2011
"In Silicon Valley, failure has been democratized. You don’t need a lot of money to fail. Nor do you need any previous experience. Take, for example, Brian Wong and Roger Dickey –"
By Andrew Keen
"The willingness to fail is the key ingredient in success, billionaire investor Vinod Khosla told the audience at Failcon today."
By Chikodi Chima
"In Silicon Valley failure is often seen as success as entrepreneurs learn from their mistakes and pivot their startups to try again and get it right."
By Hermione Way
"The most entertaining presentation at the recent FailCon conference in San Francisco came from Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, who spelled out the many hurdles he faced at his last company, the peer-to-peer content delivery provider Red Swoosh."
By Liz Gannes
"Valley icon and VC Vinod Khosla followed, saying that this is the one conference he asks to speak at. 'I love to talk about failure,' he said, and began to break down how he embraces thinking about failure, and what it teaches."
By Rafe Needleman
"The conference aims to share hard-earned wisdom from business failures. They happen all the time, for all sorts of reasons, but in most quarters, people weep silently into their pillows."
By Rachael Myrow
"A Celebration of failure with speakers from such epic fails like MySpace and the search engine we all forgot about, Cuil."
"The old saying goes, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” Fortunately, FailCon got it right on its first try. The one-day Silicon Valley conference is now in its third year and expanding globally."
By Chris Jablonski
"In Silicon Valley, admitting you screwed up isn't just part of the culture. It's a conference. FailCon organizer Cassandra Phillips finds successful people and, like an AA meeting, gets them to talk about how they've failed."
By Brian Caulfield
2010
"Dreaming of success? Then study failure – because “oops” is the mantra of champions. That was the take-away from FailCon 2010, which brought almost 500 entrepreneurs to San Francisco’s Hotel Kabuki to share and compare lessons from the school of hard knocks."
By Tom Abate
"On stage at FailCon today, Jay Adelson went over his storied career from Equinix to Digg. Adelson kept emphasizing the fact that he had no regrets despite Digg having failed to pin down acquisition offers from both Current and Google, while the news broke during the panel that Digg had just laid off 37% of its staff."
By Alexia Tsotsis
"Over the course of the day, I began to realize that there are so many ways to screw things up, it’s actually pretty amazing that anyone manages to pull it off. It makes you appreciate the miracle that is Silicon Valley."
By Chris O'Brien
"I expected the FailCon conference today at San Francisco’s Hotel Kabuki to be a sort of regret-fest; ex-CEOs of failed startups waxing on the do’s and don’ts for the Silicon Valley youth. I wasn’t entirely off in that expectation, though former Digg CEO Jay Adelson surprised me; he wasn’t one to lament over his missteps at his previous home."
By Mike Isaac
"The reason failure is so valuable is it gives you courage,” Dyson said. “It’s more terrifying if you haven’t done it before. People who have been fired once aren’t really afraid of being fired again."
By Dean Takahashi
"If you’re just starting a company, FailCon is a great place to pick up cautionary tales, and learn from those who have already been there. If you’re looking for a snart, battle-tested company to invest in, this is the conference that doesn’t just spread sunshine – it tells you how it really is."
By Scott Budman for NBC Bay Area
"In fact, that’s the reason Phillipps wants to take failure on the road next year, with FailCons in Paris, Buenos Aires, New York and San Francisco. Which would be epic."
By Ryan Singel
2009
"Entrepreneurs gathered in Silicon Valley this week to celebrate — not the thrill of success — but the agony of defeat. At FailCon, PayPal co-founder Max Levchin talked about how he failed repeatedly before making money with the online payment company."
As heard on The Morning Edition
"According to futurist and Stanford engineering professor Paul Saffo, in the tech-obsessed valley, “the spires of success are built on the rubble of failure.”"
By Dean Takahashi
"I must admit, after covering hundreds of conferences where companies try their hardest to convince you that everything is perfect, and their path to success is guaranteed to be smooth, FailCon is a breath of fresh air. "
By Scott Budman
"A whole conference devoted to failure, FailCon, may be a first, but it’s looking like a success, with the likes of PayPal co-founder Max Levchin talking about how he failed repeatedly before making billions making the payment platform for the web."
By Ryan Singel
