ronin - 5:37 pm on Mar 18, 2008 (gmt 0)

ergophobe, you make some thought-provoking points, but my take when I set out to create a web-based business in mid-2002 was: "There is nothing to lose."

Had things fizzled out, then arguably I would have lost some time, but I hazarded that any experience gained would mean that the time had been usefully spent, even if the project failed to go anywhere.

Could I have lost money? No, because one of the key points of my business plan - the top one, in fact - was:

1. Do not invest any money in this project unless you are 110% sure that it will generate a return higher than the amount invested. If you're only 100% sure, then forget it.

I think most people here would call that excessively cautious, but I wasn't in a position where I could afford to lose anything and my business plan had to reflect that.

In a context where you can't lose anything, the worst you can do by investing time and effort is come out a little more knowledgable and experienced than you were when you started out. That's the worst possible outcome. In such a context, I'd largely go along with ildarius' idea: you can only fail when you give up.

I agree with you that once you commit to sunk costs you must take on a different perspective and recognise that pulling out is sometimes a better option than blindly pressing forward.