Entrepreneurship & Strategy

Startup Failure Is Likely, but Its Lessons Can Become the Foundation of Your Next Venture

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Closing remarks for a FITI practice camp: Wang Xing quoted, plus Robin’s commentary (May 2023)

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Collected in Robin Shen’s Field Notes · Content type and attribution are shown above

English translation of the Chinese post originally published 2023-05-07. Translated 2026-10-31 with AI assistance. Historical figures and claims have not been updated or independently verified. 中文原文

Reading guide

After the FITI 2023 practice camp, Robin quotes Wang Xing: most teams present will probably fail in this venture—not a curse, but a lesson from experience. Prepare for failure. Being willing to work hard despite a high chance of failure is real passion, and failure still offers opportunities to learn. Robin adds that entrepreneurship is a process of self-refinement, learning, and growth. Experience accumulated through failure can become the foundation for the next venture.

Key points

  • Startup failure is likely; prepare mentally for it.
  • Working despite the possibility of failure shows real passion.
  • Failure can still teach a great deal.
  • Lessons from failure can become the foundation of the next venture—Robin.
One clear path continues into the distance among several branching routes, suggesting choice and focus.
Entrepreneurship & strategyThematic illustration · AI generated

Full text — English translation

The FITI 2023 practice camp ended yesterday. I will quote Wang Xing directly to close these two days. Wang Xing: “There are many startup teams here today, and excellent ones. I wish you well sincerely, but let me pour some cold water on the excitement: most of you will probably fail in this venture. This is not a curse, but a lesson from experience. However good the team and idea, and however smoothly everything seems to be going, failure is still highly likely. Every entrepreneur should prepare mentally for that. “Prepare fully for failure. If you are still willing to do it and put in the effort despite the high chance of failure, that is real passion. “Even if your venture fails, you still have a very good chance of learning a great deal.” --- Robin: “Startup failure is extremely likely. But entrepreneurship is a process of self-refinement, learning, and growth. Even a failed venture can leave valuable experience that becomes the foundation of your next one.”

These articles are personal notes, book excerpts, and collected reprints. Figures and events reflect the time of the original publication, are not current information, and do not constitute investment advice.

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