Meeting People and Ohours

Recently I haven't had the time to write any new quick posts and am sorry for that, but have been working on a longer piece to coincide with the launch of this project I've been working on called YumOrder, which should be ready this week. Last night I had the pleasure of hosting my very first Ohours, which is a site that lets anyone schedule time to talk or to meet with anyone else on the site. Right now, there's a great group of interesting people on the Ohours that I'm looking forward to talking to. One of the people I chatted with last night was Nathan Hurst, the founder of Hirelite, and the guy who acquired Ohours. He was an awesome and interesting guy to speak with, and I love what he is doing with Hirelite and Ohours. After we talked it got me thinking how it is important to be maintain the relationships you have built, as well as it is critical to meet new people in both the business world and personal world. Over the summer there was a period where I wasn't putting enough time into meeting and hanging out with both new people and people I already knew. Now that I've been placing more time into meeting and talking to a lot of new people, it's made me put more focus on developing and maintaining new relationships. My advice to anyone who wants to meet new people, get on Ohours or go to a local technology Meetup as soon as possible, and I think you'll find it to be pretty rewarding!

You can follow me @kaufman_jack.

Acquisitions I Would Make as the Head of Google

Google is one of my favorite large companies, as I love their products and like the culture that is promoted by the management. Google is very strong in five markets, and has the potential to become stronger in two or three other markets as well. Right now, Google is dominant in search, email, advertising, mobile, and video. I think Google has the potential to become dominant in either cloud computing or social, and the potential to become a major player in payments both online and offline. Here are a few acquisitions that would make sense to me to defend Google's products and make advances with other products.

Square - Square makes sense for quickly breaking into the mobile payments market. They currently have over 800,000 merchants using the service according to Jack Dorsey. Plus, Google Wallet may not make sense for business owners. I like the idea of Google pushing the adoption of NFC stickers, but think that maybe near field communication technology will not be used by store owners as quickly as Google would like. Square is easy to use, and allows store owners and employees to accept payments anywhere. It would be a pricey buy as Square has a valuation of more than 2 billion dollars, but having a presence in most storefronts throughout the country does sound lucrative.

Either FeeFighters or Stripe (or maybe both) - PayPal has a pretty good product, but I think both of these companies have payment products that Google could use to become a leader in the space. Right now, Google does have an online payment product called Google Checkout, which looks good but isn't used across the internet like PayPal. FeeFighters has a great product called Samurai for online payments and I have a guy working on a product using Samurai right now, and Stripe also looks good. I think acquisitions of either of these companies could help Google gain more momentum in helping people pay online.

This is a list I hope to grow over the coming days and weeks, but I figure it's a decent start even though it only focuses on payments!

You can follow me @kaufman_jack.

It's Good to be Angry

Someone a week or two ago said to me how amazing it was to him that I never get angry. I appreciated him thinking that I'm usually cool-headed and collected. However, what I wanted to tell this person is that I do get angry, just like anyone else, but try to never act on my anger. Anger is a common emotion, and emotions need to be felt and experienced. It is healthy to feel anger, but it is not healthy to be destructive with the anger you feel. Politicians must feel a lot of anger when a newspaper or journalist attacks their policies and ideas. But, politicians do not act rashly from anger as if they did, they wouldn't be reelected. Emotions are good. Anger is good sometimes. Just don't let anger guide your actions.

Why Your Idea Doesn't Matter

One of the biggest misconceptions I had when I began dabbling in business and entrepreneurship a year ago was that ideas matter a lot. Ideas don't matter. The word "idea" isn't good to describe something that makes you think about ways to start a business. Problems are what lead to great businesses. Problems can be issues you have everyday, or issues the people around you have everyday. Before the iPod, people didn't really think that the way they listened to music had faults, but ten years later the iPod has changed the way that most people listen to music. Sometimes, people don't even know they have certain problems until someone comes along and provides a service or product that makes life easier. There are some problems I have that I know how to solve, while there are other problems that are much tougher for me to think about. For instance, I think someone in the world has to find a way to develop a pair of prescription eye glasses that only cost $1.50 to make. There are hundreds of millions of people in the world who would love to have better vision for $2.00. There's an enormous number of people in the world who have problems that are sometimes ignored. Problems are all around us. Don't think about ideas, think about problems, and you'll be successful.

