How Three Entrepreneurs Bounced Back From Failure

We learn as much from our failures as we do from our successes. That has long been a truth in business as well as in life. Here are some prime examples of entrepreneurs who bounced back from failure.

Nihal Mehta

Nihal Mehta is the founder and CEO Local Response. This is a ad-tech firm working out of New York whose primary focus is on social media targeted ads. Anyone who has been in the tech industry is bound to have a failure or two on their portfolio. Mehta's first tech venture folded in 1999. However, he was able to hold onto the programming assets and merge them into a new company that was eventually sold to Omnicon Group. After that he started up Buzzd, which was a real-time mobile city guide. The initial funding was for $4 million. Unfortunately, Buzzd was ahead of its time and never really caught on with consumers.

Instead of going under, Mehta regrouped and recapitalized the entire financial structure of the company. This gave him a much needed cash boost to rebrand as Local Response, and had him poised for the Smartphone revolution that would come a few months later.

The big lesson was finding a way to stay active. "I learned this the hard way--it was six years from my first company to my first exit," Mehta told Entreprenuer.com "Building products isn't easy, but if you keep working hard, keep throwing things at the wall, you will find a way."

Kathryn Minshew

Kathryn Minshew is CEO and co-founder of the Manhattan-based, The Muse. This is a career-development platform that is chock full of resourceful original content, interactive job boards and insightful company profiles. In 2010, Minshew launched Pretty Young Professionals which was geared as a networking site for professional women. A year later the redesigned site attracted 20,000 young women and that's when the trouble started with her partners.

Everyone had a different idea of where the company should go next. Instead of working through, they decided to split up with an equity and intellectual property agreement being formed on a handshake and notepaper without lawyers. Mistake. Minshew took what she learned to start the Muse, which recently posted an impressive 2 million users over 160 countries. Her take away was to formalize partnerships at every step of the way with proper legal representatives. A shrewd business lawyer will see potential pitfalls.

"It's so important to find people who share your values and ethics," she told Entrepreneur.com. "There are a lot of things you can paper over, and having different sets of opinions is valuable, but not when it comes down to code of conduct."

Frank Jadhavji

Frank Jadhavji is the co-founder and current CEO of JustDeals.com, which is described as "a flash-deal site specializing in consumer electronics and appliances." Dealing in actual products had Jadhavji setting up a company warehouse. The first shipment to arrive was stolen. The big problem was that inventory was already sold to waiting online customers and the way out was hunkering down in crisis management. This meant expediting insurance claims and reaching out to the customers to make them away of the situation. 

This was a classic case of "anything that can go wrong, will!" Jadhavji suggests hiring a management team who can handle a crisis with swift action.

4 Tips for Startup Founders

The best business advice often comes from those entrepreneurs who have "been there and done that." Here are 4 tips for startup founders from startup founders:

Don't rush your product to market.

"It’s natural to be in a hurry to get product out the door, but take a breath first and really gauge where you are. Slow down when it comes to key decisions, said Dan Belcher, co-founder of Boston-based Stackdriver. Sometimes doing things too early is just as bad than doing them too late.

Do all the jobs first.

Think of this as the "Undercover Boss" paradigm. On that popular reality show, a CEO puts on a disguise and goes down to join the workers to get their perspective on things. Perhaps you should give this a try. "Founders should do every role first before hiring someone to take it over. This helps me understand who I’m hiring, what they should be good at, what they should be doing and how to measure their success,” said David Mytton, founder of Server Density which is a London-based provider of server monitoring services.

Be smart with your hiring.

This is solid advice because hiring before there is a demand for your product is a good way to run through all your working capital. That doesn't mean you shouldn't always be on the prowl for new talent. “You should always be interviewing and always be hiring regardless of your headcount plan,” says Stackdriver co-founder Izzy Azeri. “It’s so hard to find good people and the founder is always the best recruiter.”

Brace yourself for failure.

This doesn't mean you should expect that your company is going to go under but there will be times when things aren't going to work out like that should. That applies to whether you're selling shoes or developing mobile phone apps. Dan Foody is the co-founder of Cloze. They have created an app merges a user’s mail and social media messages. "Apple restricts developers to at most 100 beta test devices for any app. In today’s world that’s not nearly a large enough audience to refine an app (especially a consumer-focused one),” Foody said. “You need hundreds to thousands of beta testers. How can you avoid this pitfall? Build a web app first so you can learn the hard lessons up front with a wide audience without being restricted by platform and store limitations.”

