This is a great article. Two key points for consumer oriented startups: it always takes longer and foolproof is hard to do. Key paragraphs:<p>[T]wo other key characteristics of the successful entrepreneur: persistence and perfectionism. Mr Bissonette had expected to have the new product on the market within a year to 18 months. In the end, it took four years.<p>Experience had taught Mr Bissonette that “when you launch a new category, you make one mistake and it could be your last chance.” So each new version of AeroGrow's kitchen garden was tested to destruction with people whose fingers were anything but green. “We kept building the best system we could, watched how people would kill their plants, and changed it so they couldn’t kill their plants that way any more,” says John Thompson, AeroGrow's marketing director.
Great article. This reminds me of the Excite team, after the 6 of them graduated from Stanford, they decided to start a company simply because they want to pursue entrepreneurship, without even having an idea of what they will be doing.<p>I think it's important to show that entrepreneurship succeeds when you are persistence, have a strong drive to succeed, and have the determination... rather than how media portrait it as random luck (ex. Founder x first started the company because he couldn't find something that does y)