Applied Semantics

Back in 2003, Google bought a company called Applied Semantics. If you were to ask ten people on the street today if they had ever heard of a company with that name, seven or eight of them would probably say they hadn't. However, if you were to ask that same group of people if they had ever heard of something called Google Adsense, I have a feeling five or six of them would say they had. Applied Semantics supplied the technology that was needed to create Google Adsense. Have you ever been on a site with ads? If so, they most likely were supplied by Google Adsense. It's an incredible product. Anyone can post one line of javascript code into their website, and they immediately start displaying ads that they can use to make money. The technology from Applied Semantics allowed Google to retrieve information from different websites to allow highly-targeted ads to be used on those sites. Adsense is now a billion dollar business for Google. Sometimes, there are small unknown stories about products we use everyday. Stay tuned for more about interesting technology startups that you may use already, or that may help you solve problems in your life!

You can follow me @kaufman_jack.

"Every Little Thing is Going to be Alright"

Today I read an article on the Huffington Post, about Jamie Hubley, who committed suicide after being bullied for being gay. This was incredibly upsetting to me. Whenever someone takes his or her life, it makes me sit back and think about what could cause the need to do this. After reading Jamie's blog (after I read through it for a few minutes I was even more upset), it was clear that he was very depressed. It sounded like things had been going the wrong way for too long, and he couldn't catch a break. Maybe after a certain point, after enduring so much pain, people lose the desire to keep going. Life can be a struggle that lasts from the day we're born to the day we die. But, even in the roughest of times, there will always be someone to give you a hug or be there to talk. Whether it be a parent, a friend, a therapist, or some random person on the street, never think that you are alone. If you think suicide is the only way out, I urge you to sit back, call a friend or family member, and wait for that person to arrive to be with you. Now may not be so great, but remember that at some point, things will be better. Everyone around you, though you may not see it, is better off for having you in the world. As Bob Marley said in the song "Three Little Birds", "Every little thing, is going to be alright."

You can follow me @kaufman_jack.

LinkedIn: It's Good For Teens

About eight months ago, my parents got an email from someone we both know saying they saw my name on LinkedIn, and that they were concerned about the fact that I was on it. After my parents brought it up with me, I explained that being on LinkedIn was a positive thing, as it allowed me to build up my connections after I met people at various events or conferences. The fact that this person had taken time out of their day to admonish me for being on a business networking site actually concerned me. I understood what this person's perspective was; that this person was probably thinking I might get hurt on LinkedIn or do something silly on the site. However, I also think being on LinkedIn is one of the most harmless things in the world. When did the days end that teenagers were given a little pat on the pack for joining a site like LinkedIn and trying to start a company? I don't think teens should be given a pat on the back for doing something as simple as joining LinkedIn, but I also find it ridiculous that there are some adults who believe that it is unsafe for teenagers to add people that they have met in person on a site that may help them out later in life. My advice to teenagers is to join LinkedIn. When you meet an adult and you ask him or her to add you on LinkedIn, that will show an unexpected sense of maturity. Don't listen to everything you are told, and join LinkedIn if you want to.

You can follow me @kaufman_jack.

A Day at the Doctor's Office

Yesterday I spent three hours at Yale Children's Hospital seeing a doctor and having some blood work done. Yale has some of the best doctors in the world, and also has a beautiful hospital for kids who are sick and going through a tough time. But, being there for me was a terrible experience. It's just a place that reminds me of memories from the past that are particularly unpleasant. But, I think this is part of the human experience. Almost everyone has been in some situation at some point during the course of life that has been painful, and seeing things or going to places that are reminders of the bad times in the past is tough. But, it can also be beneficial to go to these places and think about what you have become after the life-changing experiences they remind you of are no longer as prevalent in your mind. Don't be afraid to face the past. It's hard, but I think if you do it you will find thinking of the past and reflecting on it might be helpful in learning about yourself.

In one of my next couple of posts, I'll talk about the circumstances around my prior visits to Yale. You can follow me at @kaufman_jack.

