CH. 01
The list.
Most people keep a list of their wins. I keep a list of my failures.
There are twenty-one names on it. A few lasted years. A few didn't survive the month. I can tell you exactly what killed each one — and that is the only reason eight other companies are alive today, and three of them grew into enterprises.
Nobody frames this column. But if you've only seen the running businesses, you've seen a third of the story.
THE MATCHBOOK · ONE MATCH PER COMPANY
№ 01friendship hireI staffed it with friends. Friendship is not a skill — hire competence, keep the chai separate.
№ 02dead weightKept a broken-leg horse in the race out of sympathy. Everyone lost, horse included.
№ 03no customersBuilt quietly, launched quietly, died quietly. This grave is where I learned Meta ads.
№ 04blind booksNo accounting. Money left through holes I couldn't see. Now I read numbers before dreams.
№ 05chaosEverything urgent, nothing finished. Project management isn't corporate decoration — it's oxygen.
№ 06no valueNobody needed it. Value isn't what you make; it's what they'd miss if you stopped.
№ 07big planA one-year plan, dead by week six. Startups plan in sprints, not years.
№ 08big shipOne grand launch instead of small improvements, continuously. The ship never left the harbour.
№ 0950/50 egoEquity split by relationship, not contribution. Partnership is simple: who is putting value in?
№ 10overthinkingToo clever by half. A shopkeeper's common sense would have saved it.
№ 11silent product"Good products sell themselves." No. Marketing is a pillar, not paint.
№ 12cash gapProfitable on paper, empty at the bank. Cash timing kills faster than losses.
№ 13scared moneyJudged every ad by this month's margin. Brands belong to whoever can spend the longest.
№ 14genericLooked like everyone, priced like everyone, died like everyone. Generic is a scheduled death.
№ 15no wordStood for nothing specific. A brand is one word in the customer's head — own yours.
№ 16line stretchStretched one name over too many things. Narrow brands cut deeper.
№ 17no sacrificeTried to serve everyone. Saying no was the strategy I didn't have.
№ 18wrong timingRight idea, wrong year. Markets don't reward the early — they bill them.
№ 19premature scaleHired for the dream before the sale. Scale is a reward, not a plan.
№ 20single clientOne big customer. That's not a business — that's a job with an invoice.
№ 21slow killKnew it was dead, fed it another year anyway. Hope is expensive. Bury fast.
Twenty-one burnt matches — each one lit the next. № 22 is already in my hand.
Tuition for № 15–17 paid to Ries & Ries, "The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding" — then verified on my own receipts.
FIELD NOTES · WHAT THE ADS TAUGHT ME
- Feed the machine small money first — a cold pixel learns before it earns.
- Kill by numbers, not moods — set the kill line before you launch.
- The learning phase is sacred — edit budgets like engines: rarely, on schedule.
- Boring statics beat beautiful videos more often than pride admits.
- Creative is the real targeting — the ad picks its audience.
- Scale is earned — winners get fed, losers get buried the same day.