When people say, “Why do you like poker so much?” It, to me, is exactly like living in the world of startups. Except, what we do, our feedback cycles, are elongated over years. In poker, it’s shortened into minutes. And every hand is like, “Okay, I’ve started a company, this company is jack-seven off-suit, not a great company, but let’s see what happens.”
“I’ve just started a company with pocket aces, it’s the nuts, and I fail. Jack-seven, I win.” It’s amazing how you learn to cope with winning and losing, and the swings, and not getting tilted. You see some of these guys, it’s not the first idea, it’s the nth idea.
Zuck had tried Wirehog, he’d tried Synapse; he’d done a bunch of stuff before [Facebook]. It’s the courage to keep trying.
It’s like when you’re learning to play poker. You try to bluff the turn, or the river, and you’ll get called. You’ll feel like a donkey. What do you do the next time? You do it again, and again, and again. And eventually, it works for you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHslS0QPMSc (11:10)