It sounds counterintuitive, doesn’t it? Everyone talks about becoming successful fast. So why would anyone try to fail – especially if their idea is new and beloved?!

Knowing how to kill an idea quickly is a completely underrepresented skill.

There’s a reason why 90% of all new startups and product releases fail. Most founders and managers don’t want to face the unpleasant possibility that their baby might be a failure. Instead of looking for evidence against their thinking, they look for reasons why they will be right.

I hate to see people fail. Great minds should not waste their time, skills and energy on the wrong things. In 2018, I learned it the hard way myself and vowed never to fall into the trap of this so-called “Innovator’s Bias” again.

By listening to successful PMs & founders, I’ve learned great ways to identify the “riskiest assumptions” about an idea.

Look up pre-mortems and experiment designs, or just ask yourself the question, “If I pitch to a bunch of VCs and they nod at all the right places, but when I leave the room, they look at each other and say, “That will never work.” what might be the reason?

Unfortunately, most people refuse to do that.

Everyone wants to be right about their idea. They fall in love with it too quickly.

By focusing on the most important issue that could kill your idea, you focus your efforts on eliminating a threat that would otherwise show up when you least expect it.