I have made that have gone wrong for me. Why is that? Well firstly, I think the world is already full of people who want to share their success with you (whilst success has many fathers, failure is an orphan!). Lots of investors, like gamblers, only talk about the ones that come in. Nothing wrong with that but we tend to learn very little from the ones that we tend to get right. If you are anything like me, you think that your successes are simply down to the fact that you are brilliant! (OK you may put it a little more thoughtfully than that, but the end conclusion is simply a variation of that premise!) What you can do, if you are interested in learning, is to stop and reflect after a failure and note down key points. Physically writing down your key learning points is a very powerful way to deal with the inevitable anguish that failure causes. I am writing this blog hoping to share some of the lessons I have learnt from my failures – and it is not easy to publicly admit to them, but if other investors and businesses learn from these mistakes – then hopefully some good will come of it. There is a commercial reason as well – this blog is designed to be informative rather than one elongated gloat. This encourages risk-taking and learning. When I see companies pitch to me, I always ask the management team about any failures they have experienced. If they say they have not, I get nervous. If they say yes, I ask them what they have learned from that episode. Many would-be entrepreneurs blame having the wrong team around them, or not imposing their view strong enough on the rest of the board. This makes me walk away. One of the people I have backed recently had a number of failures behind them. What he was able to demonstrate brilliantly was that each time he had learnt something powerful that in my humble opinion made him a better business person.
Alas, I can’t tell you how he did as that would be bragging about my success!
1 Comment
12/2/2021 07:11:15 am
Hi there,
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aboutFrom business planning to business management, success in the world of business takes time, though, and consideration. A business information blog is a place where all three elements are combined to give anyone interested an outlet for sharing and discussing their views, as well as providing and receiving knowledge on the best practices for business success. Archives
December 2020
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