Pursuing Correctness as Developers
As developers, we are trained from school to prioritize correctness. We focus on logic, clean architecture, and passing tests because, in code, being "right" leads to success while being "wrong" leads to failure. Over time, this conditioning causes us to tie our self-worth to being correct, which can become a major hurdle when we transition into building products for the real world.
When we start creating content or apps, the predictable link between effort and results often disappears. We might build something technically perfect that nobody uses, or write something insightful that nobody reads. This feels like a failure in the traditional sense, but in the market, "errors" aren't signs of being wrong—they are simply data points.
A World with no Predefinded Correctness
High-performing developers often fall into a trap where they view a lack of traction as a personal flaw. In programming, a bug is a mistake to be fixed, but in entrepreneurship, being wrong is the primary way you learn. It is important to shift our mindset from "I failed" to "That experiment didn't land," recognizing that frequent failure is a necessary part of the process.
This requires a new definition of confidence. True confidence isn't the belief that you will always succeed; it’s being okay regardless of the outcome. While developers are used to seeing output as validation, we must learn to see it as an experiment. You can care deeply about the work without letting the market's reaction judge your personal worth.
A Billion Dollar Product Emerges from Failures
A classic example of this is the origin of Twitch. Justin Kan initially launched Justin.tv to stream his life 24/7, which didn't succeed as a mainstream concept. However, instead of taking it as a personal failure, he noticed users were interested in the streaming technology itself—specifically for gaming. By viewing the "failed" project as market feedback rather than a dead end, he was able to pivot into a billion-dollar company.
Mindset Shift
Ultimately, we must undergo an identity shift: we are no longer someone who proves value by being right, but someone who creates value by running experiments. This means shipping imperfect things and accepting that we will be ignored or wrong often. By launching/publishing often and observing, we turn failures into data points that fuel long-term growth.
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