Failure is a part of life, maybe even a bigger part of the business. If fear of failure is holding you back, take inspiration from the stories of these successful startup entrepreneurs who bounced back after major failures.
Apple has one of the greatest comeback stories in tech history. Founder Steve Jobs was fired from his company in 1985. Apple found itself operating at a loss, as it inched towards failure. In the 12 years that followed, in need of a new approach, Apple hired back Jobs in 1997 and he scored a partnership with Microsoft to invest $150 million in the company. A year later, the company introduced the iMac and for the first time since 1995, returned to profitability. The rest, as they say, is history.
Also known as the real life Iron Man, Elon Musk’s Tesla and SpaceX both hit cash shortages just as the economy was tanking in 2008. SpaceX applied for a contract with NASA as its last hope to bail itself out and it won. The $1.6 billion contract has kept Musk’s space dream afloat.
At the same time SpaceX was crashing, Tesla was burning through about $4 million every month. Musk predicted SpaceX would win the deal and keep both of his space and car dreams alive. He took out a mortgage from SpaceX and scrounged around for $20 million. After a cliff to his investors, they agreed to meet the $20 million he raised, and the deal closed on Christmas Eve in 2008, hours before the company would have gone bankrupt.
Musk, who nearly went bankrupt launching Tesla Motors and rocket company SpaceX, is now worth more than $20 billion.
Evan Williams introduced “blogging” to the world when he launched Blogger in 2000. However it came without a business model, and a year later, Williams found himself out of cash and had to lay off the entire staff. Without any employees, Blogger dangled from a thin rope as Williams tried to find ways to make money out of it and turn it into a real challenging company. By late 2002, Google acquired the website for a reported $50 million. 13 years later, Blogger is alive even today. As for Williams, he did just fine cofounding Twitter and then Medium.
In the early 1990s, technology major IBM was on a downward spiral, with plans in place to break the company into several smaller operating units. Lou Gerstner took over the company in 1993 and started one of the greatest business turnarounds in tech. After huge layoffs and putting cash through marketing assets, Gerstner put the obstacles on the plan to break up the company and united everyone under one IBM. It worked, and the company survived.
Meta is developing its first true AR glasses, set to launch in 2027. Before the public release, employees will test the device starting in 2024. The company is also releasing new generations of Ray-Ban smart glasses in 2023 and 2025 with enhanced features like a “viewfinder” display.
Specifications and Features
The AR glasses are expected to feature OLED displays and Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets, offering sophisticated AR and AI capabilities. They will enable users to interact with virtual objects and project high-quality holograms of avatars onto the real world.
Design and Competition
Meta aims for a sleek design, potentially building on its Ray-Ban partnerships. The AR glasses market is competitive, with Apple and Google also investing heavily. Meta seeks to make its AR glasses a game-changer by offering a unique user experience.
Future Plans
In addition to AR glasses, Meta is expanding its VR offerings with new headsets like the Quest 3 and exploring other wearable technologies. The company is focused on reducing costs to make the AR glasses more consumer-friendly by launch.
MobiKwik is venturing into the stock broking sector with the launch of its subsidiary, MobiKwik Securities Broking Private Limited (MSBPL), following approval from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs on March 3, 2025. This move aims to diversify MobiKwik’s offerings beyond its core digital payments services and compete with established players like Zerodha and Groww.
MSBPL will provide a range of brokerage services, including trading in shares, securities, commodities, and derivatives. The subsidiary has an initial capital of Rs 1 lakh, with plans for an additional Rs 2 crore investment to support its operations.
As MobiKwik enters this competitive market, it brings a substantial user base of 172 million and a merchant network of 5 million. Despite recent financial challenges, including a reported loss of Rs 55.2 crore in Q3 FY25, the company aims to leverage its existing infrastructure and user engagement to capture a share of the growing investment technology market, projected to reach $74 billion by 2030.
This strategic expansion aligns with MobiKwik’s broader goals of enhancing its financial service
Nazara Technologies has sold its entire 71.54% stake in Sports Unity Private Limited, the company behind the multiplayer quiz game ‘Qunami’, for INR 7.15 lakh. This divestment, effective March 25, 2025, signifies a strategic shift for Nazara, which had previously acquired a controlling interest in Sports Unity in 2019 for INR 7.5 crore.
The decision to offload the stake comes as Sports Unity has faced financial difficulties, reporting no active business operations and a negative net worth of INR 0.45 crore at the end of FY24. This move aligns with Nazara’s broader strategy to streamline its operations and concentrate on more profitable ventures within the gaming sector.
This sale follows Nazara’s recent divestment of a 94.85% stake in another subsidiary, Open Play, to Moonshine Technologies for INR 104.33 crore. Despite reporting record quarterly revenue of INR 544.7 crore in Q3 FY25, Nazara experienced a 53.5% decline in net profit year-over-year.
Nazara continues to focus on enhancing its portfolio through strategic acquisitions and investments in high-potential gaming platforms while navigating the competitive landscape of the gaming industry.