#203 | Why Failed Pilots, Rejected Pitches & Lost Deals Create Better MedTech CEOs

In today's episode, you're gonna learn why the skills that make you successful as a clinician can sometimes make failure much harder to deal with as a CEO, and how reframing failure can accelerate your growth as a founder Welcome to Clinician to CEO, the podcast helping clinicians simplify your go-to-market strategy so that you can stop guessing and turn your working prototypes into international MedTech businesses. I'm your host, Hakeem Aade. Let's get started. So in today's episode, there's three things that you're gonna discover is, number one, why failure is often the fastest route to becoming a better founder.

Number two, how setbacks build the resilience every healthcare CEO needs. And number three, why many of the world's most successful innovations were born from things that didn't work the first time Now, what can we learn from so-called failure, even the term failure sets the wrong tone, and as Tav Thornton put on one of my LinkedIn posts, she said that we are not failing, we are learning to succeed, which we'll definitely be exploring. So the question is, why is failure often seen as something to be avoided at all costs in the world of business?

When in fact, in my opinion, if the same as Tav is, i.e. the truth is that failure can actually be one of the most valuable learning experiences a business can have. Now, failure is not something that most businesses and most business leaders want to talk about, but it is simply a part of life and a necessary component of success.

By embracing failure, business leaders can learn from their mistakes and make adjustments in order to increase the chances of future success. So for clinician founders and startups, this can be particularly difficult because most clinicians have spent years training in environments where mistakes can have serious consequences. So you're taught to minimize risk, follow evidence, and get things right. But building a business is very different because a clinical trial might not deliver the outcome you expected, and a hospital pilot may well generate positive feedback but never convert to adoption.

And an investor might reject your pitch, and a distributor might promise growth and deliver nothing. So none of these necessarily mean that you've actually failed. They're often the moments that teach you the lessons that ultimately help you build a stronger company. And that's why understanding how to learn from setbacks is such an important part of the journey from going from a clinician to CEO Now, this podcast will discuss three reasons why embracing failure is a critical component of success in business.

So number one, failure helps you learn and grow. When things go wrong in business, it can be tempting to sweep the experience under the rug and move on as quickly as possible. However, by doing so, you miss out on an opportunity to learn from your mistakes and grow as an entrepreneur or a business person. Embracing failure means taking the time to reflect on what went wrong and why.

By analyzing your failures, you can identify areas for improvement and make changes that will help you succeed in the future. Life is littered with success stories born out of failure. Take the example of Thomas Edison. He famously said that, "I have not failed.

I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." His repeated attempts at creating the light bulb eventually led him to success. Similarly, many entrepreneurs have started businesses that failed only for them to come up with an even better idea or product later on, such as Steve Jobs and Apple. It's a very famous example.

In other words, failure can be an opportunity for growth if you look at it from the right perspective. You can learn from your mistakes and use them as stepping stones for future success. Number two, failure builds resilience. And resilience is one of the most talked about qualities in business today Whether I agree with that sentiment or not, it shows that resilience is something that is valued in business, so you need to get it developed.

Entrepreneurship and business is not for the faint-hearted. It requires grit, determination, and resilience, and there's no better way to build that than by experiencing failure. When everything goes well, it's great, but you certainly aren't building the resilience that you're gonna need, and be sure you will need it at some point. So it's better to get it now early and regularly and then use it in the right way.

When you fail in business, it can no doubt be a blow to your confidence and self-esteem. But by picking yourself up and trying again, you build the mental toughness necessary to weather future challenges. For example, JK Rowling, who was living off welfare while writing her first Harry Potter novel before it became a phenomenon worldwide. She got rejected by 12 publishers, but did she give up?

Nope. She kept going and finally got her book published by Bloomsbury Publishing, and the rest, as they say, is history. The books have now sold over 500 million copies worldwide with eight blockbuster movies following suit. This goes to show that even though she suffered numerous rejections, she still kept going until she found success.

Had she given up, as many do, not continued on, we may have never heard of Mr. Potter and his friends. Number three, failure breeds innovation. Greatest innovations in history have come about as a result of failure.

When something doesn't work as expected, it forces us to think outside the box and come up with new solutions. By embracing failure rather than fearing it, entrepreneurs, businesses, and business people open themselves up to new possibilities and opportunities for innovation. Who knows? Your next big idea might just come from a failed project or product.

