Headline:  Red or Black: What Can You Learn About Entrepreneurship from Roulette

Author: Giselle Liu

yzl5979@psu.edu

Roulette is not purely a gambling game. Statistic professors might’ve used roulette as an example analyzing the possibility, and there’s also a lot to learn from roulette about business no matter for students or businessmen.

First thing first, a businessman should always be visionary, as in roulette. Knowing when to stop ensures everything is working in the correct way. Entrepreneurs that forget to surround themselves with a person or team focused on execution are already off to the next great thing before getting traction on the initial “bet”. Just as when the croupier calls “no more bets”, there is a time to slow down, maybe necessarily be a full stop, but get the initial idea locked and moving forward vs an infinite onslaught of constant change and new ideas that never launch. Allow the initial product or service to stabilize, get feedback, and then iterate.

Secondly, being sensible with spending is crucial. Betting all money in a game is not always a wise choice, so is putting all startup capital in one place. Entrepreneurship requires much more strategies, but the most fundamental thing is, everyone in a gambling house or a startup business hopes to witness his money rolls like a bigger and bigger snowball. It’s always better to flexibly assign money to see how risky the actions turn out.

Thirdly, win slowly and steadily. Playing a long game in roulette is always exhausting. The same applies to starting a business. There are loads of work involved and one of the worst things one can do is to burn out while the game is still processing. Leave some downtime, remember that a proper work balance is essential no matter how much one might want to make the business a success, and your brain will be able to work at its optimal level.

Last but not least, considering how to increase the odds of success. Roulette players with their eyes on the prize should go for a concept known as “the double dozen”, betting on two 12s at the same time. This allows them to cover 24 numbers – or 66 percent of the table – with just two bets, meaning they’re stacking the statistics in their favor. It’s very much possible to create the same sort of formula for success for entrepreneurship- doing more research, investing in training, and hiring wisely. Make the possibility to win way higher than 50% and get rid of actually betting in entrepreneurship.

[Pic resource: edge.twinspires.com]