Advertising Seems Broken

Whenever I see an advertisement on a billboard or in a newspaper or magazine, I die a little inside. This is because print advertising, and also television advertising is incredibly ineffective. I can not recall one time in my life that I saw a commercial on the television, or read an ad in a newspaper and actually visited the website or retail store for whatever was being advertised. Also, I feel as if though when watching a show, or reading the articles in a newspaper, many of the advertisements that business owners are spending money on are ones I don't even notice. If you were to ask ten people on the street if they pay any attention to ads on tv or the ads that distract them while reading the newspaper, I would bet that the majority of them would say they do not take notice of most advertisements. Companies and businesses who buy ads from the cable companies or newspapers, also make whoever has to read their ads do work to find their product. If I read a print ad, I have to turn on my computer, look up the website of the company that ran the ad, go through the company's website to see what they have to offer, and then think of buying something. My advice to business owners is do not do any advertising through print or television ads. To me, doing so is supporting an industry that doesn't provide a valuable return on investment.

Not spending money on any print or television advertising raises the question of what small businesses' ad budgets should be spent on. My advice, would be to invest in online advertising, whether it be through a service such as Google Adwords or Facebook ads. Imagine a world in which you could target specific people with specific interests or tendencies or target specific search queries related to your product. Also, with online advertising, everyone who clicks on your ad doesn't have to do any work as it takes them directly to your website or web presence. If I'm already on the computer, and see an image or some text to something that might help me, I'll actually notice it and probably click on it too. Doesn't that sound appealing? To me, it is very appealing, and is why you should at least try Adwords and Facebook ads. I'll be on the lookout for other platforms on the internet that are helpful.

You can follow me @kaufman_jack.

We Are All Just Data

Recently for English, we had to write a quick paragraph using a bunch of vocabulary words we had learned while reading American literature. I chose to write about a potential conversation that I would love to have with Larry Page. Here it is:

"I sat down in the theater for what would become an arduous, yet interesting conversation with Larry Page, one of the founders of Google. I started off by asking him if the new social network Google had been working on was received with much approbation. He said it was doing great, with tens of millions of users and active engagement with everyone on the site, though Facebook’s new Timeline feature and Open Graph would require Google’s vigilance to come up  with new innovations in the social space. My next question led to a change in his disposition, as I asked him whether “free” products such as the ones from Facebook and Google were artifices to gather immense amounts of data to give marketers super-focused ad placement. He then said that the usurpations I was alleging were incredibly false, that I was an insidious person, and that he was going to leave."

To Facebook and Google, we are a lot of data, and some people do not appreciate being tracked for the purpose of profit. I however, am perfectly okay in exchanging my interests and search queries for two products that help me out everyday and for two companies I hold in very high regard. In addition, I think that most people who complain about being tracked on Facebook or Google do not realize how helpful the highly-targeted ads that they provide to business owners can be. Though I've never run a Facebook ad campaign or a Google Adwords campaign, seeing how ads through both platforms can be targeted to very specific groups of people or very specific search queries is incredible. As soon as I launch my first business, YumOrder, I plan on experimenting with both services to see how they can help my business in particular. We might provide a lot of data to these companies and some may argue that our privacy is violated beyond an acceptable level when we use them, but think of how this data helps businesses increase sales and drive the economy forward, whether it be from more jobs at Google or more jobs at your favorite local small business. Data can be very valuable to any business that harnesses its power, and I think the simplest way to not have your "privacy" violated is to not use Google or Facebook at all.

For a good alternative to Google if you do not want to be tracked, I suggest taking a look at DuckDuckGo.

You can follow me @kaufman_jack.

Young Entrepreneurs Shouldn't Raise Money

When I first began to think about starting a business a year ago, I didn't know anything. I didn't know what General Assembly was, and didn't know much about hiring programmers or learning how to code. What I thought I did know was that the only way I was going to launch a business or product was by raising some money, whether it be from family members or angel investors. This was a thought I held in my mind even after I attended Startup Weekend back in June, as the team I was working with was having trouble launching a product. Then the thought donned on me, I don't need to raise any money since I'm a teenager. I have a place to live, don't have to provide for myself, and can invest my own money in getting a product together and paying for hosting. This was compounded when I met Charlie O'Donnell, who is a venture capitalist at First Round Capital and a great guy overall, and had a telephone conversation with him where he stressed as a teen, at least initially I should be focusing on building a profitable business, and then I once I make something that is producing money, I can focus on raising money to grow things faster. It makes so much sense too. If I build something that becomes profitable, then I have a business with a proven model. Once I have a business with a proven model and some traction, raising money shouldn't be too hard. After someone raises money, then super fast growth can come. Teens shouldn't focus on selling a part of their company right away when they don't have a profitable business, they should focus on creating a profitable business, that can then see the benefits of venture capital or angel money. Over the next week I'll write about how teen entrepreneurs can launch a product for no more than $1,000.

