Do success stories cause false beliefs about success?
Absolutely, I've had friends with limited business or tech background pump hard-earned savings into crazy tech startup ideas, precisely because they've read too many of these success stories.I've been guilty of not trying to talk sense to some of them, so much so that there's one particular marriage break-up related to a stupid tech start up blowing a couples life savings that still haunts me.And for the record, here's some of the ideas that went down in flames...- An application like a geo-fenced Wikipedia for Android devices, except without any content worth using and charging 5 bucks/month for it.- A Flickr/Google maps mash up, again charging customers for a product that's executed much better, and free, elsewhere.- A health start-up targeting a condition that affects 1 in 100k people, usually quite mildly and benignly, but involves surgically implanting a device onto a nerve in the jaw.- A SaaS company, Salmon as a Service, providing next day delivery of fresh salmon, when the same thing can be bought at the local store.