Yes Vijay, I agree. Startups do Fail
Vijay Anand, key Proto organizer, wonders why Indian tech blogs are creating a fuss about failed startups. In a post over at VentureWoods, he writes:
“I am seeing a flurry of activity among the tech blogs who’ve caught on a interesting topic to latch onto. Failed startups. If you ask me, I am not sure what the big fuss in this is about.
Birds fly. Fishes Swim. Deals Fall through and Startups Fail. This is the natural order of things. The only thing we can do is alleviate the chances of success for a startup by a small degree. We do not, neither can anyone assure anyone of success and failures totally. Heck, the Silicon valley, which is considered to be this rich ecosystem, has its fair share of failures. What are we going to do about that? ”
In my response below, I speak for myself and not other tech bloggers - so please interpret it as such.
Vijay, no one is making a ‘fuss’ about failed startups. As a tech blogger, who reports on new startup launches, I only see it as fair to cover about startup failures as well. After all - failures are part of the ecosystem. Else, we’d end up covering only one end of the spectrum, which would be unfair. Silicon Valley failures dont go unnoticed either (TC deadpool).
Talking about startup failures is also good in a way for young, recent college grads,entrepreneur wannabes. They shouldnt get the impression that entrepreneurship is all hunky dory and sexy. Its a risky, challenging affair, with high probability for failure. Educating them about such failures would help them to make the assessment if entrepreneurship is their cup of tea.
Glorifying failure would be wrong - and I have tried to stay away from it.
Finally, I’d also like to add this - when a company like ByIndia, which made audacious claims like being the fastest growing search engine and SocNet site for Indians & which started the (in)famous $5 million sweepstakes fails, you cant help feeling a devilish pleasure reporting about it. I maybe guilty of that and I’m totally fine with it.