Just Start: Take Action, Embrace Uncertainty, Create the Future

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Assess Your Acceptable Loss

Here’s news that won’t stop the presses: doing anything in the unknown entails risk. Given that, you need to decide how much you can afford to lose before you get underway. There is a way to keep those losses to a minimum and guarantee that if you fail, you fail quickly and cheaply while learning a lot. (And, after all, that is the second best outcome.) Here we show you how to minimize your potential losses.

THERE’S A REASON that seasoned entrepreneurs don’t think of themselves as risk takers, even though everyone else does. They have developed terrific ways to limit potential losses as they start a new venture.

That fact surprises many people because if you read the popular press, you might well think that successful ...