Failure Decoded

Dr. Samuel West, a licensed psychologist, and PhD in Organizational Psychology, is the founder and curator of the Museum of Failure. He talks to us about the fear of failure, psychological safety, taking risks and how he started the museum. 

The Museum of Failure tours the world and showcases failed ideas, products, services and innovations. It was first launched in Sweden in 2017 and has been featured in numerous countries since. The exhibit is making its way to Brooklyn in March 2023. The museum aims to stimulate productive discussion about failure and inspire us to take meaningful risks. 

Show Notes:

2:49 - Samuel West tells us about his background in psychology and how he came up with the idea for the Failure Museum 

5:18 - how Samuel launched the Failure Museum and curated the items 

11:54 - who’s the demo of the Failure Museum?

15:45 - what Samuel has learned about the fear of failure from his research 

17:50 - taking meaningful risk 

21:08 - do you ever have any challenges getting CEOs or executive leadership teams to implement your teachings about failure?

24:50 - Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos role model failure and taking risks in their company culture 

26:45 - a lot of startups play it safe and follow the ’trends’ 

28:28 - AI chat bot at the Museum of Failure 

34:24 - we need failure in order to innovate 

37:25 - why going viral can backfire 

39:30 - Samuel’s Irreverent Research Lab  

44:00 - how failure is perceived in different cultures  

51:15 - a doll that eats kids hair?!

Links:

Museum of Failure

For donations and suggestions for new exhibits please contact: [email protected]

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Caroline Labouchere, an entrepreneur, grey model and motivational speaker gives us a raw perspective of what one goes through when life throws an unexpected curveball.

Caroline is now on a mission to empower women to realize their potential and take control of their lives.

Show Notes:

3:19 - Going into the unknown and being brave.

3:44 - Working professionally as a model for the first time at 53.

4:43 - Caroline Labouchere’s story that changed her life.

6:21 - Navigating failure or difficult situations can mean more than just accepting it.

7:44 - Importance of reaching out to people who provide help, hope, and comfort.

8:21 - Don't play victim and take charge of your life.

13:43 - Caroline grew stronger and found strength.

18:54 -  Shifting your mindset.

24:23 - Take care of yourself, put yourself first.

25:05 - Caroline’s mission to help women and impact lives.

Links:

Caroline's website
Caroline's Instagram

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Rizwan Taj talks about his viral Instagram account, his non-linear career path, and his life advice that can be applied to entrepreneurship. From flying airplanes with the best pilots in the world to working in a tire shop, Rizwan has had an unconventional career.

He believes in making peace with your situation and keep on hustling towards your goals. If you fail, don't give up hope.


Show Notes:

2:15 - Cracking the code of going viral on Instagram.

3:00 - Rizwan proclaims, “My wife is the reason behind my social media success”.

5:00 - Rizwan’s journey, unconventional, adventurous and exciting.

9:35 - Everything is going great and then Reality it’s you.

9:41 - Not finding a job in the US after pilot training, visa restrictions and working in a car tire workshop.

13:12 - If you are stuck in a difficult decision, how do you stop yourself from going insane? Patience is the key!

15:26 - Make peace with your situation but keep working towards your dream.

22:16 - Be optimistic, be scared, do not forget your hardships and that should motivate you to move up and forward.

25:45 - Networking helps break barriers and break into your dream industry.

26:40 - Rizwan’s strategic tips to successful networking.

28:52 - Building momentum and keep moving forward.

28:58 - Best advice, golden words by Rizwan’s boss, Romy Hawatt Founder & Owner of Airways Aviation Academy, "If you are not moving forward, you are actually moving backwards as everyone else is moving forward.”

30:28  - Treading an unconventional path to achieve your goals.

30:32 - Being spontaneous, fearless, not scared to dream big.

35:29 - Taking risks, be persistent, passionate and patient.

36:07 - If you fail, try again and again.

Links:

Rizwan's Instagram
Rizwan's YouTube Channel


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Shamsiya and Rachel are shining a light on the founder stories you don't see in the headlines. On Failure Decoded you'll hear interviews with entrepreneurs who've experienced failure, made rookie mistakes, pivoted and overcome obstacles.

The show aims to decode and destigmatize failure. After all, everyone fails! So why isn't it talked about more?

If there's one thing you'll take away from the conversations had on Failure Decoded it's that failure leads to success when approached the right way. Learn from founders who transform failures into opportunities for growth and how you can too.    

This intro episode will give you a taste of what's to come on Failure Decoded in 2023.


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Shamsiya and Rachel wrap up the last episode of Failure Decoded for 2022. They discuss some of the biggest business failures of the year including crypto, Meta, Peloton and NFTs.

 
Show Notes:

1:40 - Shamsiya getting accepted into the Elizabeth Fry My Startup Training Program.

3:30 - Rachel emphasizes the importance of continuous learning as an entrepreneur.

4:40 - Zuckerberg lost 11 billion dollars of net worth in one day!

10:54 - the volatility of Crypto currency.

17:31 - Amazon’s Alexa is a huge failure.

22:24 - Peloton has had a rough year.

