I have received a number of emails about my Paul Saffo post yesterday. Here is another link to his original Newsweek article on the Entrepreneurial "Cycle of Life" (analogy for you Disney fans).
The Silicon Valley of today is built less atop the spires of earlier triumphs than upon the rubble of earlier debacles
The dot-com collapse may have been a disaster for Wall Street, but here in Silicon Valley, it was a blessing. It was the welcome end to an abnormal condition that very nearly destroyed the area in an overabundance of success. You see, the secret to the valley’s astounding multiple-decade boom is failure. Failure is what fuels and renews this place. Failure is the foundation for innovation. (click here for the rest)
As I have often written in this blog, with failure comes lessons and opportunities (God closes one door, he opens another [or a window]). In fact, it is often necessary to experience the failure to be ready for the success. It changes your perspective, your knowledge, the industry structure, customer behavior, etc. Too often, entrepreneurs either a) are not able to hold on long enough to realize the eventual win or b) fail to see the lessons or new opportunities but rather see just failure.