"Why join the navy if you can be a pirate?" Entrepreneurship Lessons from Steve Jobs

The retirement of Steve Jobs from day-to-day operations at Apple caused such a furor from the business community that the price of Apple stock dropped by 7%, losing a value of almost $17.5 billion dollars in one day. Jobs’ popularity stems from the fact that in spite of facing some stiff opposition in one of the most competitive industries, he led his company to become one of the most innovative and profitable companies in the world. Having started Apple in the late 70's, he was forced out by the board in 1984 and was asked to come back to turn it around in 1996. From then on, his creative vision and leadership single-handedly transformed the computer industry and changed how the world communicates.


Many consider him to be the embodiment of entrepreneurship and a great role model for businesspeople and entrepreneurs alike. He not only started and grew Apple, but also has done the same for other companies such as Pixar and Next Technologies, making him one of the most admired billionaires in the world. Here are some of the lessons that he's learned in starting and growing a business.


1) Follow your heart


"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most importantly, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."


Being an entrepreneur is a tough job! So be very sure that you are passionate about the business that you’ve started. Never forget that the person that you truly must make happy is yourself – as you will face a lot of challenges in your journey as an entrepreneur. And when you’re up late at night fixing problems, you know that deep inside of you, you don’t want to be doing anything else. Being an entrepreneur means believing in your ideas and having faith and most importantly, you must have faith in yourself. It is this faith that will draw others to you; because that’s the passion and vision others that will allow you to lead.


2) Make a positive impact or change the world


“Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?”


Those words challenged former Pepsi executive John Scully when Jobs tried to recruit him into Apple. Steve Jobs was obsessed with creating technology that would change the way people interact with it and make it an integral part of their everyday lives. To achieve his vision, he strove to push the limits of technical creativity, coming up with groundbreaking products that raised the bar in design and function. It was his vision that has made Apple the leader in innovation and the envy of many CEOs. But what does that mean for you? Ask yourself - does your business have a higher mission towards the world and your clients? Do you strive to make a difference in the world through your services and products? Because in the end, trying to change the world is just good business.


3) Don't follow the herd, be unique.


“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.”


Stand out from the crowd, because that is what’s going to get you noticed. Progress in all things are made by people who stand strong in their ideas, are not swayed by public opinions and passionately care on how their actions benefit the world around them. Being unique in business may be just what your brand needs ... and should communicate. However, just being different isn't what you want to achieve. Instead, you want to be distinctive -- in the things your customers and clients value most.


Jobs’ achievements don't lie just only with Apple. However, it has been his crowning glory and by taking an almost bankrupt company to being the most admired, envied and emulated company in the world has left a legacy that will be hard to replicate by those who follow after him.

Lessons in Crisis Management

It's easy to learn from hindsight. Many an individual has attained tremendous mental wealth from looking back. The big question is whether we learn from our past mistakes, not just gather stories of deeds unaccomplished.

Toyota's safety crisis has been the content of many a recent news item, ranging from tragedies to sensationalism to Congressional hearings. For those not directly affected by the issues at hand, there is still much to learn, especially in the realm of crisis management.

The business world will never be crisis free. However, in order to continue to thrive, managers must know how to best cope in a crisis situation. Failing to respond to the crisis at hand may prove to exacerbate an already difficult situation. There are several key steps that a company, and its management, should follow in a crisis.

The CEO must take immediate command of the situation. Even if the CEO is not a polished public speaker, the public must see that the top person is in charge and leading the company in its difficult time. Otherwise, it's a sinking ship with no captain at the helm.

As soon as possible, start the flow of information. Let the public know that the company has the situation under control and is doing its best. It's imperative to maintain credibility with the public. As difficult as it may be, a unified, hard-working front is crucial. Not having all the answers is legitimate. However, avoiding the situation is not.

Try to think several steps ahead. Experienced management should be able to anticipate what lies ahead in a situation. Be prepared, rather than be caught off-guard.

Don't make light of a serious situation. In a time of crisis, a company's place is to identify with the public. After a crisis has been resolved, the company will need to maintain its customer base. The public will remember if a company identified with them or only worried about itself. Loyalty is a two way street.

Thinking carefully about how and when to act is the key to successful crisis management.

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