The Startup Postmortem Myth: Why Learning from Failure is Overrated

Ever noticed how every failed startup suddenly turns everyone into an expert? The same people who ignored warning signs before the collapse now flood LinkedIn and Medium with long-winded breakdowns, as if they saw it coming all along.

Yet for all this collective wisdom, history repeats itself – over and over. Investors still fall for the next overhyped founder. Startups still burn through billions with no clear path to profitability. And entrepreneurs still convince themselves, “That won’t happen to me.”

Because here’s the uncomfortable truth: learning from others’ failures is a myth – unless it’s personal.

The Allure of Postmortems

We love startup failures because they’re clean stories after the fact. A protagonist (the visionary founder), an antagonist (hubris, bad luck, or poor execution), and a dramatic downfall. But the problem with these stories?

• Failure is contextual. What doomed one company might not be relevant elsewhere.

• Success isn’t the opposite of failure. Just avoiding one startup’s mistakes doesn’t guarantee winning.

• Postmortems are neat, but reality is messy. Founders rewrite history to fit a narrative, often ignoring what really went wrong.