Fast Failure

Energized by the power of ideas that have been free floating at Athens Startup weekend last night, I marveled at all the wonderful entrepreneurs who came on stage to pitch their business theories. Some were phenomenally articulate, others were like amateur actors during rehearsal, some were shy and vague and unclear but they all shared the same miraculous and wonderful quality: Courage!

Not the courage to speak out and share their dream venture, but courage to fail. And contrary to popular belief, failure can be such a wonderful thing sometimes!

“We have for many years promoted the concept of fast failure as a means to building innovative business models…” says Eric Lefcofsky, founder of  overnight success Groupon, a site that features coupons and discounts from local business to be shared by an online community.

We’ve been taught that failure is the closest to a dirty word. It’s one of these rare concepts that by itself it’s categorized by its opposite: success. And if you want to be successful, you can’t possibly want to fail. But hold on a second! How can you possibly know what success is all about until you’ve actually tried again and again and yet one more time to make whatever it is you are trying even better?

So, how is it that people in general hate failure so much they are not even willing to forgive it in others? Why is it that in some societies, once the label sticks – it’s hard to get rid of it. Silicon Valley is the one place that became legendary for its tolerance and acceptance of failure.Technology legends from Netscape founder Marc Andreessen to Apple founder Steve Jobs have all experienced failure, revived their careers, and then gone on to change the world.

So, here’s to all of you, business gladiators vs. wannabees – fall, get up, fall and get up again – until you become an expert at whatever it is you want to do and stop falling.