How do you recover from entrepreneurial failure?

There are crazy highs and lows as an entrepreneur. We have the opportunity to totally change our trajectory in life - but the cost is that it isn’t linear and it doesn’t always go to plan the first time around. When you can accept that failure is part of the journey and in a lot of cases, the bumps in the road feel much worse than they actually are, it gets easier to embrace the cycle and practise self acceptance. When you can locate your worth internally, rather than externally because of the things you have achieved and how impressive they seem to other people, it allows much more peace on the journey.

Failure should be an expectations for every entrepreneur. It's not a matter of if - it should be a matter of when you will fail. The key to recovery from failure is first having the right mindset that failure is part of the learning process of entrepreneurship. We are all humans and we make mistakes - sometimes massive ones that have heavy consequences. If you are not willing to deal with this type of risk, do not venture into entrepreneurship. Positioning yourself in the right mental place will let you weather the failure. This includes surrounding yourself with the right support group of family, friends and peers. This should also include a setting where you can be completely vulnerable about how you processing the failure.

In my experience it is most important to really, really acknowledge the mistakes you made. Not the mistakes that WERE made (passive voice), but the mistakes YOU made. Then analyze as honestly as you can, what motivated you to make those mistakes. Were they sins of omission or sins of commission — something you did that you should not have done or something you did not do that you should have done. Think about how it makes you feel to be confronted with this analysis. What emotions are triggered? Why? Then make a plan on how to avoid making the same mistake again.

Conviction is what propels a founder, but it's also a shackle. It's hard to accept defeat. It can be lonely as a founder, but it's important to surround yourselves with trusted friends and family who are there for you, ups or downs. The emotion can also be managed. Over time, you will accept it and take it as part of the natural cycle.

It’s essential that you have a trusted advisor that understands exactly what you are going through. There are going to be really really good days and really really bad days. Unless someone has been there or knows you and/or the business really well it can be a lonely journey, However, when you have a trusted advisor you have someone that will listen and know where you are at without judgment. ❤️

Everything can be learning lessons and this step is a huge on (failing) on the way to massive success. The more you know what went wrong the more you can ensure doing things right a next time around. There’s no need to blame yourself or anyone - this is counterproductive although often part of the coping process - but view these as data points.

While I believe analysis is a great but caution is not to overanalyse. We keep thinking about the situation or the failure so much that we start making wrong judgments. The best way of avoiding overanalysis is to close the loop as soon as possible. Find the root cause what were the inputs and what were the outputs. Build the plan to overcome and avoid such situations and failures in the future. This closure will help capture the analysis in better way and avoid youbfrom over thinking.

I found myself as entrepreneur in quite volatile environments where dynamics came from stakeholders, partners, markets and general economic conditions. Although those can be analysed at hindsight, that doesn't mean they can be predicted the next time around. You need a good idea, commitment, stamina and common sense, but with such unpredictable dynamics you simply have to have a bit of luck as well. Being an entrepreneur is not a concrete science and requires a clear vision where you want to go, combined with flexibility and adaptability to manage your bumpy road to success. Or to failure. But is it failure? It is not a failure when you were right person at the wrong place, or at the wrong time. Just make sure you "are" an entrepreneur.

History doesn't repeat, but it often rhymes. By looking in your past you can evaluate how you can be better in the future. It sounds intuitive, but it's definitely not. You have you to have self-awareness and honesty with yourself. Nobody knows you, like you. What could you have done better? Were there areas you could have gotten help? Did you do it to the best of your ability or do you have more in the tank? and sit with yourself and your thoughts and write down those and how you can improve those. It's quite a illuminating process the more and more you make this a normal part of your process!

Go through your emotions, but pick apart the failure logically. You want to be able to use it as an opportunity to do better. Make sure you look at your data.

One thing is for sure, please give a pat on your back. How many people think about it and out of that how many actually try. It requires lot of courage. Success or failure is a part of this game/war, you will fall, will have bruises BUT the biggest regret in this life would be not playing that game, not going on war when opportunity presented to you. As they say what ever is the outcome you would be totally different person. One thing to remember , people will forget all failures if you score single win. You have to choose between flight and fight option. Some people get fired up by design and some by accident. If you decide to fight back, with so much of learning and experience, you would be surprised by your passion to succeed.

This is huge. A big step toward and into an awesome next chapter. Identifying what got you to this point, recognizing that you’ll have a fresh start ahead when and as you’re ready, and knowing that a next time around much (including fundraising) gets much “easier”.

Achievements are usually the results of having goals. Goal achievement requires having a plan. So, in order to celebrate your achievements... 1) Have a plan, 2) Follow the plan until success happens, and 3) Celebrate your achievements.

This is so key! There was a time when you wanted to be exactly where you are right now. Sometimes we achieve a goal and then get caught up in the next thing and the next thing and...! Pause. Reflect. And Celebrate even the smallest of wins, because the little things add up. Show yourself some grace and give yourself more credit.

It is important to pause and reflect on what you've accomplished so far, because no matter how small the advancement- you are moving forward. And remember- there was a time when you wanted to be EXACTLY where you are right now. If we don't acknowledge and celebrate that, the journey will seem tedious wmd unglamorous.

As the saying goes FAIL is First attempt in Learning. Learnings give you new perspectives new directions now thought process and hence new opportunities to work on. Buckle up for a new ride and give your best

I remember going through the 5-stages of grief after my first failure. I was sick to my stomach thinking about what went wrong and what I could have done to avert it. I was invited to join an accelerator to support a group of fresh founders by chance. It quickly became apparent that I have gained a tonne of knowledge through the 2.5 years of journey, which I can use to help others. This realisation allowed me to focus on new opportunities and realise the value I can bring; the lessons did not go to waste. Today, that experience is part of the backbone of what I teach so the founders won't repeat the mistakes I made.

