10:1 Success Ratio

A discussion about Andrew Wilkinson's journey from barista to successful entrepreneur, highlighting the reality of business success rates and the importance of learning from failures.

Business Success Rate Reality

• Started approximately 10 different projects/companies
• Only 1 out of 10 worked really well
• Lost over $10M on various failed ventures
• Examples of failed ventures:
  • Restaurant (lost $1M)
  • E-commerce business
  • Multiple software businesses
  • Concierge service
  • Blog ventures

Key Learning: First Success Can Be Misleading

• First business (design agency) was "very easy"
• Created false confidence about starting businesses
• Describes it as "walking into the gym and picking up really light weights"
• Led to overconfidence in starting new ventures
• Started multiple businesses without proper filtering or understanding of difficulty

Approach to Business Ideas

• Would start businesses immediately upon having ideas
• Had "no filter whatsoever" on which ideas to pursue
• Would think of ideas in the shower and start them that same day
• Describes it as "constantly starting new stuff"
• Found it exciting despite the failures

Eventual Strategy Shift

• Shut down almost all incubated businesses
• Sold successful business for $7M
• Shifted focus from starting businesses to investing
• Learned importance of being more selective with ventures
• Realized starting companies is significantly harder than initially thought

Financial Impact

• Had to lay off many people
• Went through many "hard times"
• Led to feeling burnt out
• Eventually led to change in business approach
• Shifted from operator to investor mindset