It's possible that the founders of businesses that expect to advertise on Google/socials could put this to work, but it's not a general case best practice since most businesses are not launched through targeted keyword auctions.<p>The problem I have with this essay, after sitting with it for a few minutes, is that it's predicated on the notion that every failed startup is a great idea that deserves to exist, but just hasn't found its paying customers, yet.<p>Sadly, this is simply not true. Lots of founders drink their own Kool-aid and build significant amounts of IP and software and merchandise before actually verifying that real people want to give them real money for it. Telling them that they just haven't found the right Instagram demographic is actively harming them now and in the future.<p>Look, I often tell founders that they need to identify what success looks like, and what failure looks like, and then stick to those definitions to the maximum degree possible. This gives us the opportunity to celebrate our wins (which can otherwise be fuzzy until you ring that IPO bell) but just as importantly, it gives founders the ability to differentiate between "don't listen to the haters" and "it's time to be honest with ourselves about the fact that this isn't going to work".<p>There's an art to knowing when to stop. You really don't want to allow the sunk cost fallacy to damage your ability to move on to the next idea. After all, our time is finite, and the optimal time in your life to start a company is even more so.