Turn failure into fuel for innovation, using the lessons learned to power your pursuit of new and exciting opportunities. Never stop learning. Never stop growing.

Recovery is often found in getting our eyes back to the top of the mountain. Entrepreneurs are mountain climbers. They’re not content on a normal highway. They are climbing a summit. Every single last one of us will slip and fall on the side of that mountain at some point. Just like actual mountain climbing, looking down as the worst thing we can do. Recovery comes in, getting our eyes back to the top of the mountain, whether that be in the same activity with better systems, or a new summit altogether.

Entrepreneurship is a hard road as a first time founder, but it becomes easier and easier with more ventures that you participate in. Usually the 2 key lessons that you learn from your first startup failure is that 1) there was a lack of product-market fit (PMF) or 2) timing for the product / service was wrong. Once you take some time to reflect what went wrong, you can look forward and plan better for your next venture.

ADAPT AND IMPROVE by PRETOTYPING. What is pretotyping? YOU FAKE IT BEFORE YOU MAKE IT 🤗✅. Check it out here … Pretotyping is a technique for testing hypotheses and validating ideas quickly and cost-effectively. It involves creating a simplified version of a product or service to collect user feedback and understand market demand. For example, in the food industry, a company may pretotype a new salad recipe by offering a limited quantity to a small group of potential customers to gauge their interest before investing in full-scale production. Pretotyping helps reduce the risk of failure by assessing market response early in the development process.

As a first-time entrepreneur, it can be devastating when you're hit with failure. I went into my business thinking I had the most incredible idea in the world and everyone would want to buy it. When people didn't buy it as much as I thought they would, I thought I had failed. I even started looking at job opening 3 DAYS after launching my business! What I have learned and what's kept me going is adapting and iterating. Start with what you think people want. Then analyze how those people respond to it. Talk to them. Ask them why they bought it or why they didn't. Then launch something new. Analyze how people respond to that. Ask them for their ideas and ask them what their pain points are. Then figure out how you can solve them.

It's never perfect the first time. Uber didn't take off the day they launched. Neither did Facebook. Neither did AirBnb. It takes time to see success in a new business. I've been at my business 6 months and I'm not nearly as profitable as I thought I would be or that I wanted to be by now. But that's ok. I know that what I'm doing is valuable and that it will be profitable when I have the resources I need to scale. You can't get those resources without starting somewhere. So start wherever you are. Fail. Try it again. Fail. Try it again. There's no limit on how many times you can pivot and adapt and launch. Do it as many times as you need to find success!

It’s not really failing if you get back at it. You learn, improve and take the next step. So many people hate failure it’s painful but you get better. If you only won everyone would do it.

Failure is a state of mind, what this actually teaches us is to redefine the parameters and goals we have set ourselves, to have a clearer perspective of what is necessary to achieve them. It resets the brain's conceptual expectations of success and failure, to be able to adjust accordingly,what? and where? we need to focus to overcome the temporary setbacks. This is evident in most business modular structures, the starting point is never then the end achievement, because as a concept grows and changes, so do we to accommodate for necessary changes to our vision. Once we can overcome this perception of failure we will always, TRY AGAIN, if you have an understanding that this is just a learning curve, in the ROAD to SUCCESS!!

Fail forward. Creates wisdom. There is so much to learn from failing, it's takes stronger people to come back and succeed than those who have never experienced risk and failure.

Entrepreneurial leaders are those who continue to try time after time, regardless of past failures. Learn from your failures and plant the lesson as a seed to help you grow in the future. Use the failure as motivation to do better this time, and continue to apply yourself relentlessly.

Move on fast, real fast! to your next journey. If you don't do it within 75days, you might not recover from the "failure". I walked away from 20yrs of my life as an entrepreneur in a particular venture, I launched new projects within 60days because I know that if you spend a lot of time looking backwards into a past you can't change, you have taken your eyes away from the future that you are in full control of!. To anyone out there who think they have failed , lean forward & keep on walking!.. there's so much for you ahead. You are an entrepreneur , keep building! because many people depend on your creative fire!

I often see entrepreneurs and especially solopreneurs thinking they have to do it alone. It can be YOUR business, but that dies not mean you have to do everything by yourself. Ask others to help you assess AS YOU build the business is best to reduce failure, but it can also aid in post-mortem and reviewing what could/should have gone differently for the next venture. Asking those that did NOT buy the product or service for insight into why they did not, why they bought from other vendors or what would have compelled them to buy is highly recommended. Few do it. But there is much to be gained.

As an entrepreneur, I have a different perspective. I see being an entrepreneur as a means to an end. My business is not the end it's a means to an end. Having a business that affords me the financial freedom and lifestyle I desire is the end, so I don't see anything along my entrepreneurial journey as a failure and won't until I decide to give up without reaching the end. So, as an entrepreneur, there is no failure, there is only learning. But what I find intriguing, as I work with my clients who are coaches (primarily), consultants, and entrepreneurs is that they try to build a business without having a clear game plan. Taking this approach doesn't set them up for failure, but frustration, which will ultimately lead to failure.

Depending on the level of emotional investment, the death of a venture on the entreprenurial spirit can be devastating, especially if the collapse was a traumatic event or series of chronic high stress events. Understanding the stages of grief may be helpful. Seek solace in conversations with people you trust that can hold safe space to witness your sorrow. Yes, a piece of you (your creation) has passed away. It's human to feel sorrow over that. Don't feel ashamed. Mine the gems of insights you learned from the experience. It was an epistimic investment if nothing else! Don't allow closet depression to overwhelm sensemaking about the future. Be aware rumination can become over-thinking the past.