Failure is sexy!

Why is there so much stigma around failure? Failure is sexy!

We are often dazzled by the glowing successes of entrepreneurs who have built billion dollar companies, but rarely are we exposed to the 10, 20, 30 ‘failed’ businesses they’ve had before their one golden nugget.

Failure is the way we learn and get to know our customers.

Utilising constant user feedback through approaches such as Design Thinking, failure is encouraged to enable iterations to a solution that is truly what the customer wants.

By saying failure is sexy, I’m not advocating people celebrate failure after recklessly gambling their life-savings on the next ‘great’ idea. Rather, it’s about finding real problems to solve and testing the solutions so you fail small, fast and cheaply.

Failure is a normal aspect of venturing into a new business and understanding what your customer wants and the value you bring. Put the customer at the centre and don’t be afraid to iterate, iterate and iterate.

Want to read more? Here’s an article on How Starting Small And Failing Fast Can Help You Win

Hugh Simpson is an intrapreneur, ‘failed’ entrepreneur, innovation coach at the University of Sydney MBA and collector of pocket-squares.

All views are my own.