Originally posted on LinkedIn
We need to stop congratulating people for failures. Even more so when the failure involved $300 million ❌
You learn from failure — yes. You build something better from failure.
You absolutely should celebrate the people who take the leap — 100%. But launching and failing are two separate events.
It’s perfectly fine to congratulate the same team for launching AND also acknowledge that they screwed something up and that’s why they went under. And from the error, we all learn for what comes next.
Over the past few months, Justo, Elenas, Merqueo, Frubana have all gone under… before that there were others — and more will come.
As an ecosystem, we need to drop this sycophantic attitude of celebrating failure. Learn from it — obviously. Celebrate that the founder took the shot — of course. But the failure itself is not worth celebrating.
Who would celebrate a president’s failure if they leave a country or its institutions in ruins? “Good try”? Did anyone celebrate the Jaguar CEO after this year’s debacle and losing 97% of their sales? Should we celebrate the WeWork guy’s madness? The 2008 bubble?
We need to learn from mistakes — but not celebrate them. From what happened these past months in Latin America’s startup ecosystem, I learned that we need to work on building sustainable businesses from early stages — not companies that burn capital indefinitely. If they fail, let it be early, not after $300 million.
👉 What do you learn from seeing some of the most well-funded startups in the region shut down recently?
Important PS — I find the attitude of “if you haven’t tried/built/created/done it, shut your mouth” incredibly toxic. Everyone has the right to an opinion — it sounds more like a defense mechanism to avoid hearing feedback and opposing views.