Almost failing.

We must also be careful not to go in the opposite direction. All too many founders bet everything they have on an unviable business model, a solution looking for a problem, or something equally foolhardy. Then, when the expected revenue doesn't come about, they go all-in leveraging themselves via credit cards and bank loans to try push their business over the top. In the end, rather than being screwed when the business collapses, they end up really screwed.

As the author points out, all those success stories are known because the worked out. He then goes on to lament the companies that failed because their founders gave up too early. But there are also companies that failed even though their founders never gave up, and we never hear about those, either.

Well, if you start a company and things will go way too easy for you, it's hard not to become overconfident which will eventually lead into ultimate failure.

so is it surprising all these great companies had difficult beginnings? not at all, it made founders humble, which is never a bad thing.

I think the article meanders a bit, but it does provide some good starting points for people who might not have known about how close-to-death a lot of companies come.

http://www.justin.tv/startupschool/b/272180383 - Brian Chesky (AirBnB) tells it himself.

The web server is failing. :/

I have to say that, if the Fedex story is true, he is one of the worst leaders I have ever encountered.

Survivor bias in full power here.