I think there are two sides to this and I tend to agree with both of them- I don’t know if that makes me but yeah things don’t have to be black or white, they can and more often than not tend to be in shades of grey ( nothing to do with the books of course). And before Alok rips me into pieces, I would like to point out that I more than believe in the benefits of failure and agree with him that it should be celebrated- myself having tried completely burnt and hoping to stand again, I don’t even have a choice but to 😉
But on one hand if we rightly can’t ignore the obvious “Benefits of Failure” as pointed out by JK Rowling in her address at Harvard (please do go check the speech if you haven’t already) one also needs to take a look at its ill-effects.
Peter Thiel, the founder of PayPal, is probably the first (and probably the only) I have heard who talks about that failure is bad. I think his reasons are legitimate. See failure makes you less prone to risks. Its like a child who is ready to climb tables and cars and ladders and what not until he falls the first time. Then he is scared to climb, he understands that it hurts. That is what Peter Thiel believes stops a lot of people to start over again. I have seen that in my case, I am so much more cautious than I was. Now, like everything else, in controlled amounts this can work in your favour. In controlled amounts this fear is what we refer to as “Learnings from past Failure”. But where do you draw that line. In a lot of cases that child can eventually develop a life long fear of heights can’t he.
Here is where Peter Thiel and Alok Kejriwal collide. You see they are helping solve the same problem but at different ends. Where Peter Thiel is saying lets develop a system where we have lesser failures. Peter is saying to that kid- go on climb I am here to catch you.
Alok on the other hand wants to pick up those kids who have gone through the process and telling them its no big deal. Its ok to fall. Helping them face their fears and stand up again.
On their own both of these approaches are important and necessary. We need an ecosystem that helps startups to succeed. And, we need to tell people who have fallen that it is absolutely fine to fall- that trying what you believed in was exceptional and failures are temporary. In the end the do have what you call “Takeaways” from that failure, and if controlled and utilized properly the next attempt should yield better results.
So we are back to the original question- to fail or not to fail 😉
Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal
Thanks for the nice post!
This is my view on my view :))
In India, “trying” to make an eco-system that makes people less prone to failure is like making the govt. less corrupt.
Its what Arvind Kejriwal is trying to do! (and we see the results)
I’m saying – to hell with corruption – its a menace – live and GET BEYOND IT – so that when the GDP of the country rises, we ARE BEYOND Corruption and its antics.
This is proven in the many charts I have shown here – https://www.therodinhoods.com/forum/topics/from-one-kejriwal-to-another-kejriwal
In India, ANY ATTEMPT to say “Fail Less” means that failure is BAD.
Thats what I dont even want to go near.
Its like saying, “Try and avoid Dowry”.
I SAY NO DOWRY.
U made my day! I will take this up further with you.
And of course Thiel is 1 TRILLION TRILLION times more successful than me…
Rishi
Akhil! Can you post a link to Peter Thiel’s talk/writing etc. you used as a reference? I’m actually surprised he thinks that way.
Akhil Suhag
Hi Alok,
Well you made my day by saying that I made yours 😉
I completely agree with your points and I try to make that clear in the piece. I wrote it more to say that both ideologies in depth are pretty much the same- and in effect both are required!
Would love to talk further on this!
Akhil Suhag
Hi Rishi.. its been a couple of years since I actually saw the interview and hard to pin point the exact source. But to the best of my knowledge you should check this out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6taTMa4nls
Its a big video but worth it 😉
Akhil Suhag
And as I said I think both Alok and Peter necessarily think very similar ways.. there solution to the problem is different. So don’t take it as a negative thing from Thiel’s perspective/
Rishi
Thanks! 🙂
asha chaudhry
akhil – embed the vid to your post, naa!
Akhil Suhag
Asha I am really not sure if this is the one :p
I had seem it years ago.. i will embed once am sure, or i will try and find the correct one!
Akhil Suhag
I confirm this to be the correct one. Watch from 50 mins onwards 😉
Rishi
one more perspective – https://gigaom.com/2012/12/03/marc-andreessen-not-every-startup-should-be-a-lean-startup-or-embrace-the-pivot/