Interview with founder of Skype: Niklas Zennström

Everyone from the School of Entrepreneurship was invited to participate in an interview yesterday with the founder and former CEO och Skype, Niklas Zennström. During this interview I took some notes from parts I found to be extra interesting, where the exact notes said: 

• Comfort in failure
• Perseverance
• Fail fast, learn, do not fail at it twice. Be humble
• Passion, pursue it

As a student with a background in the field of chemical engineer, most of the time there will always be a right and a wrong answer, and getting a wrong answer is bad. This way of thinking is however not exclusive for chemistry. The same mindset is presented in the surroundings all the time. Never fail, always succeed. That is the dream. 

I started at the School of Entrepreneurship exactly one month ago, and failure is the topic that has evolved and changed my opinion the most. Suddenly, I hear that failure is good and important. It can even be necessary sometimes. Failure is just a part of the process and it will take you forward. Hearing Niklas bringing up this topic, and hearing that failure is not something to be afraid of but rather should be something to be comfortable with, really shows that this mindset permeates the entrepreneurial world. 

It is quite hard to unlearn something you have been told your whole life, but it is definitely not impossible. I have started to incorporate this new attitude towards failure in my everyday life, and slowly I have already seen small changes. I try not to disparage myself anymore and aim to view failure as a learning experience instead of a defeat. What part should I do differently and how can I improve until next time? Perseverance in this will hopefully eventually become a habit, and I encourage you to try this as well.