What do JK Rowling, Walt Disney, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Thomas Edison have in common? They are among the most celebrated names in modern history… and every single one of them failed, publicly and painfully, before they succeeded.
According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, fear of failure is cited as a barrier to entrepreneurship by more than 40% of people in many countries. Yet the evidence from history is clear: failure is not the opposite of entrepreneurial success. For many of the world's greatest innovators, it was a prerequisite.
Here are five famous entrepreneurs who failed before succeeding and the lessons their setbacks offer to anyone building a business or a career.
Why entrepreneurial failure is more common than you think
Most startup founders fail at least once before they build something lasting. What separates those who eventually succeed is not an absence of setbacks - it is what they do with them. Researchers call this 'entrepreneurial learning': the ability to rapidly test assumptions, adapt strategy, and recognize opportunities that others miss. The five stories below are the clearest examples of that process in action.
1. JK Rowling: from welfare to billionaire author
Before she became the world's first billionaire author, JK Rowling was a single mother living on state benefits, having recently gone through a divorce. She completed Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in 1995, then watched it get rejected by twelve different publishing houses. Not one believed it was worth printing.
Bloomsbury finally published the book in 1997. The rest is literary history - a franchise that generated billions in book sales, films, and theme parks, and transformed the publishing industry's understanding of what children's fiction could achieve.
Rowling has spoken candidly about how failure shaped her: "I don't think we talk about failure enough," she told NBC's Today. She describes her early hardship as a gift that was "painfully won" - forcing her to understand herself more clearly and to focus entirely on what mattered most to her.
Lesson: Rejection from the right people, those with the power to say yes, is survivable. It is also temporary.
2. Walt Disney: bankrupt before he built an empire
Walt Disney's road to success was defined by back-to-back failures. His first animation company, Laugh-O-Gram Studio, went bankrupt after a New York distributor cheated him out of money. He then created a character called Oswald the Lucky Rabbit - only to lose the legal rights to it and watch most of his animation team leave.
Rather than fold, Disney created a new character. Mickey Mouse debuted in 1928 and became the foundation of an entertainment empire that today includes theme parks, film studios, Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar.
Lesson: Losing your best idea to someone else does not mean you have run out of ideas.
Read: The Entrepreneurial Mindset that Will Boost Your Career
3. Bill Gates: the company he started before Microsoft
Long before Microsoft existed, Bill Gates and Paul Allen co-founded Traf-O-Data, a company designed to automate the analysis of road traffic data for city engineers. Gates was 17, Allen was 19. The business ran for several years and turned a modest profit, but it ultimately failed when state governments began offering the same service for free.
The experience was not wasted. Allen later reflected that Traf-O-Data was a good idea with a flawed business model, and that the lesson they took away - validate your market before you build - was foundational to the way they approached Microsoft.
Lesson: A failed business is still an MBA in disguise. The tuition is just paid in time, not money.
4. Steve Jobs: fired from the company he co-founded
Apple's IPO in 1980 was the largest since Ford went public in 1956. But by 1985, Steve Jobs had been forced out of the company he co-founded, removed by his own board following a dispute with CEO John Sculley.
What came next was remarkable. Jobs bought Pixar, the computer animation studio that would later be sold to Disney for $7.4 billion. He founded NeXT, a computer hardware company whose technology Apple eventually acquired in 1996 - bringing Jobs back to Apple in the process. The decade that followed produced the iMac, the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad, turning Apple into one of the most valuable companies in history.
Lesson: Being removed from the thing you built is not the end. It can be the reset that makes everything after it possible.
5. Thomas Edison: 10,000 ways that didn't work
Thomas Edison is frequently quoted on failure: "I have not failed 10,000 times - I have successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work."
The inventor of the phonograph, electric lighting, and dozens of other foundational technologies also produced many inventions that went nowhere, including an electrographic vote recorder, an electric pen, and a talking doll. But Edison was constitutionally uninterested in looking backwards.
Read: Can Leadership and Entrepreneurship Be Taught?
Leonard DeGraaf, an archivist at the Thomas Edison National Historical Park, notes that Edison was not someone who dwelled on losses, even significant ones. His method - systematic experimentation, documented failure, incremental improvement - is now considered a model for modern research and development.
Lesson: Failure is data. The question is whether you collect it or ignore it.
What these entrepreneurs have in common
Each of these five famous entrepreneurs who failed before succeeding shared three traits that ultimately drove their recoveries:
- They treated failure as information, not identity.
- They adapted their approach rather than abandoning their goal.
- They built support networks - collaborators, investors, and mentors, who helped them see clearly after setbacks.
These are also skills that can be learned. Business schools that focus on entrepreneurship increasingly treat resilience, adaptability, and reflective practice as core competencies - not personality traits you either have, or you don't.
Final thought
The stories of famous entrepreneurs who failed before succeeding are not just motivational anecdotes. They are case studies in the mechanics of persistence, learning, and strategic reinvention - the same competencies that MBA programmes in entrepreneurship are designed to develop.
Whether you are building a business, managing a team, or navigating a difficult career transition, the lesson from Rowling, Disney, Gates, Jobs, and Edison is the same: failure is not a full stop. It is, almost always, a comma.
FAQ
Which famous entrepreneur failed the most times before succeeding?
Thomas Edison is most often cited, having conducted thousands of failed experiments before developing electric lighting. James Dyson also famously built over 5,000 prototypes of his bagless vacuum before producing a commercially viable version.
Did Steve Jobs really get fired from Apple?
Yes. In 1985, Jobs was removed from his operational role at Apple following a power struggle with CEO John Sculley and the board. He returned to Apple in 1997 after the company acquired his company NeXT and led its most successful period.
How many publishers rejected Harry Potter?
Twelve publishers rejected Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone before Bloomsbury agreed to publish it in 1997. The manuscript was initially submitted in 1995.
What was Bill Gates's first company before Microsoft?
Traf-O-Data, founded with Paul Allen when Gates was 17 and Allen was 19. The company automated traffic data analysis for municipal engineers. It eventually failed when state governments started offering the service for free.
Can failure really help entrepreneurs succeed?
Research supports it. Studies in entrepreneurial learning show that founders who have experienced at least one failed venture are better at recognising market risks, adapting strategy, and managing investor relationships in subsequent ventures. Failure is most valuable when it is actively reflected on rather than ignored.
Originally published: 1 March 2022 by Valentin Vassilev
Updated: 14 April 2026
