Entrepreneurs: It’s Not If You Fail, But How

Failure isn’t the end of the game.

Sure, tell that to the founder who just lost a partnership she was banking on to bring in a large first round of revenue. But the reality is, most founders fail two or three times before they win. Just ask any company that appears to have become an overnight success like Airbnb or Square.

In this video, angel investor Ian Sobieski reminds entrepreneurs that failure is inevitable, whether in small ways or large catastrophes. This is the reality of the entrepreneurial dream. Persistence and being able to step back into the batter’s box is what gives an entrepreneur true potential and infinite possibility. This doesn’t mean it’s easy. In fact, this psychological hurdle stops a lot of people. It’s overwhelming and paralyzing and causes many to sour to the entire idea of starting their own venture.

Ian counsels you to remain graceful in your failures—appreciating the support and people around you, learning lessons from the disaster in front of you and looking onward to your next problem to solve—you can “stay on the playing field.” And more than that, you can retain good faith and good will with those you will undoubtedly need to call on again in your next swing for the fences.