Look up at your title bar, what do you see there? “Succeeding Through Failing.”

Now take a look at the quote: “Sometimes the best way to learn to duck is to get punched in the face.”

Seems failure is a theme for me. And, strangely, it has become a bit of a topic of late around Boulder.

My good friend (not the brain defect), Andrew Hyde, wrote about three local companies that had to shutter their doors. My friend (who sometimes causes me brain damage) Brad Feld, reviewed a book about failure.

Andrew, a young startup enthusiast, writes with sadness around failure, going so much as to write:

In the last week 3 local startups I love bellied up. Good people, strong business models, and brilliant marketing, and still, no tomorrow for them.

Brad, a veteran venture capitalist, writes almost as if failure is just a part of startups (which given the high failure rate of most businesses, some times estimated to be as high as 98%, is pretty much true):

On the failure theme, Andrew Hyde has a post up titled Startups Fail that includes news about a handful of recent Boulder failures: Nau, Organica and Falling Fruit.  Andrew reminds us that failure is an integral part of entrepreneurship.

For me, I live in the middle between Andrew’s youth and Brad’s experience. And for me, I love failure.

Thats right. Love it.

Success is easy. Want the secret? Here it is:

1. Recognize out what you do well;
2. Get paid to do it.
3. Do it.
4. Repeat #3 until you are dead.

Thats it. There is truly nothing hard about success. But failure? Now that takes true talent.

Not in the “oops” failure way, but the “ah” failure way.

When I was at ServiceMagic, Rodney Rice, Michael Beaudoin and Craig Smith engendered a culture where measured failure was okay, as long as it lead to eventual large successes. It was a great environment where failure was seen as part of a process, not as a final destination, and as long as we continued to succeed overall, the failures along the way were just that, along the way.

When I started Current Wisdom, and even now at Lijit, I tell each new person I hire the same thing: “I expect you to fail a lot and often. I expect you to have fantastic failures. But, I expect each failure will be measured, tracked and learned from, and the single success you achieve from learning and not repeating your failures, will be your legacy.”

For me, at ServiceMagic, the search engine optimization program I devised was riddled with mistakes and failures, but overall, it was a roaring success. At Current Wisdom, we made many mistakes with personnel, clients, procedures and process, but overall, it was a solid company with a solid people.

At Lijit, I see a similar culture growing. It gives me comfort knowing that we have and will fail a lot at Lijit, because I know that the talented people there will build on each failure to bring us closer to success.

I think my dad said it best:

“Micah, you like failure, because you see it as a process; whereas most people fear failure, because they see it as a destination.”

So, to Failure, I say may each one of you teach me something, even if I cant see it right away, that helps me achieve my goals.

And to Success, well, Im coming for you.

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