You can follow me @kaufman_jack.

Problems Need to Be Solved

It's been a long time since my last post, and I apologize for that. I'm hoping to be much more active on this blog over the next few weeks! It's no excuse for not writing, but some days I just don't know what to write about. I thought today I would talk about Dropbox. A week ago, I signed up for Dropbox, and have to admit it is great. It's super fast, and I love how when I upload a file to it at school, I come home and my folder is already synced. The guys at Dropbox solved my problem of not wanting to email all my files to myself that can't be uploaded to google docs, and the service is wonderful. Right now, I don't need to pay for Dropbox Pro as all of my files are pretty small, but I could see in the future using it exclusively to back up everything on my computer.

My point about Dropbox is that it solves a real problem. I feel like too many startups today aren't focusing on problems people actually have. I think a great startup right now would be one that focused on getting jobs for the people in the U.S., and that focused on keeping jobs from going oversees. The United States economy is a mess right now, and there are no clear ends to the problems we are facing in sight. Even something as simple as where companies could pay people who signed up in the U.S. $15 an hour to provide telephone support to customers might help out. The business I'm working on right now, YumOrder, will hopefully help create jobs if it ends up becoming a technology company. Not only through the employees I hire, but the students and people that will sign up to manage small businesses' social media accounts. A startup that helps people get jobs, even ones that are pretty low-paying is so critical right now. There, I just gave whoever ends up reading this a real problem that needs to be solved. Go out right now, stop watching football for an hour, and do something to change the world!

You can follow me @kaufman_jack.

Conflict

Everyone has conflict in his or her life. For me, I usually have conflicting feelings towards other people, and sometimes I have inner-conflict. There was a time in my life when I thought having no conflict with other people was the best thing in the world, so I tried to mitigate conflict whenever possible. Over time though, I've learned that conflict can strengthen and build relationships with the people around me. Having conflict with people you like or love is kind of like doing weightlifting, initially your muscles and relationships get broken down a bit, but after good recovery and reconciliation, they both come back stronger for it. Being in conflict with others close to you is okay, as long as you sit back and let those people know what they mean to you.

Inner-conflict is a different beast. A lot of the time when I'm questioning a decision or thinking hard about an issue, I don't know what the best stance to take is. Usually, I after I prioritize something, or promote or demote certain ideas or values, I wonder if I made the right choice. It's tough to focus on every choice you make as a person, or everything that's going on in the world. Sometimes the inner-conflict is because of insecurities I have. The best way I deal with thoughts from inside my mind about different things in my life is by reflecting on them, tucking them away, and pulling out what I've learned from my experiences when it suits me best. Life is full of conflict, which can be good if you handle it the right way.

Difficulty Communicating

Something I've noticed over the years, is that I'm not very good at talking with people I don't know, or people who I have just met. A lot of times, I'm out and about, or doing something, and think it would be great to strike up a conversation with someone. Usually though, I don't know what to say at first, or run out of things to say. For example, tonight I was at an event at school, and there was a girl I was really interested in talking to. But, when I thought about it, I honestly had no idea what I was going to say. Well I knew I was going to say "hey", and ask a question about school. But, after that I wasn't sure. Sometimes, I run out of things to say to people I know really well. If anyone has any thoughts on being better at talking to new people or better at talking, let me know and I'd love to have that person write a guest post. You can follow me @kaufman_jack.

To Improve or Not to Improve

I'm a junior in high school, and this is my third year running cross country. My goal for this year has been the same as my goal in my prior two years of running, which is to improve my time for the 5K race. This involves doing a lot of speed work, which helps make me faster, but also is unpleasant. For example, this past week I had a workout where I did a ladder going from 0.25 miles to 0.50 miles to 0.75 miles to 1 mile of very fast running, and then went back down the ladder. This was very difficult, but I worked really hard because I knew I wanted to improve. By the end of the workout, I was very tired, but was felt confident that my time would drop at least 30 seconds because of the hard work I put in. To me, lots of things in life are hard and/or painful. If you really want to accomplish something, then the only way to make it happen is to put good work into what you are doing.

