Little Bets

We can always hear people around and maybe it has happened to us too saying that we need to do something new - like start a company or take an extraordinary career path – but we need “a great idea” first. Contrary to this way of thinking this book totally changed my perception and what I learned from it is exactly what Peter Sims says “most successful entrepreneurs don’t begin with brilliant ideas—they discover them”. The truth is, most entrepreneurs launch their companies without a perfect idea but proceed to discover one, or if they do start with what they think it is a perfect idea, they quickly discover that it’s imperfect and then rapidly try to adapt. I like the idea of little bets because through experimenting you learn a lot of things and even if you lose you don’t lose too much hence, little bets. I believe it is better playing into the shallow waters until you learn how to swim than risking going straight away in deep waters where there is a high probability of being sunk. One of the main characteristics of those who have learned to practice experimental innovation is that they understand that failure, in the form of making mistakes or errors, and being imperfect is essential to their success. One of the entrepreneurs in the book explains this philosophy as follows; “Eventually success comes your way, because you tried to fail in every possible way, the only way that’s left is the successful way, and always, for entrepreneurs seems to come last”. Peter Sims presents in this book the stories of innovators unafraid to try new things, who believe that by working on a small, affordable scale, good ideas can flourish, while failures don't cause too much damage. The book includes plenty of failures turned into vital lessons for future successes. It is really a source of condolence and motivation for not giving up to those who have already taken risks and failed.

Esmir DEMAJ