We’re a bit funny about failure in the UK. It’s a dirty word. It’s something to be ashamed of. In the US, however, things seem to be a little different. Create a company that ultimately fails and you’re not necessarily derided for it, you’re celebrated for giving it a shot. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and try again and you’ll be even more respected.
It’s an attitude that’s starting to make its way over here and that’s all the better for the UK tech ecosystem. More and more founders are sticking their heads above the parapet and revealing what went wrong – the mistakes they made, hurdles they couldn’t clear and inherent business-model flaws they couldn’t overcome.
At the Startup Postmortem event hosted last week by Runway East in London’s Moorgate, four company founders and former CEOs bared all, sharing the stories of the rise and fall of their tech startups....