# Failure is the norm - URL: https://www.petrikajander.com/failure-is-the-norm/ - Author: Petri Kajander - Date: 2020-06-11 - Language: en - Audio: https://anchor.fm/s/1018a6478/podcast/play/98857314/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2025-1-22%2F395326742-22050-1-487848da171eb997.mp3 - Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ia-lMKM42A News cycles live from negative press. It sells. We are geared towards the danger and emphasise the possible risks. This survival mechanism works in the opposite direction when we are talking about new ventures. Paradoxically we are not seeing tons of negative press in the startup ecosystem. It has a large survivor bias. Everybody knows the big success cases. The founders are treated as celebrities and superheroes whether they agree with the notion or not. [Wolt](https://wolt.com/)’s co-founder [Elias Aalto](https://www.linkedin.com/in/eliasaalto/) states in his episode of [*Talks with Petri*](/talkswithpetri/) the following: > I would never bet the farm on any single company. Because you always hear these stories where a guy triple mortgaged their house and then made it. But you never hear the stories that are much more common where they triple mortgage their house and fail and then they live their lives in misery because of that. The opposite of success is not failure but not trying again. The startup culture is getting better with acknowledging the struggle but it’s still hard to keep this in mind while you’re in the middle of it. It’s a fine line to know whether something is going to work out or it’s time to try something else. [Tomi Grönfors](https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomigronfors/) in his episode states: > I've always felt it in my stomach. It's a gut-wrenching feeling that somehow you notice that this isn't going anywhere.” When you’re operating in unchartered territories the success rate is very low. You can improve your odds by adding numbers and that’s the VC model. From a founder’s perspective, the game is different and you need to embrace this. There are other factors at play that are out of your control. Some times the opportunities are opening and closing from your perspective randomly. That is something to keep in mind as well. You better love the mission you’re advancing since the destination may not end up being what you have imagined in the first place. [Video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQAlwqMhUMU) ## Transcript (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ia-lMKM42A, YouTube's automatic captions) [0:02] Norm news Cycles live from negative press it sells we are geared towards the danger and emphasize the possible risks this survival mechanism works in the opposite direction when we are talking about new Ventures paradoxically we are not seeing tons of negative press in the startup ecosystem it has a large Survivor bias everybody knows the big ESS cases the founders are treated as celebrities and superheroes whether they agree with the notion or not Walt's co-founder Elias Alto States in his episode of talks with Petri the following I would never bet the farm on any single company because you always hear these stories where a guy triple mortgaged their house and then made it but you never hear the stories that are much more common where they triple mortgage their house and fail and then they live their lives in misery because of that the opposite of Success is Not failure but not trying. [1:06] Again the startup culture is getting better with acknowledging the struggle but it's still hard to keep this in mind while you're in the middle of it it's a fine line to know whether something is going to work out or it's time to try something else Tommy Groner in his States I've always felt it in my stomach it's a gut-wrenching feeling that somehow you know notice that this isn't going anywhere when you're operating in Uncharted territories the success rate is very low you can improve your odds by adding numbers and that's the VC model from a Founder's perspective the game is different and you need to embrace this the very fundamental thing you learn is that life is not fair you cannot program success even if everything would go right you can anyhow end up in the wrong place and sometimes succcess comes to people for all the wrong reasons # startup # investing talks with Petri at. [2:10] Talks with Petri June 10th 2020 there are other factors at play that are out of your control sometimes the opportunities are opening and closing from your perspective randomly that is something to keep in mind as well you better love the mission you're advancing since the destination may not end up being what you have imagined in the first place. ## Transcript (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQAlwqMhUMU) [0:00] Where have you failed today? Oh, you're not failing. I don't believe you. Maybe you're not actually working in startups. This is what we talk about today. Failure is never fun. Failure is something we are experiencing daily. And if you are not doing that probably you are not pushing hard enough. Are you actually building a growth company? Because failing is basically the regular way. Failing is what you do when you haven't found the way which works. And when you have found the way which works, it's usually called product-market fit. Well, if you're in a different stage, you know that there's traction, there are things happening and this is the way to go. [0:48] And then you double down. But before that, what do you do is fail. Well, not really fail because what is actual failure? Well, it's you giving up. That's the opposite of success. Giving up. Failure is just the unbalanced state like walking. We are basically falling all the time but we just adjust in time and not completely knock our head on the floor. Startups are walking, running, crawling. Walking forward, backwards, sideways to learn how to put all those components in the right place. [1:37] And it takes a lot of tests. It takes a lot of guts. It takes a lot of perspiration, a bit of inspiration, but most of all, it takes the grind of doing things over and over again till it works. The overall success of your company, obviously a fancy exit, is not entirely up to you, or I didn't even know how much is up to you. You need to have the right team. You have to be in the right place. You have to have the right product. Usually, you need to have the product-market fit. You need to have the right window in the market. You need to have a lot of things aligned. The final bit is usually called luck. [2:30] Because in some cases, all the things might be in place, but then something else happens and it could be like this year, coronavirus happened. And you may need to change your plans. Is it a failure if you don't succeed? Have you stopped trying? Failure is a bit negative word. Failure is never fun. Failure is not something you are proud of. But when you look at the statistics again, most of the companies which are founded, they will not succeed to exist after a few years they've been founded. If the probability of not having a company in a few years time is the normal, the default case, is it a failure? [3:33] Or is it just another day in the startup land? And this is something that it's good to keep in mind because if you are actually not failing at some point in your career, maybe you haven't pushed hard enough? Is your ambition level high enough? Going back to the VC-model and the way VCs are thinking about this, each and every company they are investing, they're looking it in a way that this company should and could be the one who is the next unicorn, the next, maybe not unicorn, but the one that is returning the whole fund and making all the profits needed. [4:26] Usually, in a range of three times the fund, for example. More, if they're lucky but three times the fund size is enough. When you are the founder and you're building your company keep this in mind. Everybody else is falling and failing as well. It's that the appearance of things going smoothly and how confident they look may vary between companies and may vary between founders. But until you actually make the exit, until you close the chapter it is just working progress. [5:18] Have a good day! Enjoy the learning experience, and see you next time!