The idea of celebrating failure is strange and scary and completely opposite from how most people are taught to think, which is exactly why we need to do it. Failure is what happens when you don’t get what you expect; in other words, it’s how you learn. All technical and creative processes rely on an iterative process of trying something, examining the results, and trying again until the desired outcome is achieved. In other words, failure is essential to progress. The key is understanding the modes of failure, and learning how to fail more effectively. Failing fast and cheap means you can learn, adjust, and try again without consuming more resources (time and money) than absolutely necessary. This process exists in all occupations and industries; whether you’re a computer programmer, an artist, a pharmaceutical researcher, a marketeer, or a kindergarten teacher….success depends on trying new things until you find something that works. Try, test, tweak, try again, rinse and repeat…it’s how innovation happens.
Venture capitalists and experienced investors understand this. There’s a saying in Silicon Valley that you won’t get funded unless you’ve lost someone else’s money first. The reason for that is simple; who wants to pay for the rookie mistakes that a budding entrepreneur is destined to make? Much better to learn those lessons with the last guy’s cash. With that in mind, there’s also a huge benefit to avoiding the same mistakes if you know about them beforehand (aka, “reinventing the failwheel”). Enter FailCon.
FailCon was founded in San Francisco in 2009 and has been held annually since. It’s designed to allow entrepreneurs to learn from the mistakes of others and accelerate the learning/failing process so you can get to the important stuff faster and cheaper. It’s a brilliant and obvious idea, and most surprising is the fact that no other U. S. city has ever had the guts to do FailCon…until now. GBTC is bringing FailCon to Baltimore on Friday, April 20, because it’s about time that we shine a bright light at ourselves, admit our shortcomings, share what we’ve learned, and move on to success. Sounds cathartic, right? Absolutely. The details are being worked out, but we do know one thing; we will FAIL without help from our friends. That means we’re going to crowdsource the event (which is the high-tech version of getting your friends to help you move apartments). We’ll get the details out as they firm up, but we are most interested in your ideas for making BMoreFail awesome; venue, speakers, wacky ideas, bring ‘em all. Sharon is leading the charge (s@gb.tc), so please reach out if you want to help or have a suggestion or a question. Regardless, be sure to block 4/20 out on your calendar today and prepare for some great failures!
Just in case you’re still wondering, FailCon is not Schadenfreude. We aren’t there to gloat at others’ misery, but to share and learn from the experiences that gave us the wisdom and scar tissue that make us who we are today (Dad called it “character building”). Bring an open mind (and perhaps a box of tissues to wipe away the tears) and help us begin to change Baltimore’s startup DNA . See you on 4/20!
Failure is not an option…it’s a requirement
Pingback: #Fail – Orange Element