My Top 5 Lessons from Failure

My Top 5 Lessons from Failure - Chidike Edmond

My Top 5 Lessons from Failure

By Chidike Edmond Ojuyenum

Between 2009 and 2024, I launched 9 startups. None survived. But I did.

Failure is often seen as the end — a red stamp of shame. But for me, it was initiation. Each collapse gave me insight that no classroom could.

Here are the 5 most important lessons I’ve learned from failing repeatedly and rising anyway:

1. Vision is not enough — Execution is King: A brilliant idea means nothing without discipline, structure, and daily momentum. I had dreams, but not systems. Now, I don’t just dream — I draft, delegate, and deliver.

2. The wrong team will kill a right idea: I used to believe passion was enough. It's not. If your team doesn’t share your urgency, your standard, or your code, your business is on borrowed time. Build slow, hire wise.

3. Money is not the problem — mindset is: Most of my early failures weren’t because I lacked funds, but because I lacked clarity, accountability, and stewardship. Now I know: manage ₦100 right and ₦100 million will trust you.

4. Don’t fake it — build it: There’s pressure in entrepreneurship to “look successful.” That pressure is deadly. I’ve learned to honor slow growth and own every season. No shame in your small beginnings — if it’s real, it will rise.

5. Failure is feedback, not identity: Failing doesn’t make you a failure. It makes you human, hungry, and (if you’re wise) dangerous. I carry my failures like tools — not trophies, not chains.

If you’ve failed, you’re not finished. Build again — but this time, build better.

Failure is feedback. It’s a leadership lesson for entrepreneurs to show their resilience.

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