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

Chapter 25Opportunities to Find Prospective Customers Are Everywhere—You Just Have to Look

Back at the table, Owen was thinking about the idea he’d had for a retail store. Sam had shot that down pretty quickly, and Owen realized she was right. But what scared him was how much he believed in the idea before she shot it down. He was being desperate again and trying to find a panacea, when what he really needed was to slow down, put himself in a stronger position, and gather information from actual customers.

Owen promised himself that he was done dreaming up solutions on his own. That he was going to get customers first before committing to any new fixes. That he was going to stop throwing money behind bad cards, hoping to get lucky. No more gambling, Owen!

As if on cue, Owen received some great new cards. Ace-king. Was this a sign that he was headed in the right direction? Was the universe trying to reward him for finally seeing the error of his ways with ReBicycle?

“Hey, Biker-Boy, you gonna play today?”

It was James, an Asian NYU grad student who had spent the entire day at Owen’s table. Owen found James’s question very odd because James didn’t normally talk in hands in which he was playing. Also, he hadn’t called Owen Biker-Boy before. He definitely had some good cards. Or he had absolutely nothing and was bluffing. No in-between.

“How you know I’m into bikes?”

“Everybody knows. That one chick said you raced with Lance Armstrong.”

“What chick?”

“Blonde chick.”

One of the other ...