Failure is a Feature

You know what’s harder than bootstrapping a business for 18 months?
Admitting it didn’t work.

18 months ago I left a CEO role to start a business from scratch.
A few months in, I had clients.
Thought I’d cracked it.
Then I met an incredible co-founder. We clicked on everything that mattered and became proper friends along the way.

Over the next year we:

• Helped startups raise capital

• Built GTM strategies

• Designed org charts, rebuilt ops, scaled teams •

• Worked with great people and did work we’re proud of

But… we couldn’t scale. Not the way we needed to.
With kids to support and living in one of the most expensive cities in the world, I had to make a tougher call than starting this thing.

Calling it quits.
It gutted me.
So, this isn’t a $0 to $1M story. It’s a story about when things don’t work. It’s about failure. Which many people don’t talk about.
But it happens. Most of the time.
We had wins. I don’t regret a second. I personally grew 100x over these 18 months.

But I failed.

I shared this post above on LinkedIn earlier this week. I hesitated to share it. I had it as a draft for a couple of days, but then I decided I’ve now owned this thing, I should share it.
The response I got was overwhelming. So much love, support and a bunch of intros and referrals. Turns out people don't just want to hear about all the wins, they want the raw setbacks, also.

I get it - failure is a feature of life. We can't avoid it, and we shouldn't try.

Here’s the mad bit: whilst 90% of startups fail within 12 months, your LinkedIn feed is full of Forbes lists, bigger valuations, and quicker timelines to unicorn status. Where are all the failure stories?
It’s not just business. We’ve created this weird culture where admitting something didn’t work feels like career suicide.
But failure happens. Statistically, most of the time.

Remember your kids learning to walk. They fall. They get up. They fall again. They laugh, maybe cry for a second, then try again. Over and over and over.
You know what they don’t do? Label it as failure.
At what point do we start calling these attempts “failures” instead of “learning”? When do the stakes suddenly feel too high to keep trying?

Research from Stanford found something fascinating: children encouraged to view mistakes as learning opportunities show 30% higher persistence on tasks by age 10 compared to those shielded from setbacks. They literally get better at not giving up.
Meanwhile, 49% of adults avoid new ventures entirely due to fear of failure. We’ve trained ourselves out of the very thing that helps us grow.

Turns out that if you fail (a lot), you’re in good company

J.K. Rowling faced 12 rejections for Harry Potter. Edison attempted over 1,000 times before the light bulb worked. In creative fields, 80% of initial ideas fail to gain traction, but iterative failure leads to breakthroughs.

The problem isn’t that we fail. It’s that we’ve made failure something to hide rather than something to learn from. Studies show that 60% of people actively hide their setbacks, which only amplifies the mental strain.
We’re suffering in silence whilst everyone else appears to be winning.

But here’s what no one mentions about those overnight success stories: they’re usually decade-long journeys edited down to the highlight reel.

The tactical business lessons I learned? You’ve heard most of them before.
But here’s what actually changed me:

Relationships matter more than revenue. 
It's cliché, but I’m starting to believe that your network is your real net worth. One thing I did extremely well over the past year was networking and building relationships with smart, connected people. And, now, when I'm looking for help, there are so many willing to make the next intro or just get on a call to hear me vent. Priceless.

Ask 100 times more than you already do.
I got comfortable with cold outreach and following up by adopting one simple mindset: who gives a shit?
If someone doesn’t want to hear from you, they’ll ignore you. If you follow up too many times, what's the worst that happens? They ignore you.
But, the other side of the coin is that the extra ask could change everything.

Focus > all the shiny things
It's so easy to get distracted. There are so many ideas out there and so many new opportunities we could be looking into. There are always better ways to do something or new markets we could be targeting.
The problem is that if you don't know which direction you're sailing, you're just lost.
Whether it's work or a hobby, focusing on just one thing, even for a short amount of time, will improve the outcomes dramatically. I truly believe focus is a superpower in a world built to distract you.

The Reframe That Changes Everything

What if we stopped calling them failures and started calling them experiments?
Small experiments. Low stakes. Quick feedback loops.
Companies that use “fail fast” approaches experience 30% faster innovation cycles. People who journal about setbacks experience a 22% increase in their problem-solving skills. Those who share their struggles with trusted groups experience a 50% reduction in feelings of isolation.

The magic isn’t in avoiding failure - it’s in making failure smaller, faster, and less emotionally charged.
I want to change our mindset - we're not failing, we’re collecting data.
Our tolerance for failure sets the ceiling for our growth.

Remember: Failing is human. What you do next is what matters.

Catch ya next week.

Peace, love and growth.

And, that’s all folks!

Thank you for reading the latest edition of my newsletter.
As always, comments and feedback are welcome.

And, please don’t be shy to share this with a friend or family member. Each week, I’ll share something that helps us find balance.

Peace, love and growth.
Jazza