"Failure by Omission" is the idea that family, friends, and loved ones around an entrepreneur have a responsibility to give constructive feedback; otherwise, if that entrepreneur fails, they too have failed by having slowed his failure or avoided giving him feedback in order to "not hurt his feelings." This applies additionally to entrepreneurs, who have an obligation to seek constructive feedback from everyone they can, to push beyond short-worded platitudes ("Oh, we love what you're doing!") to help their startup fail faster. Originally presented at Failcon Zurich - April 16th. 2013

1. Failcon Zurich – April 16th, 2013
FAILURE BY
OMISSION
By @LiamBoogar
Editor @RudeBaguette
This presentation available at http://slideshare.net/liamboogar

2. INTRODUCTION 2
WHO AM I?
‣ Born in the Silicon Valley
‣ Moved to France in 2010
‣ Rude Baguette – France’s Startup Blog
‣ Launched in November, 2011
‣ 50K UV/month today
‣ 47% readers in France
‣ Referenced by TechCrunch, Pandodaily,
GigaOm, TheNextWeb, TechMeme, etc.

3. Different kinds of Failure
Feedback
Lean
Land of the Startup
living dead
Slow Fast
Quitting
Failure by
Omission
Isolation

4. IT TAKES TWO TO FAIL 4
Entrepreneurs fail, Yes.
…But friends, family, and loved ones pay as well.

5. IT TAKES TWO TO FAIL 5
Friends, family, and loved ones have an obligation to give
critical feedback, if only for self-preservation.
If a cofounder relationship is like being married, then families
of founders need to act as cofounders, too.

6. IF YOU DON’T CATCH THEM, THEY WILL FALL 6
When you see Rock Bottom, you know what it looks like.
It’s not pretty. And it’s already too late.

7. CEO: “CHIEF EXCREMENT OFFICER” 7
Help founders do their job - Dealing with S#!T.

8. VALUABLE FEEDBACK VS. CRITICISM 8
Constructive Feedback explains Why: “This is Why I won’t like
this”
Criticism says What “I don’t like what you’re doing”
Constructive Feedback answers How “This is how it could be
better”
Criticism says Who “I am not who this product is for”
Constructive Feedback tells Where “This is where you went

9. ENTREPRENEURS, YOU HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY 9
TOO
If you are not asking for constructive feedback,
you are already failing.

10. FAILURE BY OMISSION – 10
@LIAMBOOGAR
FAIL FASTER.
FAIL
TOGETHER.