Last month I got an email from a friend. After 6 months of hustle, she's throwing in the towel.
Why?
I felt bad. I hate seeing people fail.
I hate it even more when a project fails that hasn't been properly validated in the marketplace.
In my friend's case, she had only tried one option. It didn't work, so she closed it down.
Surely there must be another way...
Granted, not all projects are worthwhile. Some simply aren't economically viable.
Others might be able to sustain themselves through whatever means (force, trust fund, etc.), but to what end (the excruciatingly slow death of the postal service comes to mind)?
But the reality is: you can't know whether a project is worthwhile from the first failure (not if you want to eventually build something that lasts).
So I told my friend that she shouldn't shut down just yet. Instead, she should pivot.