What Are Examples of Failure Leading to Success?
We’ve gathered ten inspiring stories from founders, CEOs, and other professionals who have experienced failure and turned it into success. From pivoting from passion to success to paving the way for personal triumphs, these leaders share their valuable insights on how setbacks can lead to greater achievements.
- Pivoting From Passion to Success
- Insights Lead to a Thriving Startup
- Learning From Failure, Relaunching Success
- Successful Hiring Strategy Shift
- Lessons Learned Propel Entrepreneurial Success
- Growth and Opportunities From Setbacks
- Analyzing Failure, Enhancing Campaigns
- Strategic Shift Leads to Greater Success
- Resilience Unlocks Groundbreaking Discoveries
- Failure Paves the Way for Personal Triumphs
Pivoting From Passion to Success
I started my first website as a travel blog and quickly realized how much I hated that my travel passion turned into work. I couldn’t enjoy my trips to the fullest as I was constantly thinking about taking the perfect pic for socials, and I had to include places in my itinerary that were based on keyword research. And my husband, who I travel with, didn’t particularly enjoy taking pictures of me all the time.
This failure gave me a crucial insight: just because I love doing something doesn’t mean I’ll love working on it. So, I pivoted and started blogging about productivity, success mindset, and AI—subjects that genuinely excite me and almost never feel like work.
This shift turned out to be a brilliant decision. My passion shines through in my writing, and I truly enjoy seeing my stats grow and building connections in this niche.
Juliet Dreamhunter
Founder, Juliety
Insights Lead to a Thriving Startup
One of my previous startups, an IP reputation SaaS, struggled to gain traction. However, I used this setback as a learning opportunity. Through market research and customer feedback, I discovered a niche for threat intelligence geared toward offensive security teams.
Armed with these insights, I launched a new venture that focused on data breach monitoring prioritizing automated integrations. This approach led to rapid growth and success, attracting both offensive security folks and enterprise security teams seeking visibility into their users’ leaked data.
My failures provided valuable experience, resilience, and a deeper understanding of the market, paving the way for my current thriving startup.
Josh Amishav
Founder and CEO, Breachsense
Learning From Failure, Relaunching Success
Often, failure prepares the way for success. I had a failed product launch, but instead of obsessing over it, I learned from it. I revised our marketing plan, repositioned the product, and investigated the causes of the failure.
This resulted in a fruitful relaunch, improved revenue, and pleased customers. Being resilient and accepting failure as a teaching opportunity is essential for success.
Mike Lees
Chief Marketing Officer, LeaseAccelerator
Successful Hiring Strategy Shift
Back in 2017, I left my job in the telecom sector to join a startup in the content creation and curation space. It was just me, our founder, and a couple of interns.
Originally, we planned on hiring less experienced but bright young talent and upskilling them as we grew—a plan that worked well for the first year but did not scale well once we started to really hit our growth phase.
We tried it for a while but noticed it clearly wasn’t working and was limiting what we could accomplish. Having such empirical evidence started hiring more experienced operators, a simple decision, which has worked out extremely well when mixed with our pipeline of young talent.
Onno Halsema
CEO, Contentoo
Lessons Learned Propel Entrepreneurial Success
I failed in my first entrepreneurial venture, but it provided valuable insights and taught me crucial lessons. It helped me identify areas for improvement and develop a better understanding of the business landscape.
Armed with this knowledge, I embarked on subsequent business endeavors, applying the lessons I had learned. This time, I made more informed decisions, implemented effective strategies, and ultimately found success.
The failure served as a stepping stone towards building a stronger foundation for my entrepreneurial journey, shaping my mindset, and equipping me with the resilience and determination needed to overcome obstacles and achieve my goals.
Roy Lau
Co-founder, 28 Mortgage
Growth and Opportunities From Setbacks
Despite its negative connotation, failure can be a foundation for success. I have experienced setbacks in developing my business.
However, these challenges led to my discovery of new opportunities, such as collaborating with a wider range of influencers and developing innovative ideas for my business operations. Failure enabled me to develop resilience, determination, and creativity as I navigated challenging situations.
As entrepreneurs, it is crucial to learn and grow from failures continuously rather than allowing them to discourage or derail our ambitions. Embracing failure as a necessary step towards success will encourage an entrepreneurial mindset that enables one to persevere even in the face of obstacles.
Basana Saha
Founder, KidsCareIdeas
Analyzing Failure, Enhancing Campaigns
A few years ago, I was tasked with launching a new online advertising campaign for a client. I spent weeks meticulously planning the campaign, researching the target audience, and crafting interesting ad creatives. I was confident that I had everything figured out and that the campaign would be a resounding success. However, to my dismay, the campaign didn’t perform as expected. I felt frustrated and defeated, questioning my abilities as a digital marketer.
But rather than dwelling on the failure, I dug deep into the data and analyzed what went wrong. I realized that my assumptions about the target audience were flawed. I had relied on outdated market research and hadn’t kept up with the latest trends and preferences.
Taking this failure as a learning opportunity, I immediately started conducting fresh research, engaging with the target audience directly, and listening to their feedback. I discovered valuable insights that completely reshaped my approach to the campaign.
Harsh Verma
SEO, CodeDesign
Strategic Shift Leads to Greater Success
I experienced a significant failure when a product launch didn’t meet expectations. Rather than dwelling on the setback, I analyzed the situation and identified the need for a strategic shift. This failure prompted me to reevaluate our approach, listen to customer feedback, and adapt our strategy accordingly.
The lessons learned from that failure led us to develop a more customer-centric mindset and refine our product offerings. As a result, we not only regained customer trust but also expanded our market reach and achieved greater success than before.
This failure taught me the importance of embracing change, being adaptable, and continuously seeking improvement. It reinforced the notion that failure is not an endpoint but an opportunity to learn, grow, and ultimately achieve even greater success.
Jason Cheung
Operations Manager, Credit KO
Resilience Unlocks Groundbreaking Discoveries
During a research project, I initially encountered a failure when my method did not yield the expected results. However, rather than giving up, I reassessed my approach. I carefully analyzed the data, identified flaws in my methodology, and made necessary adjustments.
These adjustments led me to unexpected findings, which turned out to be groundbreaking discoveries in my field. This experience taught me the value of resilience and the importance of embracing failure as an opportunity for growth and innovation.
Ben Lau
Founder, Featured SEO Company
Failure Paves the Way for Personal Triumphs
I have always been very ambitious. As a high schooler, I dreamt about studying at Jagiellonian University, one of the best universities in Poland. I worked hard to pass my final exams with good grades. Though my results were great, I got rejected by my dream university. There were 36 college applicants in one place.
Although the failure hurt back then, it turned out to be a true blessing in disguise later on. Not only did I get accepted by my “plan B” university, but also—thanks to the international scholarship—I studied in Spain, which was a valuable and exciting experience.
But, what’s most meaningful for me, I also met my future husband while studying in college. We’ve been together for 14 years now and have a lovely son. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Last but not least. After finishing my BA degree studies, I applied to Jagiellonian University once again. I was successful. I earned two Master’s degrees and completed a postgraduate course there.
Agata Szczepanek
Community Manager, MyPerfectResume
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