February 2, 2014

“That’s a stupid idea. Their product will never succeed. I hope that startup dies.” - These are phrases that I commonly hear in Silicon Valley. In the world where 9 of 10 businesses deadpool, predicting failure probably is a lot easier than predicting success. In fact, being skeptical is quite helpful when discerning the good ideas from the bad ones.

However, the problem is when these comments become more destructive than constructive. I see it online, in the comments section of popular sites. I hear it in-person, often behind the entrepreneur’s back. It’s become common conversation among founders, startup employees, VCs, and pundits. I’ll be honest: I’m not any less guilty of making these remarks myself.

Every now and then though, I take a step back and remember that behind every startup is an entrepreneur who’s made great sacrifices just to make a run at their product.

It’s one thing to say “That product is stupid,” and another to actually approach the entrepreneur and say “I don’t think it’s going to work because of X, Y, and Z.” To be clear, I’m also definitely not advocating we avoid feedback and criticism either. It’s even less helpful to say “That sounds interesting” when you didn’t mean it, letting the entrepreneur toil their life away on something that’s clearly not working. Let’s be critical, but draw a line on when the comments are helpful and when they are not.

I think we owe it to one another to be constructive. The best ideas often seem like bad ideas at the beginning.

Historically, one of the reasons Silicon Valley has been so successful is the community’s willingness to help one another. Now that technology is going through another boom, more and more people are joining the industry. As the community grows, let’s make sure the community’s spirit does not dilute and we stay constructive and helpful towards one another.

You can reach the author at direct@jeffwang.org

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