{"id":823477,"date":"2025-02-01T07:12:31","date_gmt":"2025-02-01T13:12:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/01\/6-lessons-for-startups-from-a-museum-dedicated-to-failure\/"},"modified":"2025-02-01T07:12:31","modified_gmt":"2025-02-01T13:12:31","slug":"6-lessons-for-startups-from-a-museum-dedicated-to-failure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/01\/6-lessons-for-startups-from-a-museum-dedicated-to-failure\/","title":{"rendered":"6 Lessons for Startups from a Museum Dedicated to Failure"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id data-order=\"4\" data-type=\"webscript\" data-moveable=\"false\" data-params=\"region=article;ad-placements=title-300\" xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\">\n<article-content-flex2019 page-subtype=\"standard\" isgifted=\"false\">\n<div js-target=\"article-content-flex2019\">\n<div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/hbr.org\/resources\/css\/images\/HBR_logo_black.svg\">\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>A collection of more than 1,000 failed products and businesses reveals the common forces that spell doom for new ventures.\n\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\n\tJanuary 31, 2025\n<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p><hero-image><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/hbr.org\/resources\/images\/article_assets\/2025\/01\/Jan25_31_522897236.jpg\" alt title aria-label  ><\/p>\n<p><span>Richard Morrell\/Getty Images<\/span>\n\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/hero-image><\/p>\n<page-utils data-js-target=\"page-utils\" data-id=\"tag:blogs.harvardbusiness.org,2007-03-31:999.401352\" data-title=\"6 Lessons for Startups from a Museum Dedicated to Failure\" data-url=\"\/2025\/01\/6-lessons-for-startups-from-a-museum-dedicated-to-failure\" data-topic=\"Start-ups\" data-authors=\"Sean Jacobsohn\" data-content-type=\"Digital Article\" data-content-image=\"\/resources\/images\/article_assets\/2025\/01\/Jan25_31_522897236-383x215.jpg\" data-summary=\"\n\n<p>A collection of more than 1,000 failed products and businesses reveals the common forces that spell doom for new ventures.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/HarvardBiz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" js-target=\"twitter-share\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<i>\t<svg class alt aria-labelledby=\"title\">\n\t<title><\/title>\n\t<use xlink:href=\"http:\/\/hbr.org\/resources\/css\/images\/hbr-icons.svg#updated-twitter-x-icon\" \/><\/svg><br \/>\n<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Post<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/HBR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" js-target=\"facebook-share\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<i>\t<svg class alt aria-labelledby=\"title\">\n\t<title><\/title>\n\t<use xlink:href=\"http:\/\/hbr.org\/resources\/css\/images\/hbr-icons.svg#updated-facebook-icon\" \/><\/svg><br \/>\n<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Post<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/harvard-business-review?trk=biz-companies-cym\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" js-target=\"linkedin-share\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<i>\t<svg class alt aria-labelledby=\"title\">\n\t<title><\/title>\n\t<use xlink:href=\"http:\/\/hbr.org\/resources\/css\/images\/hbr-icons.svg#updated-linkedin-icon\" \/><\/svg><br \/>\n<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Share<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n<li js-target=\"annotate-icon\">\n\t\t\t\t<a js-target=\"handle-mindstone-click\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<i js-target=\"mindstone-icon-black\">\t<svg class alt aria-labelledby=\"title\">\n\t<title><\/title>\n\t<use xlink:href=\"http:\/\/hbr.org\/resources\/css\/images\/hbr-icons.svg#mindstone-icon-black\" \/><\/svg><br \/>\n<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Annotate<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/hbr.org\/#\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" js-target=\"save-flyout\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<i>\t<svg class alt aria-labelledby=\"title\">\n\t<title><\/title>\n\t<use xlink:href=\"http:\/\/hbr.org\/resources\/css\/images\/hbr-icons.svg#updated-save-icon\" \/><\/svg><br \/>\n<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Save<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/hbr.org\/javascript:window.print();\" js-target=\"print-article\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<i>\t<svg class alt aria-labelledby=\"title\">\n\t<title><\/title>\n\t<use xlink:href=\"http:\/\/hbr.org\/resources\/css\/images\/hbr-icons.svg#updated-print-icon\" \/><\/svg><br \/>\n<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Print<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/page-utils>\n<p>\n\t\t<span><\/p>\n<p>Recent data shows that U.S. startup failures have increased by 60% in the past year. And every failed product or company carries a price: wasted resources, lost jobs, tarnished reputations. To understand more about risk-taking and failure, Sean Jacobsohn has catalogued more than 1,000 failed products and businesses in a collection he calls the Failure Museum. He has identified six warning signs of failure, and offers lessons to ensure entrepreneurs learn from these mistakes.