#WHY listen to fallen heroes

Yes we’re adamant. And we’re arrogant. Every entrepreneur is. That’s the very essence of being an entrepreneur, Vinod Khosla said this in his fireside chat with Bala at NPC in 2012 – as an Entrepreneur, you gotta be arrogant about your success and paranoid about your failures.

One of the many reasons I stay awake at night – my paranoia about me failing to tell the story profitably.

But enough about me, its about the customer. Always. Ergo – here are 3 reasons you should be listening to all those people who’ve fallen before you, trying to do the same or an entirely new thing – doesn’t matter.

1. Know the demons. 

Every story has a villain. Your product’s story also has one. And he’s gonna go for the jugular when the time is right.

By listening to the story of the fallen hero, you can create situations and then apply problem solution pairs that your product presents.

For eg. – assume your last product made a hole in earth 30% wider for the same dollar. And it tanked cause the one ready to pay for this just never got to hear about your product.

From this example you can see that unable to reach the right audience was the demon.

Now you apply this to whatever business you are in and try to solve those hypothetical challenges that you derive.

Its pretty mathematical really…

Word of caution – if you’re not paying attention during that lecture or workshop, its better you wait outside and stay busy playing Angry Birds. Not everyone is a great teacher. And sometimes it takes a little bit of probing to get someone to share juicy trade secrets.

2. Get a chance to converse – works only for LIVE audiences

If a fallen hero wants to tell her story – you’ve got a great opportunity to be a willing listener and spark a conversation. Sure it takes a bit of guts sometimes to hear people bore you with their own crap – but this window of opportunity shouldn’t be lost. Especially at networking events where most of these senior folks are distributing gyaan.

Just walk up to any elderly gentleman and ask him to narrate some story from his life where he failed at something. As he’s nearing the end, throw your ball in. Tell him your challenges, your problems and your successes. Let him do the math and ask you questions.

You’ll be amazed how easily people open up when they know you’re not there to steal from them, but to add value to their own concerns.

3. Patterns emerge faster. 

If you’re a geek – this should be self explanatory. For the rest of you – I apologize. Write to me and I’ll write to you independently – no copy paste – we’ll have a genuine conversation. Don’t be shy – I don’t bite !

What did you learn from the Last fallen Hero? I learnt that you gotta get up, dust it, and scrub it – all over again.