The Agile Startup: Quick and Dirty Lessons Every Entrepreneur Should Know

Rules? What Rules?

The journey of a startup is daunting. Think about everything that you have to overcome, and you’ll quickly see that the odds are stacked heavily against you. Every serial entrepreneur has a handful of gripping stories about impossible feats and lucky breaks. To overcome the odds and get your company off the ground, you’ll have to tell a few white lies and bend the rules occasionally. Never break laws or put people in harm’s way; but don’t hesitate to be creative and push the boundaries. Bill Gates bluffed that he had written a game-changing piece of software, and tried to sell it to Altair. In actuality, not one line of code had yet been written when he pitched it. In fact, the first time he tested it was in front of the customer during the demo. This bluff launched Microsoft. Sometimes your only option is to ignore the rules and buck the system. For the entrepreneur, it’s better to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission.

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