Talk Them Out Of It First
Try to kill the dream; invest in whoever survives.
When someone comes to Repole wanting to start a company, he spends more time talking them out of it than into it — 18-hour days, seven days a week, lost friendships, five brutal survival years where you can go bankrupt daily. If the warning scares them off, he's saved them five years and their relationships. If they still want in after the pep talk, he'll actually invest. The discouragement is the qualifying test.
- Discouragement is a filter — only the undeterrable should proceed.
- Saving someone from the wrong five-year bet is a gift, not cruelty.
- Back conviction that survives an honest worst-case briefing.
Born from Repole's own experience that the first venture (Vitaminwater) was 'the easiest of the hardest' partly because he was naive — and that naivety plus work ethic is rare, so most people need to be stress-tested before they commit.
Source · VIDEO
Mike Repole on Next Up with Adam Breneman (full episode)