<\/p>\n<p><\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<content js-target=\"article-content\" data-key=\"4CnvZ7mCQD0WbQc8YiBTpqAI+mfxLAm+yGPIhQF5mle\/U8mmEFU0calNzO+96IkD\" data-index=\"BM5l29iJY6Ee+8B2yfNlrdgbvN4VLOJhHh\/T44P8lW6uWtOTIYotQeSE64jlvmRUyzSPAekBZbd0mgZd113EGg==\" data-waiver=\"false\" data-page-year=\"2025\" data-page-month=\"01\" data-page-seo-title=\"6-lessons-for-startups-from-a-museum-dedicated-to-failure\" data-page-adunit-locations data-page-slug=\"article\" data-piano-verified=\"false\"><\/p>\n<p>Founders work hard to build their startups. Venture capitalists work hard to identify and invest in the most promising ones. But the harsh reality is that failure is inevitable. Recent data shows that U.S. startup failures have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/2808ad4c-783f-4475-bcda-bddc0299095e\">increased by 60%<\/a> in the past year.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/content><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<personalization-placement data-placement-id=\"right1\"><\/personalization-placement>\n<div js-target=\"right-rail-tout\">\n<p><span>New!<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/hbr.org\/resources\/css\/images\/hmm\/HBR-learning-icon.png\"><\/p>\n<p>HBR Learning<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/hbr.org\/resources\/images\/hmm\/Course_Illustrations\/Business_Case_Development_Course\/topic_landing_page_1400.png\">\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Business Case Development Course<\/p>\n<p>Accelerate your career with Harvard ManageMentor\u00ae. HBR Learning\u2019s online leadership training helps you hone your skills with courses like Business Case Development. Earn badges to share on LinkedIn and your resume. Access more than 40 courses trusted by Fortune 500 companies.<\/p>\n<p>Make your next business case more compelling.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/hbr.org\/api\/hmm\/link?url=%2Fcontent%2Fbusiness_case_development%2Flandingpage.html%3Futm_source%3Dhbrwebsite%26utm_medium%3Darticle-tout\" target=\"_blank\" data-course-slug=\"business_case_development\"><\/p>\n<p><span>Start Course<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/hbr.org\/learning?ab=articlepage_hmm-landing_hmm-tout-rightrail\">Learn More &#038; See All Courses<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p><span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/hbr.org\/search?term=sean%20jacobsohn&#038;search_type=search-all\">Sean Jacobsohn<\/a> is a partner at venture and growth equity investment firm <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nvp.com\/\">Norwest Venture Partners<\/a>, where he focuses on early to late-stage investment opportunities in enterprise cloud. As the founder, chief historian, and collector of the <a href=\"https:\/\/failure.museum\/\">Failure Museum<\/a>, he collects artifacts from failed companies and products and catalogues his learnings from them. Sean also founded the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hbsangels.com\/\">Harvard Business School Alumni Angels<\/a>, the largest university-affiliated angel investment group in the world.<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<page-utils data-js-target=\"page-utils\" data-id=\"tag:blogs.harvardbusiness.org,2007-03-31:999.401352\" data-title=\"6 Lessons for Startups from a Museum Dedicated to Failure\" data-url=\"\/2025\/01\/6-lessons-for-startups-from-a-museum-dedicated-to-failure\" data-topic=\"Start-ups\" data-authors=\"Sean Jacobsohn\" data-content-type=\"Digital Article\" data-content-image=\"\/resources\/images\/article_assets\/2025\/01\/Jan25_31_522897236-383x215.jpg\" data-summary=\"\n\n<p>A collection of more than 1,000 failed products and businesses reveals the common forces that spell doom for new ventures.