Goes to show how good an actor he is too - I never would've imagined that the same person who played the doofus Kelso in That 70's show, or the guy from punkd would be giving solid, down to earth business advice at such a young age.
and continues into Part 2: http://www.justin.tv/startupschool/b/298680010
One of the truly undervalued assets in this world is learning from other people's mistakes instead of having to learn from your own. It can be the difference between winning and losing.
I was in a business simulation competition once during university. At the end, when they were about to announce the winners, one of the judges got up and said, "Business is like sex. If you've never tried it, it doesn't matter how much you read about it, how much you know about it, etc. Until you experience it, you don't really understand it for real." It made for a laugh afterwards, because some people weren't happy with how he had judged their teams.
I guess it's because most people are not good at managing their own psychology, ala this post: http://bhorowitz.com/2011/04/01/what%E2%80%99s-the-most-diff... Head knowledge is hard to remember when you're in the fire. Heart knowledge is instinctual.
I'm not making a comparison between knowledge and experience as they are two different animals. But there is certainly a lot to learn from another person's experience. It's the reason a boxer study tapes of their opponents fighting other people, although it by no means ensures success it does increase their chances.
The thing is in the real life you don't get unlimited chances to learn from your own mistakes. In somes cases if you fail once, its over. You don't get a chance to build a new product everyday, or write a book, or play for a championship ring, etc. If you can find sound advice that saves you the time/pain of failing, take it. Winning is better anyway.