Treat failed projects as skill-building rather than wasted time
Each failed project teaches you technical skills and market lessons. The learnings compound even if individual projects don't succeed, preparing you for eventual success.
When to use
When dealing with failed projects or feeling discouraged by lack of traction
Don't do this
Viewing failed projects as pure losses and giving up after a few attempts
10 Founders Who Did This
Built 10-12 projects that never made it to production but 'learned something from each project'. These learnings enabled the 48-hour MVP build when he found the right market.
Built several failed side projects before AI Carea. Advice: 'don't wait for perfect product, your first product will likely fail but you'll learn a lot'
Built a profitable crypto trading tool that failed commercially, learning that distribution matters more than product quality
Failed with Camisa (t-shirt crowdfunding), learned about team composition, location, and timing. Succeeded with TalkBin (Google acquisition), then spent years at YC studying what makes companies succeed before founding Applied Intuition
Failed 27 startups over 6 years before ShipFast succeeded. Treated each failure as a lesson in marketing, shipping speed, and product-market fit. Said each failure is 'a learning or a frustration for a future success'
Built 5 products over 2.5 years that all generated zero revenue, learning tech stack and content skills in the process
Failed at blogging at 13, NBA blog at 15, e-commerce dropshipping post-college, and fitness career before COVID pivot to podcasting at 25; each venture built transferable skills in writing, audience building, and discipline
Failed projects like Volblogs (learned writer management), JobApis (learned customer discovery), CFP Land (built 500+ dev rel network) each contributed critical capabilities
Shipped four startups before Headlime, each treated as a learning opportunity rather than wasted time. Progressed from designer (16-21) to marketer (21-25) to programmer (26+), accumulating complementary skills through building.
After shutting down, Rob cold-emailed Vanta's CEO Christina Cacioppo and joined as their first security hire. He also became an active angel investor and venture partner at Pioneer Fund, leveraging everything he learned from the failed startup.