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/HarvardBiz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" js-target=\"twitter-share\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<i>\t<svg class alt aria-labelledby=\"title\">\n\t<title><\/title>\n\t<use xlink:href=\"http:\/\/hbr.org\/resources\/css\/images\/hbr-icons.svg#updated-twitter-x-icon\" \/><\/svg><br \/>\n<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Post<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/HBR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" js-target=\"facebook-share\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<i>\t<svg class alt aria-labelledby=\"title\">\n\t<title><\/title>\n\t<use xlink:href=\"http:\/\/hbr.org\/resources\/css\/images\/hbr-icons.svg#updated-facebook-icon\" \/><\/svg><br \/>\n<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Post<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/harvard-business-review?trk=biz-companies-cym\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" js-target=\"linkedin-share\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<i>\t<svg class alt aria-labelledby=\"title\">\n\t<title><\/title>\n\t<use xlink:href=\"http:\/\/hbr.org\/resources\/css\/images\/hbr-icons.svg#updated-linkedin-icon\" \/><\/svg><br \/>\n<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Share<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n<li js-target=\"annotate-icon\">\n\t\t\t\t<a js-target=\"handle-mindstone-click\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<i js-target=\"mindstone-icon-black\">\t<svg class alt aria-labelledby=\"title\">\n\t<title><\/title>\n\t<use xlink:href=\"http:\/\/hbr.org\/resources\/css\/images\/hbr-icons.svg#mindstone-icon-black\" \/><\/svg><br \/>\n<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Annotate<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/hbr.org\/#\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" js-target=\"save-flyout\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<i>\t<svg class alt aria-labelledby=\"title\">\n\t<title><\/title>\n\t<use xlink:href=\"http:\/\/hbr.org\/resources\/css\/images\/hbr-icons.svg#updated-save-icon\" \/><\/svg><br \/>\n<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Save<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/hbr.org\/javascript:window.print();\" js-target=\"print-article\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<i>\t<svg class alt aria-labelledby=\"title\">\n\t<title><\/title>\n\t<use xlink:href=\"http:\/\/hbr.org\/resources\/css\/images\/hbr-icons.svg#updated-print-icon\" \/><\/svg><br \/>\n<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Print<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/page-utils>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div js-target=\"hmm-bottom-tout\">\n<p><span>New!<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/hbr.org\/resources\/css\/images\/hmm\/HBR-learning-icon.png\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span>HBR Learning<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Business Case Development Course<\/p>\n<p>Accelerate your career with Harvard ManageMentor\u00ae. HBR Learning\u2019s online leadership training helps you hone your skills with courses like Business Case Development. Earn badges to share on LinkedIn and your resume. Access more than 40 courses trusted by Fortune 500 companies.<\/p>\n<p>Make your next business case more compelling.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/hbr.org\/resources\/images\/hmm\/Course_Illustrations\/Business_Case_Development_Course\/topic_landing_page_1400.png\">\n\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/article-content-flex2019><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/hbr.org\/2025\/01\/6-lessons-for-startups-from-a-museum-dedicated-to-failure\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><br \/>\n Sean Jacobsohn<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A collection of more than 1,000 failed products and businesses reveals the common forces that spell doom for new ventures. January 31, 2025 Richard Morrell\/Getty Images Post Post Share Annotate Save Print Recent data shows that U.S. startup failures have increased by 60% in the past year. And every failed product or company carries a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":823478,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2532,4312],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-823477","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-lessons","8":"category-startups"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=823477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/823478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=823477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=823477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=823477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}