OK. I was at a start-up that failed called "Optimal Networks". Optimal was sold for pennies on the dollar to CompuWare (who, to this day, continues to sell the Optimal product line and make a bunch of money from it).

There are many reasons Optimal failed (a dysfunctional founding team, changing the CEO three times, impatient VCs watching the .com boom pass Optimal by).

But the most important lesson I learnt was: start your own damn company. It's much more fun to be a founder than one of the first employees.