7. Embrace Failure & Iterate Quickly
Why?
Gates’ early venture, Traf-O-Data (1972), failed, but the lessons led to Microsoft’s success.
Proof:
- “Business @ the Speed of Thought” (1999):
“Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.” - 2014 Stanford Speech:
“At Microsoft, we had to pivot from DOS to Windows—if we hadn’t, we’d be dead.” (Video)
Actionable Steps:
✅ Adopt a “fail-fast” mindset: Test ideas cheaply (e.g., MVPs in startups).
✅ Learn from competitors: Gates studied Xerox’s GUI to build Windows.
✅ Pivot when needed: Microsoft shifted to cloud computing (Azure) when PCs declined.