26:51 - NFTs the quick rise and fall .


28:53 - Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the next big thing.

28:56 - ChatGPT is blowing up


References:

FTX diverted $200 million of customer funds
Zuckerberg quitting rumor
Metaverse vision killing Meta
Amazon Alexa loses $10 billion
Peloton stock plunging
Peloton gets worse
NFT sales volume drops


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Aaquib is the Co-founder & Chief Integrator at FreeFlow Venture, an Incubator and Accelerator for startups. Aaquib is an advisor to the prestigious Indian Institute of Management, India and Startup India. He's also a celebrated public speaker and a prominent  jury member at various  global tech startup events.

In this episode, Aaquib deep dives into his  journey as a startup founder who found astounding success really early and how the failure that followed had an impact  on the way he approached his subsequent startup ventures and the genesis of his philosophy " Failure as a Service".


Show Notes:

3:22 - Failure as a Service

3:54 - Working for Google, IBM and filing the first patent.

05:18 - Early success is your biggest enemy.

05:44 - Winning Tech conclaves and Tech Crunch and a growing startup.

06:37 - How the company started spiralling, compliance mistakes, bad vendor agreements, discovering cash in the wrong cycles.

07:06 - Government of India approaching Aaquib with a startup proposal called Startup India Yatra.

8:25 - Navigating the post failure phase, building something again, paying off debts and staying afloat.

8:43 - Startup founders have a stubborn trait.

09:54 - Created Plugins and sold it to Byjus, an Indian Edtech Company.

12:35 - Venture Builders and venture studios.

15:33 - Creating 39 tech IPs, 32 marketing IPs, facilitated 43 investment commitments.

17:00 - The experience of  working with 10 co-founders.

21:43 - Merging roles of startup founders who wear different hats.

27:35 - Saying no to funding from VCs like Sequoia Capital twice.

31.52 - Smart advice to young entrepreneurs to not take funding until it is actually needed.

34:00 - Work on strengthening your fundamentals.

42:49 - Building the World’s first startup state manager.

43:55 - Aaquib's global projects, working with accelerator partners in the UK and Canada.

50:00 - Words of wisdom: “Knowledge never goes to waste”, keep learning and upgrading your skill set.

Links:

Linkedin FreeFlow Ventures
Aaquib Hussain's Linkedin
FreeFlow Twitter
FreeFlow Facebook
Aaquib's Facebook

Resources provided by Aaquib

Blog: Top 10 Venture Studios for 2022
Enhance Online Startup Map

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Tareq Hadhad is a Syrian-Canadian entrepreneur, keynote speaker and the founder of Peace By Chocolate. He is the recipient of many accolades including Start Up Canada’s National Newcomer Entrepreneur Award, EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Atlantic, Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee Medal and more. 

Peace by Chocolate, is a family run company echoing the spirit of resilience, hope and determination to thrive and flourish defying all odds.

Passionate about peace and entrepreneurship, Tareq and his family relaunched their family’s chocolate business in Canada after their factory and home in Syria were destroyed. 

Tareq has a focus on job creation, utilizing a network of local community members and refugees from across Nova Scotia and Canada to help support the local economy.

In this episode Tareq shares lots of wisdom about overcoming challenges, the importance of sticking to your 'why' and creating a value driven business.


Show Notes:
 
2:15 - Peace by Chocolate: the legacy, rebuilding their life and the family business. 

3:20 - Message by Tareq Hadhad to Refugees, newcomers and immigrants about resilience and rebuilding.

5:30 - Building partnerships, relationships with organizations and indigenous communities is invaluable for growth.

7:09 - Community in Antigonish, Nova Scotia came together to build the first Peace By Chocolate factory.

7:30 - Prime Minister Justin Treadeau told the Peace By Chocolate’s story at the United Nations. 

10:00 - Supporting small businesses is important for community development.

10:44 - Giving back to the community and helping other refugees.

12:33 - Challenges are opportunities to grow.

13:52 - Overcoming labor shortages was a huge challenge

15:14 - Building a team and taking care of the team members and consumers.

19:00 - Navigating the pandemic as a business.

22:15 - Working with family in a family-run business.

27:33 - The Hadhad story will be told forever, the family worked together with a unified goal in mind.

28:07 -  Appreciating differences and not losing sight of the goals.

30:14 - Peace By Chocolate, the movie.

33:25 - Tareq’s tryst with failure.

33:55 - The startup stage is the most difficult for any business.

34:45 - Advice to entrepreneurs: push yourselves out of your comfort zone.

36:13 - Failure is more common than you think.

36:17 - Why we fail.

37:42 - How Tareq navigates failure and challenges.

38:00 - How to be a good leader.

44:33 - Advice for refugee and immigrant entrepreneurs.

44:59 - Refugees and immigrants are unstoppable.

47:44 - Message to the world about peace.

50:45 - Peace by Chocolate is a beacon of hope for immigrants, newcomers, and refugees.

