EDITOR ’ S QUESTION

’ m lucky in that I ’ ve avoided any ‘ showy ’ failures , but I ’ ve failed an awful lot , and continue to do so .

I ’ ve learned to think about failure as a constant and as a positive , because if you ’ re going about things the right way and pushing the boundaries , failure ’ s what happens . It creates an opportunity to learn , adapt and improve .

I wish I ’ d learned to embrace failure a little earlier , because I spent too long at the start of my career playing safe and avoiding putting myself in situations where things might go wrong . That meant I didn ’ t conspicuously fail , but also meant I didn ’ t learn and progress as fast as I could have done .

There ’ s another angle though . Being prepared to fail is one thing , but you need to be resilient to it too . If failure ’ s part of the process , you have to commit to it – you can ’ t be embarrassed about it , or deny it , or let it get you down . You need to absorb the learning , pick yourself up and keep going . I like the Beckett quote which captures this nicely , which I find motivating : “ Ever tried . Ever failed . No matter . Try again . Fail again . Fail better .”

for a lot , especially for start-ups where it ’ s all about learning and iteration . You have an idea , you test it , you learn and you adapt . It ’ s a constant process . Having the resilience to keep going and maintain energy levels really matters .

People are also drawn to start-ups because of the adventure and the excitement of building things , which is why they are often highly invested . That ’ s founder-type behaviour , so treat them as someone cut from the same cloth .

To succeed in the startup landscape which is unpredictable , and often turbulent , you need to be adaptable and resilient . Failure pushes you to overcome it in innovative ways . Ultimately , it ’ s just another stepping stone towards success . x

I ’ VE LEARNED TO THINK ABOUT FAILURE AS A CONSTANT AND AS A POSITIVE , BECAUSE IF YOU ’ RE GOING ABOUT THINGS THE RIGHT WAY AND PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES , FAILURE ’ S WHAT HAPPENS .

For me , failure is an integral part of my journey as an entrepreneur , and I ’ ve come to view each mistake as a stepping stone rather than a stumbling block .

When starting and running a business , failure is not only inevitable but necessary . If you ’ re doing it right , failure should be constant because you ’ re pushing the boundaries and testing processes you ’ ve not tried before . The key is to learn from it quickly , without recrimination or blame , and avoid repeating the same mistakes again . Grit counts

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