Exploring Poker As The Perfect Preparation For A New Startup

What Poker Can Teach Us About Startups

Poker is a game of skill and strategy. As such, it can teach us valuable lessons about venturing into the sometimes-challenging space of business startups.
In fact, many of the most successful entrepreneurs in business are happy to explain how they learned a lot about business from Poker. Think of names like Sam Altman, Chamath Palihapitiya, and Tony Hsieh.
Poker has several valuable lessons to teach entrepreneurs. Below are just a few. Join us as we explore the parallels between Poker and staring a new business.

Managing Resources

Poker can teach us about managing resources.
Poker players are skilled at managing whatever chips they may have and using them strategically.
In the same way, startups often must deal with limited resources such as time, working capital, and even human power.
Poker can teach us how to fully optimise the resources at our disposal. Success in Poker revolves around making well-timed bets by conserving chips when necessary.
This same principle is applicable to the world of business. Entrepreneurs can apply this mindset by seeking creative solutions for their startup.

Analysing The Competition

Knowing how to read the competition is an important skill in business.
But in Poker too, players study their opponents closely to gain a competitive advantage.
Poker teaches us how to observe certain signals and behaviours, which can then be used to understand business markets, assess competitors’ strategies, and even understand the needs of the customer.

Building Resilience

When playing Poker, players will experience both wins and losses. It is their ability to bounce back from disappointments that defines them.
In the same way, startups very often encounter setbacks and even outright failures along their journey.
Poker teaches us to learn from our mistakes, maintain our cool, and keep on persevering. Folks running startups can apply this resilience by using so-called failures as learning moments.
Poker can even teach us valuable lessons about our overall attitude to casino games, including pokies online NZ.

Decision-Making

Poker is a game of strategy. This means that to be successful, players must weight their options, foresee certain outcomes, and make the right decisions that will optimise their chances of winning.
Likewise, startups require sound and strategic decision-making. This means entrepreneurs must constantly evaluate opportunities in the market, develop advertising plans, formulate business models, and make critical decisions.
Poker fosters the ability to think strategically when it comes to decision-making.

Embracing Uncertainty

In Poker, players must make decisions based on incomplete information. This means that it is a game rife with uncertainty. Startups, too, operate in the same type of environment. This is because in business, market fluctuations and unforeseen challenges are common.
The ability to fully embrace uncertainty and becoming at ease with making decisions even when the information at our disposal seems incomplete are critical skills for every entrepreneur.
Poker trains us to make calculated decisions in the face of uncertainty.

The Importance Of Timing

Every Poker enthusiast will tell you that where you sit at the table in relation to the starting player matters a great deal. This is a thing of timing. Moving last means having much more time to gather information about your opponents.
The same applies to a new startup. In fact, according to several notable research studies, good timing is one of the biggest reasons for why startups succeed.