Links:

Peace By Chocolate

Peace By Chocolate documentary in The Atlantic

Tareq Hadhad

Tareq Hadhad Linkedin

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In this episode Ruhee Rajan, the founder of Rubies Bras, talks about how she built her business from scratch,  learnt how to sew, changed the business model to survive the pandemic, leveraged government grants and also about being featured on Vogue.com.

Rubies Bras specializes in luxury custom-made bras. Originally Ruhee relied on in-person fittings to deliver her products. Once the pandemic hit all in-person fittings came to a halt. Rubies Bras managed to find its footing during the tough times. The brand evolved, adapted and thrived but the journey was not easy. Hear Ruhee's story! 


Show Notes:

07:57 - Ruhee leveraged the support and tools from the Starter Company Plus Grant offered by the City of Toronto.

9:48 - Reach out to your governments and private institutions for support.

10:59 - Identifying the need to push the available resources to business owners and making this an organic part of registering a business.

14:41 - Ruhee’s biggest challenge as a founder.

15:02 - Ruhee’s improvisation strategy, bras to masks.

16:36 - Re-assessing and resetting the business operations at Rubies Bras.

18:37 - In person fitting to virtual fittings and how this shift completely redefined the entire business model.

19:15 - Redefining the Marketing plan during Covid.

20:37 - A strong and impactful marketing strategy using blogs, reviews and social media.

23:21 - Outsource activities you are not good at. Being part of groups like Women Who Freelance Toronto on Facebook is a good place to find talented individuals.

23:41 - Just start, do not try to get fancy in the beginning.

26:30 - Challenges of outsourcing custom-made bras.

30:27 - Going back to the basics, putting in the work and being stubborn about not giving up.

32:15 - Building a team and scaling the business strategically.

32:50 - The process from start to finish to create a custom-made bra with virtual fittings.

35:00 - Creating value for the customers.

36:35 - Ruhee’s personal story and why Rubies Bras as a company is special to her.

39:57 - Being featured in Vogue.com and how it happened.

45:30 - Being told no means ‘not yet’, so don't quit.

46:12 - Practice resilience and work on the product.

46:48 - Advice to young entrepreneurs.

48:43 - Surround yourself with like-minded people and founders.


Links:

Rubies Bras Website
Rubies Bras Instagram
Rubies Bras LinkedIn

Starter Company Plus Grant
Women Who Freelance Facebook Group

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In this episode Arun Nijhawan, the co-founder of Menda Health, talks about everything from getting acquired, developing a routine to avoid burn out, co-founder relationships and tips for new entrepreneurs. 

He shares with us that the feeling of success is fleeting so it’s important to work towards something that serves others. 

His company Menda Health is on a mission to serve those who suffer from chronic pain (over 1 billion worldwide) through virtual Pain Reprocessing Therapy.


Show Notes:

3:03 - Arun’s struggle with chronic pain and how Menda Health came about.

3:57 - Helping people suffering from chronic pain using Pain Reprocessing Therapy, a non opioid treatment

5:20 -  Acute pain lives in the body, chronic pain lives in the brain

6:00 - Menda Health is on a mission to help 1 Billion people globally

12:33 - It took two years to try to figure out how to start a company and deliver value the first time around

13:44 - Redefining the purpose of entrepreneurship

15:21 - Redefining the approach to delivering purpose and importance of self-care and self-healing

18:21 - Skills learnt in the transitioning period and overall learning experience

22:47 - Success is fleeting, it comes and goes pretty quickly

25:25 - Skills needed to see challenges and push through to the next level

27:31 - Making pivots, struggling to move forward and how being resilient helps

29:31 - Founders and partnerships, the alchemy of it.

32:00 - Managing relationships with business partners and co-founders

37:00 - Challenging aspects of businesses in the healthcare sector

38:37 - Layered complexities of how money moves in healthcare-focused businesses


42:12 - Teaching entrepreneurship to high school students and demystifying the ideologies around being an entrepreneur

47:00 - Why is it important to talk about failure and our relationship with failure

Links:

Menda Health
LinkedIn
Instagram
Navigating Pain Podcast


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Negotiation expert, George Siedel, shared 4 key concepts for negotiating: 

1. Know your key numbers 
2. Get to know the other side on a personal level
3. Ask lots questions
4. Listen carefully 

George is an author and professor at the University of Michigan and has taught over 1.5M students about negotiation through his online course!  

If negotiating feels intimidating to you you’ll enjoy this episode of Failure Decoded where Professor Siedel breaks down negotiation strategies that will set you up for success.

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Show Notes:

1:40 - Shamsiya introduces Professor George Siedel
 
4:10 - What led George to become a negotiation expert 

11:24 - Negotiation Concept #1 - Key numbers, BATNA

20:00 - Negotiation Concept #2 - Get to know the other side on a personal level

22:00 - Negotiation Concept #3 - Ask lots of questions

24:00 - Negotiation Concept #4 - Listen carefully

29:45 - Sticking with your strategy 

30:27 - Study on Lawyers' negotiation style 

32:00 - Negotiation Planner - list of free tools for determining negotiation tactics 

33:20 - Life Goals Tool - how to avoid failure in negotiation 

37:49 - Parting words of advice - look at the big picture 

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Links:

Negotiation Planner

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