Why startups need to start talking about failing

The reality is that 80 per cent of all start-ups will fail. With a whopping four-out-of-five businesses crashing and burning, you’d expect to read a lot more stories about what went wrong.

Failure is normal, ignoring it isn’t.

In the world of click-bait bravado, honesty has fallen by the wayside. We’re in great danger of creating an unhealthy precedent that failure should be neither seen nor heard.

What we hear is an abundance of selfie-stick-inspired epiphanies about finding ‘true north’ and ways founders have ‘crushed it.’ What we rarely hear is the truth about failing and the toll it takes emotionally and financially.

Starting a business is gruelling. It’s no less daunting for a first time founder as it for a serial entrepreneur. It takes guts and grit to persevere, even when you feel like you’re pushing tonnes of shit up a very steep, heartbreaking hill.

When it comes to entrepreneurs sharing their vulnerability, we’re failing at failure. I’ve been to countless startup events and conferences where entrepreneurs spoon-feed audiences manufactured, self-inflated stories about their rapid rise to the top. These fables bypass failure and create the illusion that success unfolded instantly and effortlessly. Read more