Written by Ryan Pool
February 28, 2024
When I was six years old, I opened a bakery. I developed the logo, pricing strategy, marketing, and baked the products. Two days later it closed. I repeated this pattern with a chair company, remote control plane part business, and recycled tennis ball tables. My skills developed with each business, but they all had one critical flaw. I was so afraid of failure that I never fully committed so each business was doomed from the start.
After ten years of this losing mindset, I was determined to try something new. A mentor advised me, "The biggest mistake you can make is inaction." His words gave me courage, and I decided to try no matter what; if I failed and lost all of my money, I would be better off than not having the experience of actually going the distance. This mindset shift changed my life.
"Rename your process as a 'test and learn;' this failure is not a lack of success but a journey of growth."
When we look at the success rates in entrepreneurship, we find that roughly one in ten venture-backed startups succeed. This statistic might lead you to believe that to be successful, you must be one in ten once. Here's the hack. You can rig this stat to increase the chance for success; put yourself in a position to get reps and fail continually. Rename your process as a "test and learn;" this failure is not a lack of success but a journey of growth. This learning increases the chance of each startup succeeding, and with each new startup, you will increase the chance of entrepreneurial success.
This mindset shift has been paying off in my life, ranging from obtaining funding from Orange County investors for my startup, currently working at Ohana Subleasing Co. and Thetawise, along with diving into opportunity assessment by interviewing users and CEOs in the industry.
The key to success in entrepreneurship is continually putting yourself in positions to "fail" and growing from that failure and repeating the process. This changes the odds to favor you instead. It is not just about being willing to tolerate risk; instead, it is about consistently and intentionally putting yourself in positions of risk. Go on and fail…and learn quickly!
Ryan Pool '27 is a freshman majoring in Finance and minoring in Entrepreneurship at Santa Clara University. He is passionate about utilizing his entrepreneurial mindset and unique problem-solving ability to make a lasting difference. He loves mentoring and inspiring others to do the same.