Many successful companies have leveraged failure as part of their creative process, and one example that stands out above all the rest is 3M's 15% rule. 3M is one of the most innovative companies in the world, and it doesn't matter if you've heard of them or not. They're behind some of the most revolutionary products on the market today, from Post-it Notes to Scotch tape. So how do they do it?

The answer lies in their 15% rule. and The 15% rule states that employees should dedicate 15% of their work time to pursuing whatever ideas interest them, regardless of whether or not those ideas are related to their job roles. This allows employees to take risks and explore new concepts without fear of failure. If their idea fails, it won't affect their job performance or career advancement, and in other words, it gives employees Permission to fail, which encourages innovation and creativity.

It's this policy that's paid off for 3M big time. Many groundbreaking products have been developed through this rule including, as I said earlier, Post-it notes, which was created by an employee working on a project completely unrelated to his job role, and Scotch tape, which was invented by an employee who was simply experimenting with adhesive materials. 3M's success story demonstrates that failure isn't always a bad thing. Sometimes it can be used as an opportunity for growth and innovation.

It's precisely because 3M are prepared to fail that they have had that success. So the simple message is don't be afraid to fail. Instead, embrace it as an opportunity for growth and learning. Now, I know this is very easy to say, but even with everything that I've said, I'm convinced that there'll be some people who are still finding it difficult to embrace failure.

So here's a few tips on how to start and shift your mindset. So to reiterate, the first step in embracing failure is learning to view it as an opportunity and not as an obstacle. Too often people brush off failure without taking the time to look at what went wrong or what could have gone better. Taking the time to reflect on past failures can help you identify areas for improvement and create strategies for avoiding them in the future.

Asking yourself questions such as, "What could I have done differently?" Or "What would have been the best outcome?" Can give you insight into how to do it better next time. It's also important that business leaders encourage their employees to embrace failure when it happens.

Too often, businesses are quick to punish employees for making mistakes, which can lead to feelings of shame and discouragement. Instead, businesses should focus on celebrating progress and rewarding employees who take calculated risks and think outside the box, even if those risks don't pay off in the end. This kind of positive reinforcement encourages good quality risk-taking behavior while still allowing room for mistakes. Remember 3M?

The fact they built a culture on trying things, even if they failed, led to some of the most popular products in the world. Finally, it's important that business leaders obviously learn from their own mistakes, but also they need to learn from those of others. So if a competitor has failed at something due to poor planning or execution, then use this knowledge as an opportunity to make changes in your own organization so that you don't suffer the same fate. Keeping up with the trends and staying informed on industry news will also help you anticipate potential problems before they become real issues for your company.

In conclusion, all successful businesses go through periods of trial and error. It's just part of running a business. However, too many leaders shy away from discussing failure because they see it as a sign of weakness or ineptitude. This couldn't be further from the truth, and in reality, embracing failure is one of the most important things business leaders can do if they want their companies to succeed over time.

By learning from our failures, we become better equipped to handle similar situations in the future and avoid costly missteps along the way. We build resilience and breed innovation, all critical components of achieving long-term success. The key is approaching failure with an open mind and viewing it as an opportunity and a learning opportunity specifically, rather than an obstacle. And if there's one thing I'd like you to take away from today's episode, it's this: the goal isn't to avoid failure, the goal is to learn faster than everyone else.

E-every rejected proposal, every failed pilot, every investor who says no, every product iteration that doesn't quite work, they're all providing data. The clinicians who successfully become CEOs aren't necessarily the smartest, the best connected, or even the most experienced. They're often the ones who are willing to learn, adapt, and keep moving when things don't go according to plan. So next time something doesn't work out, don't just ask, "Why did I fail?"

Ask, "What did I learn?" Cause the answer may be the thing that ultimately drives your success And if you're building a MedTech business and you're not sure whether your next move should be around evidence, market access, commercialization, distributor strategy. Or adoption. Do not guess.

Book a healthcare export accelerator diagnostic Call with me. Use my link in the show notes. And in that session I'll help you identify the specific constraints blocking your momentum and the commercial move most likely to unlock your progress. Thanks for tuning in.

Until next time, thanks for listening. Keep challenging your assumptions and keep growing.