The principles I will use in my next entrepreneurial endeavor. Learning from my mistakes and failures.

I failed at several entrepreneurial endeavors. Brick and mortar and tech; some I founded, some I joined; on my own and as a co-founder. Every story is, well, a story. I’m not going to go through the details in this note. Never was I unfortunate, but rather behind every failure, there were mistakes and miscalculations.

After my last failure, I switched to consulting and part-time contractual work. Now, for the first time in two years, I am starting to explore a couple of new entrepreneurial ideas. The word “ideas” is important. They say “Ideas are nothing, execution is everything.” Yes and No. Poor execution can kill great ideas. But I also think that good ideas don’t grow on trees. For a long time, there was a drought in my head — you could give me hundreds of thousands of dollars to start a business, and I wouldn’t know what to do. But finally, I have ideas.

So, in no particular order.

• Keep your mouth shut — don’t humble brag — until you have something meaningful to share. Meaningful doesn’t mean a pretty mock-up or that you raised your first round from external investors. It means having a real business that’s likely to survive. In most cases, humble bragging is a distraction that feeds your ego. Humble bragging can take different forms. Don’t announce on LinkedIn that you’re looking for a star director of something to add to your amazing team. You probably don’t have a team, and you…