From The myth of the overnight success by Chris Dixon:
Angry Birds was Rovio’s 52nd game. They spent eight years and almost went bankrupt before finally creating their massive hit. [..]
You tend to hear about startups when they are successful but not when they are struggling. This creates a systematically distorted perception that companies succeed overnight. Almost always, when you learn the backstory, you find that behind every “overnight success” is a story of entrepreneurs toiling away for years, with very few people except themselves and perhaps a few friends, users, and investors supporting them.
Truth is, entrepreneurship is not very romantic. But it is rewarding in every sense.
So true. Another example is the famous WD40. “40” indicates that there were 39 failures before getting it right.
Thanks for sharing this, Alexis. Didn’t know about WD40.