Startup Ideas I Would Fund

A couple of years ago, Y Combinator had a list of startup ideas they would like to fund. I thought it might be fun to come up with a list of interesting ideas for interesting problems I would fund! Here it is:

Problem: Teachers, especially in public school, sometimes aren't as motivated to teach and inspire their kids after they have been tenured. To me, teachers who aren't doing a really good job are having a very negative impact on the future of our society.
Idea: Some way to hold teachers accountable to doing a great job after they have been tenured or incentivize teachers to do a better job.

Problem: Kids who aren't motivated to do their best in school. A lot of times I've seen kids with a lot of ability not do well in school. For me, that's very tough.
Idea: Some way not involving money to motivate kids to do well in school. This could be as simple as a blog, tailored to kids, helping them realize their potential. Kind of like a TechCrunch for success.

Problem: A number of high schools and middle schools do not have programming or computer science courses. I think schools should be required to teach programming starting in sixth grade. One problem with this is that hiring computer science teachers or full-time web developers to teach kids how to code is expensive.
Idea: Some sort of site that school districts can pay for so their students can complete computer science exercises, become interested in coding, and learn how to make their own web apps or software applications. I think Codecademy has a chance to do this. Right now, their courses are simple. But, if they develop a set of courses that allow kids to become good at coding in javascript, and then create a set of courses that allow kids to learn Rails really well in a fun way, I know I would pay a $100 fee for the service if they had those courses.

Problem: I want to know where my twitter followers are coming from, and receive analytics about how my followers are engaging me. I know I would pay $5 to $10 a month for something like this.
Idea: Personal social media analytics, focused on twitter. A way to see how your followers found you (from a website, a post with a hashtag, a retweet, or on someone's twitter page). This would help me increase my followers and focus on areas where I could be getting more followers.

Problem: Many professionals and consultants do not have professional looking websites. I've noticed through research that a large number of consultants, and professionals such as therapists do not have websites, or the websites they do have don't look too professional.
Idea: A way for professionals who schedule appointments, speaking times, and consulting time to make professional one page websites with Google Calendar integration so people who come to these sites can schedule appointments.

If I had money to invest as an angel in startups, I would definitely invest in companies solving the problems on this list. Hopefully, in a few years I will be able to invest in tech companies that help people and businesses solve real problems. Right now, I'm working on helping businesses turn new customers and non-frequent customers into repeat customers who come often. You can follow my business @YumOrder.

You can follow me @kaufman_jack.

Tips For Relieving Stress

Even though most of the time, there's no need to be stressed if you really think about it (Why not to be stressed), sometimes life gets the better of all of us. If you're ever feeling any sort of stress, here are my tips for relaxing and feeling better.

Tip number one - Take deep breaths with your stomach, not your chest. This is a technique that many people recommend, and one that I've called on in the past. Simply breathe deeply in a way where your stomach expands and contracts, and this should help you calm down.

Tip number two - Go talk to a friend or close family member. For some reason, talking to a good friend or a close family member takes my mind off of the things that are going poorly. It's nice to talk with someone who will help you work through what ever is bothering you.

Tip number three (my favorite tip) - Go close your eyes. If you're at work, go sit in the stall for five minutes and close your eyes. If you're at school, go sit somewhere where you can close your eyes for five minutes and not notice anything going on around you. The most ideal thing that I would do, and this is the most difficult thing to do, is take a quick nap. You may be tired when you wake up, but I find that this helps me clear my mind. Whether you close your eyes or take a nap, you will be resting, which from personal experience should help decrease your stress levels.

You can follow me @kaufman_jack.

Don't Be Stressed

For a long time in my life, I was stressed about a lot of things. It was a terrible way to go through living day to day. Now, it's nice to be able to say that I don't worry about anything. If I have a test, I don't fret. If I have a lot going on, all of the activities don't make me worried. No one should have to be worried about what is coming in a week, in ten weeks, or in a year. In the end, as long as you are working hard, but not too hard, you will be okay. If you are a worrier, remember you are doing your best, and know that tomorrow things will most likely be easier. As Bob Marley said, "Don't worry about a thing, every little thing is gonna be alright." Don't worry, be happy, and remember tomorrow will be okay.

You can follow me @kaufman_jack.

