smarter founders use machine-gun mode: rapid fire with small bullets. One hit and it’s game over.

Fail small, fail often. That’s how you hit targets — and live to tell the tale.

Fail Fast

Life’s short. You don’t have five years to figure out your idea sucks. Build an MVP, Minimum Viable Product. Test it. Tweak it. Trash it if needed. But keep moving.

Most people spend two years building a product, and then three years justifying why it’s not working. That’s five years you could’ve used to build five other ideas. Fast = feedback. Slow = heartbreak.

Read The Lean Startup by Eric Ries. Or Running Lean by Ash Maurya. Or just do what you’re procrastinating on right now.

Fail Cheap

You want to fail ten times? You better make sure each failure doesn’t need ₹50 lakh and your kidney. You don’t need fancy shoots. You don’t need the product. You don’t need an investor. You just need a landing page, a payment mechanism and guts.

Start small. Then if you do fail, it won’t cost you a lot. That’s not cowardice. That’s smart strategy. You can learn by building for years, or by testing in five days. Your idea might flop. But now, you flop with style — and savings.

Because failure isn’t the problem. Not learning fast enough is.

If you enjoyed this chapter

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