The Failure Club
On Dec 11, 2006, I celebrated my first significant ‘failure’ when my nascent venture capital fund, Horizen Ventures, was selected as the exclusive partner in India by one of the largest venture funds in the world. Not even 3 years old, the fund that had been battling to gain traction from its inception was suddenly one of the biggest players in the investment world’s hottest new market – India. While most would likely consider my improbable success to be a crowning achievement, I am confident this will be merely the first of many intentional ‘failures.’ This project, and my counter-intuitive embrace of failure, was the result of an absurdly ambitious endeavor, The Failure Club.
A favorite quote of mine extols: “If you’re not living on the edge, you’re taking up too much space.” Even with size 13 shoes, I take up anything but too much space. For me, living on the edge means constantly pushing the boundaries of what we believe is achievable. Accordingly, in 2004, my friend Gunil Chung and I co-founded The Failure Club – a transformational, life-altering book club-like, support group, of sorts. This then, is the story of valiantly trying to fail, and failing.
In The Failure Club, members learn to defy the fears associated with ‘failure’ by pursuing seemingly impossible goals that they set for themselves. From the outset, failure is not only a highly probable outcome, it is the desired outcome. Only through embracing the reality of failure can its’ societal stigmas be stripped away and replaced with an inspirational alternative.
Thomas Edison famously experimented with some 10,000 materials before discovering the filament necessary to complete the light bulb, and consequently, illuminate the world. Had he feared and avoided failure, we would still be stuck in the dark. To the contrary, he celebrated each failure as another definitive step towards ultimate success. In much the same way, The Failure Club embraces failure as a critical step on the pathway to authentic fulfillment. All too frequently, ‘success’ is what people are willing to settle for when they are afraid to risk failing at something truly life-defining. To give 110% and still come up short means that one has discovered the actual limits of his capabilities – a rare and inspiring accomplishment that is worthy of genuine celebration.
We believe that once ‘failure’ becomes acceptable and even fun, it is only then that one discovers that his limitations are self-imposed and determined primarily by fear. When we overcome that fear, we blow away our self-inflicted limits, and we will each achieve results that appear miraculous.
Philip Kiracofe 2011
