The options you can hear are different at different stages (situations) in life.

When I was a developer and then a manager, all I heard were the ABCDs. Once I became an executive, the conversations shifted to BCDEs. And when I transitioned to the investor side, the people around me changed too—so the input became EFGHs.

Now, the once-familiar ABCDs have completely disappeared.

When none of the people around you have ever succeeded, you already know their answers are wrong—that alone is sufficient. You just need to use the process of elimination. That’s enough.

I don’t know exactly what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur, but I do know what will definitely lead to failure. So every day when making decisions, I simply avoid those known fatal mistakes. What remains has a far higher chance of success.