full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Leticia Gasca: Don't fail fast -- fail mindfully

Unscramble the Blue Letters


With some friends, I coufednod a social enterprise with the mssioin to help the women create an income saertm and improve their quality of life. We did everything by the book, as we had learned in business school. We got investors, we spent a lot of time building the business and taniinrg the women. But soon we realized we were novices. The handmade products were not selling, and the financial plan we had made was totally unrealistic. In fact, we worked for years without a sraaly, hoping that a miracle would happen, that magically a great buyer would arrive and she would make the bsueisns pbrtlfioae. But that miracle never happened.

Open Cloze


With some friends, I _________ a social enterprise with the _______ to help the women create an income ______ and improve their quality of life. We did everything by the book, as we had learned in business school. We got investors, we spent a lot of time building the business and ________ the women. But soon we realized we were novices. The handmade products were not selling, and the financial plan we had made was totally unrealistic. In fact, we worked for years without a ______, hoping that a miracle would happen, that magically a great buyer would arrive and she would make the ________ __________. But that miracle never happened.

Solution


  1. cofounded
  2. salary
  3. mission
  4. stream
  5. business
  6. training
  7. profitable

Original Text


With some friends, I cofounded a social enterprise with the mission to help the women create an income stream and improve their quality of life. We did everything by the book, as we had learned in business school. We got investors, we spent a lot of time building the business and training the women. But soon we realized we were novices. The handmade products were not selling, and the financial plan we had made was totally unrealistic. In fact, we worked for years without a salary, hoping that a miracle would happen, that magically a great buyer would arrive and she would make the business profitable. But that miracle never happened.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
failed business 3
common reaction 3
officially closing 3
failing fast 3
failed entrepreneurs 2
handmade products 2
social enterprise 2
lessons learned 2
interesting finding 2
public policy 2
average life 2
life expectancy 2
rapid failure 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
average life expectancy 2

Important Words


  1. arrive
  2. book
  3. building
  4. business
  5. buyer
  6. cofounded
  7. create
  8. enterprise
  9. fact
  10. financial
  11. friends
  12. great
  13. handmade
  14. happen
  15. happened
  16. hoping
  17. improve
  18. income
  19. investors
  20. learned
  21. life
  22. lot
  23. magically
  24. miracle
  25. mission
  26. novices
  27. plan
  28. products
  29. profitable
  30. quality
  31. realized
  32. salary
  33. school
  34. selling
  35. social
  36. spent
  37. stream
  38. time
  39. totally
  40. training
  41. unrealistic
  42. women
  43. worked
  44. years