David Cummings on Startups

Favoring Entrepreneurs That Have Already Failed

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David Cummings

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Recently I was talking to an entrepreneur that was trying to figure out the next step for his startup. After digging into things, I realized it was him and some outsourced developers working on the business. There really wasn’t a team since all the programming was contracted with a third-party and he was only person pushing the business forward. My advice was that he needed to find a co-founder that complemented his skills. He then asked what else he should look for in an entrepreneur.

I told him I like entrepreneurs that have already failed at one startup and are still eager and ambitious to do the next one.

Failure shouldn’t be celebrated, but it also shouldn’t be shunned. I don’t like failing, but whenever I fail, I learn a tremendous amount and it helps keep me humble. Entrepreneurship has high highs and low lows, so when an entrepreneur weathers the difficult times, and gets back up again, successes are that much more gratifying.

I favor entrepreneurs that have already failed and try again, all else being equal.

What else? What are some other thoughts on favoring entrepreneurs that have already failed?

Comments

5 responses to “Favoring Entrepreneurs That Have Already Failed”

  1. Life as an Investment Avatar
    Life as an Investment

    Is there any famous entrepreneur who never ever failed?

    Reply
    1. lanceweatherby Avatar
      lanceweatherby

      Steve Jobs was fired from the company he founded, then started Next, which for all practical purposes failed, before returning to Apple and leading it through the glory days. Here is an interesting infographic on some serial entrepreneurs. http://fundersandfounders.com/serial-entrepreneurs-how-to-pursue-multiple-opportunities/

      To reinforce what David is saying, in my experience an entrepreneur needs to have failed in order to realize that they need help. Otherwise they just think they can do it all. I have seen this play out hundreds of times. People drive the car off the cliff before they realize they need a navigator along for the ride.

      Reply
  2. Jay Shaffer (@jaydshaffer) Avatar
    Jay Shaffer (@jaydshaffer)

    Many results are painted with the broad brush of “failure” which can be attributed to a specific reason: poor execution, bad product design, flawed business model, etc. For example, we learned the meaning of “addressable” in “total addressable market” the hard way.

    It’s only a failure if you don’t learn from the experience!

    I recommend this recent book The Up Side of Down: Why Failing Well Is the Key to Success
    http://www.amazon.com/The-Up-Side-Down-Failing/dp/067002614X which provide some great examples and a framework for viewing “failure”.

    Reply
  3. Daniel (@Daniel_Erick) Avatar
    Daniel (@Daniel_Erick)

    These are all great points and it is apparent that no one becomes skilled at something without failing first. All babies fall down the first time they try to walk. Every business fails at first, they learn, then course correct.

    I think there may be ambiguity when talking about failure. Is failure just an instance of failure where a pivot then results? Or is it total failure where a business goes under? I think everyone would agree that the instances of the former are to be expected and extremely valuable. But there is another viewpoint that questions whether one really needs to completely fail with a business to become successful. As noted in this article in The New Yorker, evidence suggests that prior failure predicts future failure and that entrepreneurs who failed were less likely to succeed than novice entrepreneurs. Of course one can find examples where entrepreneurs succeed after failing first, if one goes looking for them. But what does the overall trend show? It is an interesting point to ponder.

    http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2014/05/19/140519ta_talk_surowiecki

    Resiliency, (over)confidence, and the humility to admit that one doesn’t know everything are incredibly valuable traits for an entrepreneur to have. But does one need to have experienced total business failure to acquire these?

    Reply
  4. jason Avatar
    jason

    Words of Wisdom…..

    Success is not built on success. It’s built on failure. It’s built on frustration. Sometimes its built on catastrophe.

    Sumner Redstone

    Reply

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