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In that light, having 300+ people clamoring to attend your events is hardly a failure. Creating a venue to introduce readers/listeners/viewers to the intelligent and interesting people you interview is far short of failure.
Andres, you fail at failing! :-)
It's interesting how we often perceive ourselves differently than others do.
I salute your efforts and still really like the idea of making networking in-person more efficient. I'd be surprised if it doesn't inform your thinking in projects going forward.
Onward!
Mixergy is the events hub of thousands of smart people, and I still see a market opportunity that isn't quite met by other services. If there's anything that can be done to help you keep the site alive, I'm pledging my services to help do so.
Still, every labor of love costs more than just your time...sometimes it's good for the spirit to move on. Best of luck in whichever new direction you choose for yourself.
I was first introduced to Mixergy because i wanted the best way to get involved in LA tech. I had always thought of Mixergy as the "Go To" for relevant tech experiences.
We are always our biggest critics, and I'm sure you are getting tons of that but if it wasn't for Mixergy our company wouldn't be where we are today. I want to thank you -- your failure has been an absolute success for us, it's how we know and work with you, which has been our blessing and privileged.
Sometimes on the road to one thing you discover the demand is really for something else. There was a demand for tech events (beyond the scale of my efforts with ExecTec) in driving your invite system you tapped into a larger demand for quality events.
Do not be so dark about the fact that someone moved your cheese.
The first step is to realize that there is more then one opportunity out there and you have the fly wheel going so now the question is what can you do with that momentum.
Keep on messing up! We got your back!
James
www.iedotnetug.org
www.duringlunch.com
Mixergy never failed, per se, it just seems that perhaps your vision for what it should/could be evolved. From developing the platform to programming and hosting events to building an impressive library of interviews and moderated panels, you're adding value, information, experiences, and enabling new collaborations and ideas all of which are above and beyond anything that a competitor of evite ever could aspire to.
By realigning your goals and ambitions while fostering the growth of Mixergy as it evolved, you've done anything BUT fail.
Keep it up!
I could understand using other systems, like upcoming, facebook, etc...
I appreciate everything you have done and are doing for our community and will follow and support you as much as possible!
-Victor
I'll take character and the ability to 'Man up' - any day over what you have perceived as a failure!! I say, “it's a stepping stone to something far better”. Isn't the ride along the way interesting?!?!?!
Hugs!
I personally greatly appreciate your tremendous entrepreneurial spirit and the energy you put into our community to make it a stronger, smarter place. We all support anything you want to do. Look forward to many more of your awesome forums and enlightening interviews...maybe this will free you up for that TV show I think you should have... :)
Hugs. - n
I for one would like a longer video explaining what you tried, what happened... Its always instructive to do a post mortem.
You can't always measure success in dollars. As others have already stated, this was hardly a failure in total and a huge success in part. Now build on that success.
Besides, failure is a part of learning and growing and, despite it all, part of the thrill of being an entrepreneur as opposed to a cubicle grunt.
Looking forward to your next big event.
RW
Mixergy is a terrific tech/social network... hmmm, I wonder what you could do with that?
Thank you everyone. It means a lot today.
I will continue to work to build something that solves a big problem and leaves my mark on the world.
Ryan, I agree with you about the importance of talking about why it didn't work. I promise I'll do that. I'm going to think it through over the next week or two so I can give you a meaningful answer.
I have no doubt I'm sitting here now, that I'm looking at a great entrepreneur.
first of all, let me say that, above all else, I think you're a tremendously talented, focused, and driven guy who has the respect and admiration of far more people than just those of us who choose to comment on this video. You are a force in this community, and, quite frankly, many of us (including yours truly) would not even be a part of this community if it wasn't for you and Mixergy.
So, if I think the real question is what is the definition of success? Or, more specifically, in your mind, what did "taking on Evite" actually mean?
Was it simply to get more traffic than Evite? And, even within the context of traffic, was that simply more hits over a given period of time? More repeat visits? Longer stays per pageview? More ad revenue than Evite? A higher Google ranking than Evite? Because each one of these goals lends itself to a fairly different and distinct business model which would have required applying very specific and sometimes, mutually exclusive tactics.
Or was it to create a richer, more valuable experience around invitations than Evite, i.e. to build community and foster relationships through events and invitations? In that sense, you've succeeded wildly - I and many others make regular visits to Mixergy.com because it's how I touch my friends and associates, while I haven't looked at Evite in months.
The other thing to consider is this - the market for events and invitations has shifted tremendously in the last year because of Facebook and, to a lesser extent, MySpace. So, yes, while Mixergy is a far richer invitation experience than Evite, your community-building features are in direct competition with Facebook - they came into your market for events and invitations through the backdoor, but carried many of your users with them when they arrived.
In short, failure is a very broad, absolute, imprecise, and, frankly, less useful term. You've built something of tremendous value for a lot of people. You earned enormous amounts of human capital & goodwill, which, in business, is at least as valuable as actual currency. And you've learned far far more than you ever could have from not having this experience.
