Here's how you can learn from a failed business venture.

Analyzing business failure is like a 4-year-old who keeps asking "Why?" Businesses fail when they run out of money. But that's an outcome, not a cause. Occasionally it's something else, a lawsuit, a disaster, founder disputes. These too are outcomes, not causes. What precipitated the failure? We didn't make enough sales, we didn't budget properly, we lost a key customer, our investors cut us off, somebody was stealing. Sure, but why did you let these happen? Calling it bad luck is a cop-out. It comes down to management and leadership, the only lever you pull: being uninformed, too headstrong or indecisive, ignoring signals, lack of planning, not inspiring others. You may not get to the bottom of it but you can learn and do better.

If your business venture fails and you don’t reflect honestly on why it failed, then you risk the additional failure of not learning anything useful from the experience to carry forward to your next opportunities.

Most founders do best on a zero tolerance policy: there is no room in life or business for people who are dishonest, unfocused, vindictive, manipulative, antagonistic. In retrospect, there are usually warning signs that a founder, key employee, customer, supplier, or investor wasn't going to work out. They call this a "no jerk" policy, but use a stronger word for it. Other people can deal with the devil and still make money…?only a few can do this, and it usually catches up with them. Being in the restaurant business gave me a perspective that I completely missed when running law firms, investment funds, and tech startups. People can be really, really wretched. But the moment you stop loving them you're cooked, you become the jerk.

Flexibility is important –?changing course, innovating a clever solution, soldiering through hard times. This cluster of related traits, and management decisions arising from them, makes up about 25% of what it takes to be a great and successful leader: teachability, grit, perseverance, determination. In some situations you shouldn't give up too early, success is just a few final strides in front of you even if you can't see it. In others, you're just doggedly pursuing something that won't work. It's hard to tell the difference when you're in the middle of it. One way is to step outside of yourself, gather new data, try to look at things from every possible angle.

Running a business is one of the most stressful, exhausting things you can do in life. Most new businesses fail, and the few that succeed will have multiple near-death experiences before things become stable. My personal list includes internal fraud, a multiple alarm fire, a government investigation, lawsuits, a stabbing. And running out of money, repeatedly. Fortunately, not all at the same company. After a while you develop a thick skin. No matter what happens you can honestly say no problem, I've seen worse. But sometimes the stress builds up long term and you just can't deal. Exercise, meditation, family support, good diet, hobbies and passions outside of work, even a great workstation and office toys, these all help.

It’s so important to develop resilience when bouncing back from any form of failure. Failing forward is an essential concept that needs to be embraced by any partnership based venture, as we are never guaranteed success!

In Las Vegas Sands corporate office there is a quote from its founder”there is no such thing as fear to an entrepreneur. Concern yes but not fear” And while I don’t class myself as an entrepreneur I do believe fear holds most people back. Fear of failure, fear of what people may say. Many times I have personally had business set backs but after that initial 24 disappointment you need to say ok next time what could I do better . You never know when the next opportunity may arise. What you need to do is to ensure you are there when it does. Therefore stay relevant, stay connected trust your network and get up and go again. Carpe diem is oh so true as if you don’t someone else will

A great business plan is a strong indicator for success. But probably a stronger indicator is the team around you: choose your partners extremely wisely. Business plans can change quickly, but your co-founders will continue to be the ones who will be there to implement these plans with you, and will be most critical part to determining the success or failure of your venture.

Agreed Robin. Another way of saying it is that there is no such thing as a lost opportunity - if you don’t take it, someone else will.

The best idea doesn't win. The best businesses win. And sometimes, neither wins–it's the wrong time for the market, or fate intervenes (pandemics, economic cycles, TikTok wars). You can only maximize your chances of success, and you can do that only if you learn from setbacks, or even complete failures. Everyone fails. It's how you react to failure that matters.