Rob Walling

I love this metaphor as you don't have to be right that often. I won't belabor this metaphor and start talking about baseball and how the all-time greats only hit the ball, what, 30, 40% of the time. You get the point is that successful founders aren't right all the time. They aren't right 100% of the time. They're not even right 90% of the time.

I mean, I don't know what the number is, but is it 60? It might be. It might be as low as 60, but they try enough things, they move fast enough, and enough of their things work.

I mean, I don't know what the number is, but is it 60? It might be. It might be as low as 60, but they try enough things, they move fast enough, and enough of their things work.

You know, I was talking about this point, and Ruben actually pointed out to me that when I say enough of the things that they try work, he said, you know what you should include there is that they usually don't work right off the bat. that they do work if you iterate on it and focus on it. And I really liked that distinction.

You know, I was talking about this point, and Ruben actually pointed out to me that when I say enough of the things that they try work, he said, you know what you should include there is that they usually don't work right off the bat. that they do work if you iterate on it and focus on it. And I really liked that distinction.

When I say they work on a lot of things and most of the things they do work is most 55, 60, 65, 70, it's in there somewhere. Seriously, it's not 80 or 90%. 80 or 90% of things I do don't work, but the ones that do have asymmetric upside and they push the business forward and they push my life forward and They work.

When I say they work on a lot of things and most of the things they do work is most 55, 60, 65, 70, it's in there somewhere. Seriously, it's not 80 or 90%. 80 or 90% of things I do don't work, but the ones that do have asymmetric upside and they push the business forward and they push my life forward and They work.

And that's the pattern that I see with successful entrepreneurs and frankly, someone who's successful at all with their life. They just generally learn to make good decisions and follow through. But I want to underscore that point of for it to work, for you to be successful on 54% of those points as Roger Federer, that usually won't just happen right off the bat.

And that's the pattern that I see with successful entrepreneurs and frankly, someone who's successful at all with their life. They just generally learn to make good decisions and follow through. But I want to underscore that point of for it to work, for you to be successful on 54% of those points as Roger Federer, that usually won't just happen right off the bat.

It's not like, I'm going to start this marketing approach. Yeah, it's just going to work. I'm going to launch this product. Oh, it just worked right off the bat because successful folks, 54% of the time are right. That's not how it works.

It's not like, I'm going to start this marketing approach. Yeah, it's just going to work. I'm going to launch this product. Oh, it just worked right off the bat because successful folks, 54% of the time are right. That's not how it works.

You launch something, you iterate, you take feedback, you try that marketing approach, iterate, you take feedback, and eventually you kind of grind it to the point where it works, usually 55, 60, 65% of the time. That's going to be it for me today. Thank you so much for listening this week and every week. This is Rob Walling signing off from episode 733.

You launch something, you iterate, you take feedback, you try that marketing approach, iterate, you take feedback, and eventually you kind of grind it to the point where it works, usually 55, 60, 65% of the time. That's going to be it for me today. Thank you so much for listening this week and every week. This is Rob Walling signing off from episode 733.

You're traveling through another dimension. A dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's a signpost ahead. Your next stop, startups for the rest of us. Welcome to this week's episode. I am Rob Walling,

You're traveling through another dimension. A dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's a signpost ahead. Your next stop, startups for the rest of us. Welcome to this week's episode. I am Rob Walling,

And you might recognize that intro from the amazing and talented Rod Serling, who created and wrote so many episodes of one of my favorite series, The Twilight Zone. But this is not The Twilight Zone. This is Startups for the Rest of Us, where every week since 2010, I've shipped an episode focused on helping bootstrapped and mostly bootstrap startup founders.

And you might recognize that intro from the amazing and talented Rod Serling, who created and wrote so many episodes of one of my favorite series, The Twilight Zone. But this is not The Twilight Zone. This is Startups for the Rest of Us, where every week since 2010, I've shipped an episode focused on helping bootstrapped and mostly bootstrap startup founders.

We're founders who seek freedom, purpose, and relationships, and we don't want to sacrifice our life in order to build our startup. But we want our startup to change our life for the better. Today's conversation is pretty incredible. It's a founder who effectively bootstrapped. He uses the word bootstrap because they raised a couple hundred thousand dollars.

We're founders who seek freedom, purpose, and relationships, and we don't want to sacrifice our life in order to build our startup. But we want our startup to change our life for the better. Today's conversation is pretty incredible. It's a founder who effectively bootstrapped. He uses the word bootstrap because they raised a couple hundred thousand dollars.

And if you're in venture capital land, that is bootstrap. Usually it's anything less than a million is considered bootstrap. built his company with a co-founder for 15 years, and had three subsequent exits to private equity, where he sold a portion of his equity in each one. The last exit was for $615 million.