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Speed > Accuracy

In a perfect world, you’d be able to execute with both speed and accuracy. But this is rare. Perfect information is very difficult (impossible?) to have, so ultimately you have to make decisions without knowing all factors.

At school, when we have to study for exams, the most academically oriented students (i.e the nerds, those who get As) prepare for everything in advance. They scourge the textbook, go over all section notes, and ensure that there are no missing holes in their knowledge. And then they do well on the exam.

C students, on the other hand, go into that exam normally not having studied nearly enough. Resultantly, they don’t do well.

In the game of life, however, I posit that most successful entrepreneurs are C students and not A students.  

C students, after all, are used to taking action despite not being well prepared. They don’t recognize their unpreparedness as a disadvantage.

The A student, on the other hand, might be stuck in analysis-paralysis before launching a new product or website. And most of the time, will never end up releasing it.

And unlike an exam, there are no clear grade boundaries in entrepreneurship. The fact is that most of the time you will fail. But you only need to be right once. Since C students will keep shipping, putting their ideas out in front of the public, the odds of just one even working are non-trivial.

Of course, I think the best combination is an A-student who isn’t afraid to fail or to look foolish. Someone who’s done his homework (for ex: market research), but isn’t going to get bogged down by the details. This is a rare combination of traits to possess.