All In Startup: Launching a New Idea When Everything Is on the Line

Chapter 16The Only Way to Get Good at Customer Interviews Is to Practice

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the second round of the World Series of Poker! Congratulations on being one of the top 2,700 poker players in the world. Today, only the top 450 players will advance to the next round. Joining us this morning to open play is honorary pit boss and former Nevada governor . . .”

Sam looked at the table. Nobody was paying attention to the emcee. They were all too busy stacking chips or preparing their small portion of the table to their exact liking—warriors preparing for battle in their own way. Sam was pleased to see her stack was among the biggest, maybe the biggest at the table. She looked around the room. She tried to make out some pros she might know. Phil Helmuth was still in it. Her thoughts were interrupted by the only words that mattered:

“Good luck, players! Shuffle up and deal!”

And with that, the second day was off. As she stacked and restacked her chips, Sam considered her goal—obviously, the big target was to make it to the end of the day. That was totally doable. Especially with her stack. She just needed to control herself through early play.

That was easier said than done. This was supposed to be the pros! Almost 5,000 players had already gone home. Yet everybody seemed to be just as worried as Sam about getting to the third day. Maybe it was just her table, but no one seemed to be chasing any pots. It didn’t even help when Sam hit an incredible streak of ...