Five things I’ve learnt from observing failure in business

1. We shouldn’t be ashamed of failure, but at the same time we shouldn’t wear it as a badge of honour. Failing sucks. There’s this weird Silicon Valley cult of failure – don’t buy into that crap, we shouldn’t aim to fail.
2. In start-ups, failure is the norm rather than the exception so don’t beat yourself up. It’s not the intended outcome, and clearly you shouldn’t be aiming for it, but life goes on.
3. If you come out of a failed start-up not having learned anything, you’ve failed twice. Everything is a learning opportunity.
4. It’s really hard not to take failure personally, to not blame others or to have failure affect relationships – a good reason not to mix business and pleasure. You know that old saying about doing business with family, right?
5. Banks, lawyers and accountants might not be as understanding about your past failures as your technology buddies. Go figure.