For the money and effort you've spend, you've grown. You're stronger and better for it. And you're ready for what's next.
Sounds like a bargain to me.
Be proud.
You might have failed at making Mixergy into the evite site you originally envisioned but you haven't failed as an entrepreneur. Most successful businesses and entrepreneurs change what they originally set out to do many times before finding success.
You clearly have a success with Mixergy and make a strong impact on many peoples' lives. You have created something that has helped filled a void that was once an endless black hole in the Southern California Tech scene. Your events and forums are changing the way and how business happens here.
I have no doubt that with a little thought and focus, which clearly this post is a stepping stone in, you'll find the right direction to turn Mixergy into the whopping success that I know you as a true entrepreneur strive for. I can only wait to see the results and am glad to have been able to bear witness to your wild ride to the top. Like many of the successful entrepreneurs you interview on your blog here, I'm sure we will be watching similar videos of you one day and remembering this epiphany you had. How this realization helped you find your way to success.
After all, that's why we founded Launch 10. Fail fast, and find your niche.
Best wishes to you, Mixergy, and your future endeavors.
Chad
What IS the project is the difference it makes in people's lives.
The website is the tool.
You seem to be losing a battle - but winning a war. Mixergy events are succesful. What's missing is more of you, more specifically, leaders who create community. They don't need websites, they just need to care.
That said, websites can help.
Also, a plane before liftoff spends more energy for less results...once airborne, the reduced friction allow fuel expenditure to drop quickly with increased results.
That said, I also agree with others here who say that Mixergy is hardly a failure. Perhaps it's failed to be the "Evite killer" you originally intended, but it has evolved into something with tremendous value for the community around it--and tremendous potential for continued evolution.
I have not failed.
I have simply found 10,000 ways that do not work.
- Thomas Edison
If you want to succeed,
double your failure rate.
- Thomas Watson Sr., founder of IBM
Your best teacher is your last mistake.
- Ralph Nader
Success is going from failure to failure
without losing your enthusiasm.
- Winston Churchill
You’ve got to bumble forward into the unknown.
- Frank Gehry
Everything is always impossible before it works.
- Hunt Green, VC
PayPal co-founder Max Levchin's thoughts on Failure:
http://www.tieconsouthwest.org/MP3s/MaxLevchin,...
TotSpot will be making LA its home soon, and its in no small part thanks to the warmness and welcoming community we've found, much of which we've stumbled on through Mixergy.
Good luck on your journey forward!
I've enjoyed the Lunch 2.0 events I've attended in San Diego. And I've been learning from the videos you have posted. Please keep posting videos and organizing events!
Seems to me Mixergy is getting some good traction going...
I would argue that Mixery has been anything but a failure. Over the last half a year, the Mixergy event listings has been my number one source for all LA related tech events. I will be sorry to see it go.
You are an extremely important part of this community Andrew, and I look forward to all the great things I'm sure you will be doing now and in the future.
See you at the next Mixergy event,
Brady
As many of your other friends and admirers have implied, we don't learn much from our successes. And, you don't hear about Babe Ruth's record for the number of times he struck out, only the number of times he scored home runs.
Even Chael Sonnen, world extreme cagefighter (WEC) with a record of 22-9-1, said the other day that he was going to give one of his undefeated opponents one of the best lessons in life, defeat. He was right.
flowed into your site; and i can't even say how...or what the thread was.
thanx for your honesty re: your "redirection of focus/energy"....you term it as failure.....
well, i, personally don't believe in failure..... there is a trend or pattern that can be charted or read "the converging flow" where people, insights, ideas, innovations, etc can be seen to 'crop up' at seemingly random times.
well, they aren't so random. they are synchronisitic and feed into the converging flow or synchronistic flow of what is most life enhancing for a person, company or innovation.
the synchronistic flow or converging flow is based on what is truly needed in a group, society, nation or on a universal level for an upshifting or up leveling of growth & to organically assist in evolution.
the ideas that fit into this flow or evolutionary process are the ones that are 'successful' in the fullest sense.
in my humble opinion - your new site & focus does this. :-)
you can step into or flow into this flow by following the openings..... the proverbial one door closes another door opens, or window, or crack.....
your door has opened & obviously you listened to your gut & stepped thru.
i have listened to about 3 interviews/dialogues & watch the seth godin video tonight....
great stuff, great creation/innovation you have here.
you are really filling a need.
i am in the middle of a couple of internet projects & i got some great info here.
i also spent a lot of time learning sound editing & recording for one of my media projects so i could appreciate your "get the seth godin video up & running anyway you can" mode....all fun....all creative...& all in living in a place of abundance....the converging flow
glad i flowed in.
:-)
This was several months ago, so I'm sure you doing just fine ;)
And of those who do, even fewer would be willing to admit it publicly the way you did.
I think that puts you somewhere in the top two percent of the worlds winners.
decisions I've made.
2009/4/19 Disqus <>
site. Must have been
something for you to deal with the ball of stress that I was at the time.
Love to hear what you're up to sometime.