Life

I've found in the short time I've been in the world, life has many ups and downs. One day, I feel like I'm on the top of the world, and other days I feel awful. Lots of things can influence whether or not I have a positive or negative mood. Did I go jogging today, what was school like, did I feel stressed? Even on bad days, I try really hard to not let that affect my interactions with others. Even if you feel like the world is crumbling on top of you, remember tomorrow is most likely going to be better. Be on the lookout for what I think helps when someone is feeling down.

You can follow me on twitter @kaufman_jack.

Learning to Program

One of the most important skills I think a person can have, and one that I've been trying to learn for a while is the ability to program. It's been very frustrating to start Michael Hartl's Rails Tutorial, and then be four chapters in when other things in life have to become priorities. My goal this summer was to learn enough Rails to be able to build web applications for some of the ideas I have. Though I was working a job during the day, and trying to find market-fit for my ideas at night, I could have devoted more time learning how to code. Now, I feel like I have to wait until Thanksgiving Break or Winter Break with school and sports before I can have a real shot at making my own web apps. Maybe I can learn web development practicing thirty minutes a night. One of my biggest regrets in life has been not learning how to code when I was younger, so my advice to any teenager or adult reading this is to devote as much time as you can to becoming a developer; you won't see the benefits right away, but when you don't need to hire someone to build a prototype for your startup or you actually get hired to do freelance work, you'll see it's well worth it.

Writing a Book

Recently, between school and focusing on my business and friends, I've had the inkling to write a book. My motivation for doing so came when I discovered Createspace through reading James Altucher's blog post on Self-Publishing a Book. It's amazing to me how easy it is to write a book, and then have it published and printed through a web app. I'm not sure what I would write about. There's a good story I think I could tell, that I'll talk about sometime while writing on this blog. I might talk about fear, or about success and failure. Startups interest me, as do larger tech companies like Google and Amazon. I might write about money in our society and in our lives. I have no special training in writing or journalism, but that's the beauty of the Internet. I can blog and I can publish a book, and real people might read about what I have to say. As a young person, I think that is amazing.

You can follow me on twitter @kaufman_jack.

Google Can Be the Winner in Social Without a Network

Google and its Android operating system has come under fire recently from all directions due to a lack of patent protection. Google acquired Motorola Mobility in part because of the 17,000 mobile patents it holds. Though it is very powerful, Google is a relatively young company with fewer patents than Microsoft or Apple. Mobile search and browsing is a daily part of millions of lives, and that means new revenue streams for Google. The other thing Google realizes is that social media and being social on the web has huge potential for increased revenue. Google has its own social network with Google +. The only problem is the biggest player in social, Facebook,  has over 750 million users.

What is Google to do? In my mind, Google should sue Facebook citing infringement on as many patents as possible, just like Apple, Microsoft, and Oracle are doing to Google right now. Facebook, according to ZDNet, has twelve patents. From an intellectual property standpoint, Facebook is vulnerable. Google shouldn't beat Facebook with a new social network; Google should win the social war with Facebook paying licensing fees. Will Google do this, I don't know. I guess time will tell.

Learning From Others

I'm very big on getting feedback from different markets for different ideas I have. For example, if I have an idea that will target restaurants, I go send emails to restaurants. If I have an idea that will be focused on consumers or on writers, I go talk to writers and get feedback through surveys. Talking to different businesses usually lets me know right away whether or not I'm solving a problem for them, or am just thinking about something that won't help anyone out.

Recently I sent an email with a survey to about 400 restaurants. In the past, I had sent a few emails with different surveys to approximately 200 of these restaurants. While I know this isn't a great way for getting very detailed responses to the problems I am trying to solve, it is a way for me to hopefully get a lot of data very quickly.

The responses I sent out in my last survey were particularly negative. This was very good for me, because I scratched off the idea I had right away. What was interesting was one of the restaurant owners responded to my email and told me to "go fuck myself." I didn't respond to his email, but was happy he sent it. It made me realize that I had to go through my idea validation process differently, and treat the people I was talking to better in the process. Business owners and restaurant owners probably don't want to get a survey every other week because they are trying to run their businesses, so I won't try this way of getting feedback in the future.  The email also motivated me to work harder to try to solve real problems. Sometimes in life, people make mistakes, and then more people make more mistakes because of the previous errors. For a long time I didn't realize the value of mistakes or being wrong, but have learned failure can be more valuable than success.

You can follow me on twitter @kaufman_jack.