Your First Product May Not Succeed. Here's Why Giving Up Is a Mistake. Nobody likes to fail, but I'd argue there's value in not hitting it big on your first try.

Have you ever heard of Odeo? NeXt? How about Traf-O-Data?

If you follow startup news, you may be familiar with these failed attempts by founders who went on to become household names — Evan Williams, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates started the aforementioned businesses before they launched Twitter, Apple and Microsoft.

Few of us would consider these examples of unsuccessful entrepreneurs. If you could ask them, they'd probably tell you that those early attempts were instrumental in paving the way for their later achievements.