Building startups and companies that last

The tendency to announce near-victory is a pervasive disease. This is exemplified by the reports on ease of doing business

In a previous column (BS, September 25), I had described a progressive and happy society as one where enterprise, education and eudaemonia (well-being) co-exist. Companies, which are designed to last, promote enterprise on the foundation of trust between the ecosystem and the business community. 

Business ecosystem: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross was a psychiatrist journalist, who identified a pattern in the reactions of very sick patients when they became aware of their illness: Denial—Anger—Negotiation—Depression—Action. I call it the DANDA cycle. Many human systems tend to follow this cycle, losing a year or so between the D and the last A.

To understand